Final Assignment Outline Template

1. Identify yourself in terms of culture/ethnicity, gender, ability status, and other areas you find most relevant.

• Culture/Ethnicity – American / German
• Gender – Female
• Ability – Patient, thoughtful, empathetic
• Professional – Healthcare Administrator
• Caucasian
• Non-disabled
• Middle class

1. How does your background influence your approach to the counseling process? (This may include both positive and negative influences.)

• Positive: In my culture respect is very important. You allow other people to speak and give their opinions without interrupting. Influence on counseling: This enables me to be a good listener. To really listen to what the client is saying without interrupting and misreading.
• Positive: Structure and hard work are a high priority. This includes getting good grades and trying hard at whatever you are doing. They strive for perfection. There’s a great value on education and learning. Influence on counseling: This could lead to a misunderstanding when there are clients who don’t strive for the best and work hard.
• Negative: Striving for perfection puts a great deal of pressure on children. Making them feel inadequate if they aren’t getting straight A’s and making them view themselves as failures. Influence on counseling: Having been raised in a high-expectation environment I can empathize with clients who are pressured and stressed by trying to meet the expectations of their culture and family.
• Positive: In my family we were raised that we could be anything we wanted. There were no barriers in terms of gender. Boys and girls both played with dolls and had dirt bikes. This instilled in me tolerance of other people choices in life. We were told never to judge people from the outside (what they look like, who they love) but who they are inside. Are they good people? Influence on counseling: Empathy for those being discriminated against because of their gender or sexual reference.
• What biases and values, areas of privilege, and areas of oppression do you bring to the counseling setting?
• Biases – because of the environment I was raised in I have difficulty tolerating individuals that hate others because of their skin color, gender, or sexual orientation.
• Values – family, education, hard work ethic, empathy.
• Areas of Privilege (if any): White privilege, although I can not identify an incidence where I was given preferential treatment because I am white I am aware that this exists and could have happened without my knowledge.
• Areas of oppression (any you can identify, if not sure look at the chapter related to own background) As a woman I have seen as well as been a victim of gender bias in the workplace. As a healthcare professional I was denied a position of advancement due to my gender. I was more qualified and had much more experience for the position then a male counterpart but he got the position. This experience can be explained from our book as microaggressions (p184).

When writing your paper, make sure you provide an In-depth exploration of impact of characteristics on the counseling process.

• Impact One – My ability to empathize with clients. Having experienced many bumps in my life and sought the help of therapists I am able to understand what they are going through and how serious the situation is for them to seek help.
• Impact two – I believe if I am not familiar with something that I should learn more about it. When dealing with clients that are of a culture that I am unfamiliar with I need to do my due diligence to understand the differences and find a good way to approach their needs during the therapy sessions. By understanding the cultural differences I can also evaluate what therapeutic approach would be more beneficial to the client.
• Impact three – I’m a direct person and have always believed that clearing the air is better than keeping quiet because it might be uncomfortable. If there’s a client who is of a different culture or

1. Superimpose on the case study three distinct culture and/or diversity

• Culture One – African American

1. Identify four key issues that are relevant for this cultural/status group you are investigating (e.g., strengths, challenges and implications for clinical practice)
2. 1. Cite at least three relevant empirical articles from peer reviewed journals (in addition to the text) to support the issues you are discussing for this cultural/status group that illuminate the case study themes.
3. Amankwaa, L. C. (2003). Postpartum Depression, Culture and African-American Women. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 10(1), 23–29. Retrieved from https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=12164854&site=ehost-live
4. Black, H., Gitlin, L., & Burke, J. (2011). Context and culture: African-American elders’ experiences of depression. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 14(7), 643–657. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2010.505233
5. Swierad, E. M., Vartanian, L. R., & King, M. (2017). The Influence of Ethnic and Mainstream Cultures on African Americans’ Health Behaviors: A Qualitative Study. Behavioral Sciences (2076-328X), 7(3), 49. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs7030049
6. For each case based on the cultural/status groups, identify two to four or more potential areas of focus in the counseling setting. Indicate the distinctions among the cultural groups you have chosen.

Examples:

• Culture/Ethnicity
• Gender stereotypes
• Use of Self
• Family structure
• Cultural values
• Spiritual/religious values
• Educational characteristics
• Experience of discrimination in dominant culture

• Culture Two – Latino American
  1. Identify four key issues that are relevant for this cultural/status group you are investigating (e.g., strengths, challenges and implications for clinical practice).

