The Counseling Profession's Commitment to Diversity‐Sensitive Counseling: A Critical Reassessment

Abstract

The authors pose questions in this article that are intended to stimulate more effective strategies to ensure gender, racial, and ethnic diversity in the counseling profession. The first question addresses the implications of between-group versus within-group differences for the counseling process. The second question examines the need to expand the dialogue across all minorities. The third question asks who should conduct multicultural research. Various constituencies, including clients, practitioners, counselor educators, scholars, and researchers are affected. Inconsistencies are noted between the strategies now being used to achieve diversity and the philosophical foundations of the counseling profession itself. Seven recommendations are made. M uch attention in the counseling and psychology literature has been directed toward sensitizing practitioners and educators to the sometimes subtle but important clinical differences among members of diverse racial and ethnic groups

Development and initial validation of the Multicultural Counseling Self-Efficacy Scale--Racial Diversity Form.

“…Some multicultural psychologists have suggested that we expand the dialogue on diversity to include, at a minimum, age, culture, disability, gender, educational level, ethnicity, language, physique, race, religion, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic situation (e.g., Sue & Sue, 2003;Weinrach & Thomas, 1996). I agree with the need to be inclusive in multicultural counseling.…”

Conceptualizations of Competence and Culture: Taking Up the Postmodern Interest in Social Interaction

“…Some scholars respond to this by focusing on the client/counselor relationship as a crucial component of effective multicultural counseling (Fuertes & Ponterotto, 2003;Roysircar, 2004;Roysircar, Hubbell, & Gard, 2003). Despite these efforts, both opponents (e.g., Patterson, 2004;Weinrach & Thomas, 1996 and proponents (e.g., Coleman, 2004;Sue, 2001) of the competencies approach agree that a major drawback of the competency movement is the lack of research supporting the influence of proposed multicultural competencies in counseling processes and outcomes. The discontent with current conceptualizations of competence and this call for research is a condition conducive to the creative play of ideas aimed for here.…”

Client and Practitioner Perspectives on Multicultural Counseling Competence

“…Proponents of multicultural competence assert that this view is oppressive and culturally racist (Sue et al, 1998), while opponents argue that a universal perspective is central to the practice of psychology, and that within-group differences are as large or larger than between-group differences (Weinrach & Thomas, 1996).…”

“…Much of the most prominent research in the area has been focused primarily on the four major racial/ethnic groups in the United States (African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, and Native Americans), and critics have raised concerns about the ethics of focusing on such a narrow group when studying diversity (Weinrach & Thomas, 1996). In response, while acknowledging that the issue is a valid concern, proponents of an increased focused on cultural competence argue that change must begin somewhere, and that waiting for perfection is the more grievous error (Sue et al, 1998).…”