Counseling Latinos and la familia

A Practical Guide

Azara L. (Lourdes) Santiago-Rivera, Patricia Arrendondo, Maritza Gallardo-Cooper

• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Year: 2001
• ISBN:
  9781452236346
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Counseling Latinos and la familia provides an integrated approach to understanding Latino families and increasing competency for counselors and other mental health professional who work with Latinos and their families. It provides essential background information about the Latino population and the family unit, which is so central to Latino culture, including the diversity of various Spanish-speaking groups, socio-political issues, and changing family forms. The book also includes practical counseling strategies, focusing on the multicultural competencies approach.

P A R T I

Overview

1

Understanding Latino Perspectives

The Multicultural Counseling Competencies

Cuando una puerta se cierra, otra abre.
When one door shuts, another opens.

Rovira, 1984, p. 158

Objectives

• To examine the Multicultural Counseling Competencies (MCCs) (Arredondo et al., 1996; Sue et al., 1992) and other culture-specific guidelines as frameworks for understanding Latino perspectives in counseling.
• To review the Dimensions of Personal Identity Model (Arredondo & Glauner, 1992) and its adaptation to Latino Dimensions of Personal Identity.
• To examine Mestizo and Latino-specific models and frameworks.

Competencies

As a result of studying this chapter, counselors will:

• Have knowledge of the historical and political context for the development of multicultural and culture-specific competencies and guidelines in the fields of counseling and psychology.

Latino-Specific Competencies

AWARENESS

• Culturally skilled counselors are aware of competency-based models and guidelines relevant to working with clients in general and with Latinos specifically.

KNOWLEDGE

• Culturally skilled counselors have knowledge about the historical and political context for the development of multicultural and culture-specific competencies and guidelines in the fields of counseling and psychology.
• Culturally skilled counselors are able to describe Latino-specific models and frameworks that can serve as reference points when working with Latino clients.

SKILLS

• Culturally skilled counselors are able to conceptualize the Dimensions of Personal Identity Model for working with individuals from different Latino groups.
• Culturally skilled counselors can identify specific MCCs and guidelines that can be resources for their work with Latino clients and institutions that serve them.

Self-Assessment

Directions: Answer True or False. The correct responses are at the end of the chapter.

T	F	1. The MCCs are ethnic specific.
T	F	2. The MCCs are a product of the National Association of Social Workers.
T	F	3. There is a Hispanic/Latino-based psychology.
T	F	4. The MCCs specify guidelines for counselor racial awareness.
T	F	5. There are dimensions of personal identity that are relevant to Latino groups.
T	F	6. The Dimensions of Personal Identity Model can be applied to both the individual and family.
T	F	7. A Mestizo model of identity development includes the individual’s phenotype.
T	F	8. A culturally skilled counselor is aware that sociopolitical influences play a role in understanding the life experiences of Latino clients.
T	F	9. Awareness, knowledge, and skills are the components of the MCCs.
T	F	10. The Latino-Specific Competencies were developed at the same time as the MCCs.

Introduction

Both individual and institutional histories are valuable resources to draw on in recapping the evolution of the counseling profession’s increasing prioritization of multicultural and culture-specific education, research, and practice. Although many of today’s more recently graduated counselors and psychologists may have an appreciation of and may actually have been schooled through multicultural counseling coursework and research, it still seems appropriate to describe briefly how we arrived at today’s status quo. In this introduction, historical Latino touchstones in this evolutionary process are also presented.

The counseling and psychology professions’ limited focus on multiculturalism and on ethnic- and racial-specific groups has been acknowledged in the literature since the 1960s, when Gilbert Wrenn (1962) used the term culturally encapsulated counselors. Although publications were sparse and psychologists and counselors from ethnic and racial minority backgrounds were few, there was a grassroots effort to make culture and race more visible and legitimate areas of study within the fields of counseling and psychology. Influenced by the civil rights movement of the 1960s, a handful of ethnic and racial minority professionals assumed their personal power in both the American Counseling Association (ACA) (formerly the American Personnel and Guidance Association) and the American Psychological Association (APA). As a result of the efforts of such pioneers as Martha Bernal, Amado Padilla, Manuel Ramirez III, and Art Ruiz in the 1970s, Latino-based research began to be published alongside studies of African Americans, Asian Americans, and American Indians, and to be conducted by individuals of those ethnic and racial heritage backgrounds.