1. Cite at least three relevant empirical articles from peer reviewed journals (in addition to the text) to support the issues you are discussing for this cultural/status group that illuminate the case study themes.
2. Held, M. L., & Lee, S. (2017). Discrimination and mental health among Latinos: variation by place of origin. Journal of Mental Health, 26(5), 405–410. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2016.1207220
3. Arevalo, I., So, D., & McNaughton-Cassill, M. (2016). The role of collectivism among Latino American college students. Journal of Latinos & Education, 15(1), 3–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2015.1045143
4. Alegria, M., Takeuchi, D., Canino, G., Duan, N., Shrout, P., Meng, X.-L., … Gong, F. (2004). Considering context, place and culture: the National Latino and Asian American Study. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 13(4), 208–220. https://doi.org/10.1002/mpr.178
5. For each case based on the cultural/status groups, identify two to four or more potential areas of focus in the counseling setting. Indicate the distinctions among the cultural groups you have chosen.

Examples:

• Culture/Ethnicity
• Gender stereotypes
• Use of Self
• Family structure
• Cultural values
• Spiritual/religious values
• Educational characteristics
• Experience of discrimination in dominant culture

 

1. Culture Three – Asian American

Identify four key issues that are relevant for this cultural/status group you are investigating (e.g., strengths, challenges and implications for clinical practice).

1. Cite at least three relevant empirical articles from peer reviewed journals (in addition to the text) to support the issues you are discussing for this cultural/status group that illuminate the case study themes.
   1. Lueck, K. (2018). Socioeconomic success of Asian immigrants in the United States. Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies, 44(3), 425–438. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2017.1320940
   2. Alegria, M., Takeuchi, D., Canino, G., Duan, N., Shrout, P., Meng, X.-L., … Gong, F. (2004). Considering context, place and culture: the National Latino and Asian American Study. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 13(4), 208–220. https://doi.org/10.1002/mpr.178
   3. Soto, J. A., Lee, E. A., & Roberts, N. A. (2016). Convergence in feeling, divergence in physiology: How culture influences the consequences of disgust suppression and amplification among European Americans and Asian Americans. Psychophysiology, 53(1), 41–51. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.12579

1. For each case based on the cultural/status groups, identify two to four or more potential areas of focus in the counseling setting. Indicate the distinctions among the cultural groups you have chosen.

Examples:

• Culture/Ethnicity
• Gender stereotypes
• Use of Self
• Family structure
• Cultural values
• Spiritual/religious values
• Educational characteristics
• Experience of discrimination in dominant culture

1. As the result of this assessment of your own background and of the three students/clients’ backgrounds, analyze the presenting problems and counseling strategies that you would consider implementing as you work with the individual and family in each of the case studies you created. (approximately 3-5 pages for this section) (Total for this assignment – 10 – 15 pages minimum)
2. Analysis of presenting problem for ALL three cultures (you can repeat this three times)

• Discipline/behavior
• Divorce
• Poor academic performance
• Extended family source of support

Please note that in your final paper you need to:

• Demonstrate in a detailed and insightful manner the perception of the presenting problem from the perspective of all three cultural (status) contexts
• Strategies for each of three cases are culturally responsive
• Counseling strategies and/or differentiation of application to three cultural groups are clearly explained.

1. Counseling strategies that you would consider implementing as you work with the individual and family for culture one
   1. Intervention
   2. Intervention
   3. Intervention

1. Counseling strategies that you would consider implementing as you work with the individual and family for culture two
   1. Intervention
   2. Intervention
   3. Intervention

1. Counseling strategies that you would consider implementing as you work with the individual and family for culture three
   1. Intervention
   2. Intervention
   3. Intervention

• When you write your first draft make sure you discuss all 4 issues adequately – Clearly demonstrate the impact of each on the counseling process.
• Note: In your final paper you will use the literature to thoroughly discuss commonalities and differences between groups related to case study themes.
• You DO NOT need to give me your reference now; I know you are still planning! In the outline you can say: Reference One, Reference Two, and Reference Three if you do not have them yet

Hint: Remember that this family wants discipline strategies for behavior, the child’s academic performance has dropped, and the family is going through a divorce.