Multicultural issues with counseling

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Multicultural issues with counseling

Section 5

The name of my client is Melvin, and she is a six-year-old child. Melvin lives with her parents in a small village. Melvin suffers from autism, and she has impaired social interaction as well as communication problems. She started developing this problem while she was three years old, but her parents did not take the situation seriously. When she went to school, her class teacher started noticing some of her strange behaviors. When her mother was interviewed about Melvin’s conditions, she said that Melvin has been giving her difficult times because she wants to be left alone. Even in the school, her class teacher realized that Melvin does neither like socializing nor like playing with other kids during practical exercise period. Melvin has communication problems thus makes it difficult for parents to understand her needs. Her father is a drunkard, and he does not care about Melvin’s needs. The mother suffers from wife battering and the father does not support them financially. This makes it difficult for Melvin’s mother to seek for medical intervention for her.

Working with Melvin to help her achieve her basic goals in the future requires special care and attention. As a counselor, I will provide early intervention programs to Melvin. Early intervention remediates the existing autism problem thus preventing the situation from worsening. This program can focus on the child as well as her family. Hence, I will make the program home-based. Moreover, it will enhance child development, provides support and assistance to the family thus enabling Melvin to be of benefit to the society in the future. Atkinson, Thompson and Grant (2003) argue that early intensive intervention programs are fundamental to children suffering from autism disorder, and it is an ideal way of diagnosing childhood disorders. This is because this program will help the child to learn how to cope with the situation, thus become a good listener, and even interact with others.

Moreover, Melvin’s parents need proper advice on the way they should help their daughter earlier enough to enable her become a better learner and socialize with others well. Mostly, the father should be given advice to stop drinking and being harsh to Melvin’s mother. This is because Melvin might be affected and develop stress which might affect her health. Since Melvin does not interact with other or share her family problems with others, she might end up getting stroke due to stress. Both parents should be encouraged to provide special attention to the child because most autism children require special attention most of the time. Additionally, specialized behaviors, comprehensive evaluation and special education programs should be provided to Melvin at earlier life. Melvin’s parents can take her to a special school where teachers cater for the needs of autism children since autism children learn with difficulties. Thus, she can be provided with Individualized Education Program that can help her achieve a better quality life.

One of the community resources that I would refer Melvin is the Person-centered Therapy (PCT). The Person-centered Therapy is one of the community resources that ensure that the physiological needs of children with disabilities are met. These needs are balanced within individualized and comprehensive programs that are provided within the community resource centre (Sevig, Highlen and Adams, 2000). PCT is psychotherapy resource center that was developed by Carl Rogers in 1940s. The PCT provides all categories of patients with opportunities to develop a sense of direction. Additionally, it enables children with disorders to realize their attitudes, improve the interactive behaviors and make an effort of finding a true positive potential in life. It is a non-judgmental environment because it demonstrates genuineness, empathy and use a non-directive approach while attending their patients. PCT help patients to find their own solutions to the problems they are facing.

Section 6

As a consultant, I will work through an ethical dilemma of testifying in a court case involving the father of the child I am counseling. Melvin lacks financial support from her father who is ever drunk. The father is not concerned with the welfare of the child thus making her to suffer from stress. Melvin needs affections from both parents’ especially the special care and attention from them in order to fulfill her future dreams. However, the dad is a drunkard and he beats Melvin’s mother in her presence. This makes it hard for Melvin to cope with the situation and due to her communication problems, she has no otherwise of sharing her feelings with friends or someone who may help her.

The ethical issue that emerged is the empathic understanding of the client’s emotions. One of the ethical strategies that I will employ in order to deal with my client successfully is the reality therapy. This is a psychotherapy and counseling approach used in treating patients with disorder problems. It is a cognitive, behavioral approach of treatment method, and it concentrates on behaviors, and symptoms of the mentally ill patients. This approach attempts to separate the client from emotional behaviors and it aims in achieving the client’s needs. Therefore, I will first make sure the client understand who I am and what I was sent for in the client’s place. Then, I will incorporate the reality approach in my counseling program.

LaFromboise, Foster and James (2000) argue that culturally sensitive mental health counselors are aware not to bring the issue of prejudice in counseling arena. Therefore, as a counselor working in a multicultural setting, I will make sure I first understand the cultural norms of Melvin’s society. I will make some consultations before starting the process and decide the proper intervention strategies that I will use which is suitable for producing better results. Moreover, I will make sure that I have created good rapport with the client. This is because good relationships enable the client to have confident as well as trust between the counselor, client and their family (Leong, Wagner and Tata, 2005).

Section 7

One of the goals that I will accomplish as a counselor is creating therapist self-awareness. When working with a multicultural context, it is vital to be aware of the client’s own perception to the worldview (Sevig, Highlen and Adams, 2000). The values that counselors bring to the counseling setting might be dissimilar with those of clients and her family. Thus, successful counselors of home based therapy should employ a family system approach. For instance, use of Bowenian therapist when working with a family level is crucial. When working using this system, there are high chances of increasing emotional expression thus, creating self-awareness.

Another goal is promoting successful communication of the client. According to LaFromboise, Foster and James (2000), Virginia Satir or family therapy is one of the best communication therapies that produce change. This system views change as the interaction system between the family members of the client. It stresses on the family relationships as the fundamental factor of promoting psychological health. Moreover, good communication in a family will enable the autism child to develop better communication skills slowly. Thus, the use of family therapy is vital because it involves families in problem solving. It includes the ability to influence conversations in a manner that can catalyst successful communication of the client.

The last goal is to promote better social, interactive skills of the client. This should be done through employing some strategic family system approach. The strategic approach was influenced by Bateson’s cybernetics model. This strategy is an intent approach that changes the behavior of the autism child. It improves the social behaviors of the client as well as engages the client’s family in promoting better social interactions. Thus, the strategic approach is significant in solving the problem of social interaction. This is because it engages the family in active contributions towards better performance of the client in the interaction process.

References

Atkinson, D. R., Thompson, C. D., & Grant, S. K. (2003). A three-dimensional model for

counseling racial/ethnic minorities. The Counseling Psychologist, 21, 257–277

LaFromboise, T. D., Foster, S., & James, A. (2000). Ethics in multicultural counseling. Fourth

Edition. Counseling Across Cultures. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Leong, F. T. Wagner, N. S., & Tata, S. P. (2005). Racial and ethnic variations in help-seeking

attitudes. Handbook of Multicultural Counseling. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Sevig, T. D., Highlen, P. S., & Adams, E. A. (2000). Development and validation of the Self-

Identity Inventory (SII): A multicultural identity development instrument. Cultural

Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 6, 168–182.

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