In the mid to late 1970s, articles on counseling the culturally different appeared in ACA publications, primarily in special issues of the Personnel and Guidance Journal. Under the editorship of Derald Wing Sue, the topics of culture, ethnicity, and race received deliberate attention. Featured articles by ethnic and racial minority researchers and educators provided an opening to descriptive and empirically based studies about different groups. Counselor educators such as the late Art Rene Ruiz offered contributions about Latino experiences and worldviews. After all, it was the post-civil rights era; segregation had ended, bilingual education was offered in public schools, and community counseling centers were flourishing. Federal funds from the National Institute of Mental Health, the Department of Education, and other agencies were allocated for Latino-based research centers in New York, Michigan, and Los Angeles, and Title VII fellowships were available for Latino doctoral students.

The special multicultural-focused counseling publications and articles sprinkled in The School Counselor, Counseling and Values, and The Counseling Psychologist affirmed the need to develop greater understanding and skills for education and training, research, assessment, and clinical practice in cross-cultural counseling, as it was then called. Although it was the late 1970s, the profession-at-large was still not ready for the cultural focus. This was manifested through conference presentations and training programs that had low attendance and a minimalist approach. It was what many multicultural specialists described as the “cookbook” or “tell us about them” mind-set. Essentially, the focus was on the culturally different client. Whether the clients were Puerto Ricans or African Americans, helping professionals would ask the same type of question: What do I need to know to work with _________?

In the early 1980s, this cookbook tendency began to change. The term competencies was used in ACA and APA publications (Arredondo-Dowd, 1981; Sue et al., 1982) to promote culturally relevant counselor preparation. In addition, through the leadership of Allen Ivey, then president of Division 17 (Counseling Psychology) of the American Psychological Association, an Education and Training Committee promulgated a document (Sue et al., 1982) that is a benchmark in the burgeoning field of cultural and multicultural competencies and guidelines today. This publication outlined an historical and sociopolitical rationale for cross-cultural competencies; it was and continues to be the reference point for subsequent and contemporary publications.

In 1992, under the leadership of Thomas Parham, then president of the Association of Multicultural Counseling and Development (AMCD), “Multi-cultural Counseling Competencies and Standards: A Call to the Profession” (Sue, Arredondo, & McDavis, 1992) was published. These 31 competencies were organized into three domains: Counselor Awareness of Own Values and Attitudes, Counselor Awareness of Client’s Worldview, and Culturally Competent Strategies and Interventions, and into three learning dimensions: awareness, knowledge, and skills. Aside from the ethical standards of both the ACA and the APA, few competency documents have been developed to guide education and practice and to give emphasis to holistic approaches. The Multicultural Counseling Competencies (MCCs) began to fill this void because historically, cultural, ethnic, and racial factors had been ignored. It should be noted that the Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, National Association of Social Work, and National Association of School Psychologists have also included multicultural sensitivity in their ethical standards.

In addition, two other premises were advanced. One highlights the fact that all individuals, institutions, and training programs are culture bound. The other recognizes the need not only for broad-based multicultural guidelines but also for culture-specific perspectives, for example, African American, Caucasian, and Latino.

In 1996, the AMCD Professional Development Committee added depth to the 31 competency statements. “Operationalization of the Multicultural Counseling Competencies” (Arredondo et al., 1996) provides 119 behavioral statements addressing awareness, knowledge, and skills in the three domains. This document serves as a springboard for curriculum development, research and assessment, and the development of competencies in other areas of counseling practice, for example,, school, family, gay and lesbian concerns, and so forth. In effect, the MCCs have catalyzed new thinking and changes at various levels and in different institutions.

