Custom essays on Multicultural Perspectives and Issues of Diversity

Part 1
The task is: “The American Psychological Association’s six guidelines for working with culturally diverse populations are presented in our readings this week beginning on p. 118. How might you expect to apply such guidelines within your future professional role as human services professional? The APA considers these guidelines as evolving and a work in progress. How do you interpret such a perspective?
Choose one of the six guidelines and create an example of how it might be applied in a real-world counseling environment. How might such an application influence both the human services professional and the client?”
I would like to suggest an example for the first guideline among the others that were defined by the American Psychological Association and cited by Corey, Corey, and Callanan for working with culturally diverse populations:
1. Psychologists are encouraged to recognize that, as cultural beings, they may hold attitudes and beliefs that can detrimentally influence their perceptions of and interactions with individuals who are ethnically and racially different from themselves. (Corey, Corey, & Callanan, 2011)
This guideline means that there is no need to pretend that human service professionals are absolutely unprejudiced and objective. Not at all, they are like other people, like their patients, and they have their own attitudes. Therefore, professionals should be aware about their differences with the patient of the other ethnicity or race and do not bring their personal values into their practice.
As future human services professional I would focus my attention on the cultural, behavioral characteristics and moral values of other ethnicities in order to realize their differences and to find the ways to help them in a correct manner.
To avoid the possible feelings of inferiority, deficiency and lack tolerance, human service professional needs learn more about other cultures to understand and accept differences among individuals. Although human services are not connected to spirituality issue, I guess that spirituality, religion views are also crucial factors in communications with a patient. Spirituality and religion are essential components of culture.
This professional strategy will ensure patient that he or she understands him totally and to demonstrate a cultural empathy. In my opinion, it will improve the mutual understanding between professional and patient.