“Catalina” (pseudonym used to protect the identity of the individual being interviewed) is not your typical medical student. Young, Dominicana and the first generation of her family born in the United States, she shoves her clothes into a washing machine in her apartment complex. Graciously, she answers questions about an
Tag: Multiculturalism & Diversity
Multiculturalism & Diversity
Counselors around the world have more in common than you might think. Angela Coker, an associate professor at the University of Missouri – St. Louis (UMSL), found herself talking about some very familiar issues with international colleagues recently at a conference in Bangalore, India. Challenges that American counselors face –
Microaggressions — those subtle messages that demean, insult and invalidate a person — are routine occurrences for many diverse groups. Harvard University psychiatrist Chester M. Pierce coined the term microaggression in his 1970s study of racism in the media. Derald Wing Sue and David Sue extended the definition, adding brief,
In Russia, counseling is often not considered a substantial profession. Unfortunately, the same is true for any country that used to be a part of the USSR. A very limited number of nonmedical-model counseling centers exist, particularly in rural parts of the country. The sad truth, however, is that most
During the past three decades, counseling scholars and practitioners have argued that multicultural competence is a central concern to working effectively with diverse clients and to providing culturally responsive counseling environments. Counselors and clients both bring to the therapeutic relationship a constellation of identities, privileged and marginalized statuses, and cultural
They come by air, land and sea. In airplanes, on overcrowded boats, aboard shipping vessels, by train or even on foot. They are immigrants and refugees looking for the same things as previous generations of people who willingly came to the United States: hope, sanctuary and the possibility of a
Over a five-year period, my colleagues and I have conducted a series of studies to explore the psychology of racial dialogues or “race talk” in the training of counselors and other mental health professionals. As we become an increasingly diverse society, it is impossible for counselors not to encounter clients
If current trends hold, the fall of 2025 will bring the largest and most diverse freshman class to colleges and universities across the U.S. U.S. births surpassed 4.3 million in 2007 – a number not seen since the post-World War II baby boom, when rates of college enrollment were much
[ Editor’s note: Roughly one year ago, CT Online wrote an article about the initiatives the counseling department at the University of Missouri – St. Louis (UMSL) was engaging in as protests and turmoil rocked the city of Ferguson after Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was fatally shot by
On June 17, 2015 several members of the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, sat in a basement to share in Bible study. They welcomed a visitor to their Bible study that night — a visitor who would later murder nine of the people in that