Related Guidelines

The important role of culture, race, and language, as both personal and institutional phenomena, has been addressed in several ways by the APA. Examples include (a) the establishment of Division 45, the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues; (b) support for the National Hispanic Psychological Association and other ethnic-specific associations;(c) publication of Guidelines for Providers of Culturally and Linguistically Sensitive Services (American Psychological Association, 1990); (d) inter-divisional collaboration and publication of a presentation on “Best Practices for Promoting Diversity” (Arredondo, 2000); and (e) the publication of Guidelines for Research in Ethnic Minority Communities (Council of National Associations for the Advancement of Ethnic Minority Issues, 2000). Under review at this time are Guidelines for Multicultural Counseling Proficiency for Psychologists: Implications for Education and Training, Research and Clinical Practice (American Psychological Association, in press). This document is designed to offer guidelines for awareness, knowledge, and skills in the three previously specified areas. If accepted, the guidelines will parallel Guidelines for Psychotherapy With Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Clients (American Psychological Association, 1999) and specific guidelines for addressing women in counseling developed by Division 17, Counseling Psychology, entitled, “The Division 17 Principles Concerning the Counseling/ Psychotherapy of Women: Rationale and Implementation” (Fitzgerald & Nutt, 1986). Together, these documents provide guidance to educators and clinicians in both broad and specific ways.

Contemporary Perspectives on
Multicultural Counseling Competencies

Multicultural counseling has been described as the fourth force in counseling (Pedersen, 1999). The proliferation of literature in this area has erupted since the early 1990s. Multicultural counseling paradigms, racial identity models, ethnic-specific identity models, and instruments designed to assess multicultural competency (Arredondo et al., 1996; D’Andrea & Daniels, 1995; Ponterotto, 1988; Ponterotto & Pedersen, 1993; Sodowsky, Taffe, Gutkins, & Wise, 1992) are among the topics under discussion. In addition, research to assess multicultural competency (Holcomb-McCoy & Myers, 1999) with instruments specific to counselor attitudes and awareness, as well as outcome-based studies, are beginning to identify competencies that may be most predictive of culturally effective practice. There is new empirical research, described in such journals as the Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences and the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development. These publications take ethnicity and race into account as well as such factors as acculturation, biracial identity, and other constructs that have historically been neglected in traditional psychology.

Culture-specific competencies for culturally informed education and practice are being promoted through ethnic-specific literature and videotapes. One example is Innovative Approaches to Counseling Latina/o People, a film that includes a demonstration of bilingual (Spanish-English) counseling (Microtraining Associates, 1999). Specific to Latinos, there is the Psychology of the Americas: Mestizo Perspectives in Personality and Mental Health (Ramirez, 1983), Research With Hispanic Populations (Marín & Marín, 1991), Theoretical and Conceptual Issues in Hispanic Mental Health (Malgady & Rodriguez, 1994), Hispanic Psychology: Critical Issues in Theory and Research (Padilla, 1995), Latino Families in Therapy: A Guide to Multicultural Practice (Falicov, 1998), Psychological Interventions and Research With Latino Populations (Garcia & Zea, 1997), and Family Therapy With Hispanics: Toward Appreciating Diversity (Flores & Carey, 2000). There are special issues on current directions in Chicano/a psychology (The Counseling Psychologist, 2001) relating to various issues among Latinos and across different sectors of the heterogeneous Latino population, underscoring the importance of the development of Latino-specific competencies. Throughout this book, Latino-specific competencies will be recommended.

Multicultural and culture-specific lenses broaden our understanding because they draw on history, anthropology, sociology, political processes, economics, and phenomena about human development from both etic and emic perspectives. The latter inform educators and practitioners about the relevance of culture specificity and relativity versus cultural universality. Furthermore, as will be learned from th...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Series Editor’s Introduction
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Dedication
• I. Overview
• II. Counseling Issues and Intervention
• Appendix A: Selected Measures of Acculturation
• Appendix B: Glossary of Terms
• Appendix C: Culture-Centered Clinical Interview
• Appendix D: Selected Bibliotherapy Resources
• References
• Index
• About the Authors