Therapy: Cross Cultural Counselling

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OTA 105878
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1. Cross Cultural Counselling

As is hinted by the name of the counselling technique, it is cross cultural by nature. What it means is that the techniques and the structure of the counselling itself takes into account the varied ethnicities, mores, traditions, belief systems - cultures - of the people being counselled for the purpose of aid, alleviation, rehabilitation and mental/emotional relief. Cultural psychology, the anchor behind cross-cultural counselling teaches that cultural traditions and social practices regulate, express, and transform the human psyche. According to George Doherty, a Cross-Cultural Counsellor handling Disasters,

"All people respond to stimuli and situations by either changing themselves or the environment and by combining these two operations in various proportions. Historically, the implicit goal of counselling and psychotherapy has been to bring about a greater degree of conformity to the norms of the dominant majority group. The contemporary cross-cultural counselor or therapist faces a choice. He/she can prepare the client for changing obstacles in the environment, or he/she can equip the client for a greater degree of accommodation to the social structure in its current state. The increase in the individual's options also involves choices on the extent and nature of one's relationships, reference groups, and identity, especially in relation to one's ethnic or cultural group."

In this vein, let us take this scenario - a Mexican-American family, ...