Johnson (2008)

Issues & Strategies in Leading Culturally Diverse Counseling Groups


Background

  • our thoughts, feelings, and attitudes regarding race differences form the basis of prejudice and are believed to act as the foundation of our behavioral responses in intergroup contexts

  • counselor must have understanding both of the uniqueness and of the depth of cultural influence on the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of group members

  • cultural sensitivity, or lack thereof, influences most if not all aspects of the therapeutic relationship

    • diagnosis & treatment

    • therapist expectations & preferences

    • therapeutic process & outcomes

    • clients perception of credibility

    • level of self-disclosure

    • usage rates

    • premature termination


Goals of Multicultural Counseling

  • provide new levels of communication among members

    • overcoming stereotyped attitudes by providing accurate info about oneself and one’s racial, ethnic, cultural group

  • establish sensitivity, understanding, and trust with members of other cultural groups


Potential Issues in Culturally Diverse Counseling Groups

  • extreme emotionality

  • lack of communication

  • group nondirection


Strategies & Recommendations

  • contact hypothesis - some believe that simply having members of different groups come together in a highly personalized manner for some length of time will result in positive change

  • avoid having a single member of a minority or “out-group” in group counseling

    • may block communication & group cohesion

  • may need racially different coleaders for culturally diverse counseling groups - not always, but could be helpful depending on the group

  • change the way individual members interact with one another

    • work to increase personal honesty

    • develop assertiveness skills

    • become more aware and accepting of their own feelings

  • techniques

    • ask group members to reveal one belief that they have about members of particular ethnic or racial groups

    • role-playing techniques to help individual members to practice assertiveness skills

    • identify feelings by labeling feelings that members have expressed

    • confrontation

    • identifying dysfunctional patterns of behavior and communication

    • modeling open and honest interactions among group members

    • clarify rules of the group

    • point out topics that seem to be taboo to group members

      • encourage to explore any issues that have been avoided or denied