Transcultural Counselling in Action

Patricia d?Ardenne, Aruna Mahtani, Patricia d?Ardenne, Patricia d?Ardenne, Patricia d?Ardenne, Patricia d?Ardenne, Patricia d?Ardenne

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 1999
• ISBN:
  9781446239292
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

`This us a useful introductory book, which is particularly suitable for those in training. It is well structured and easy to read and includes excerpts from therapeutic exchanges to illustrate the points made? - The Journal of Critical Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy

`A useful resource for counsellors wishing to improve their efforts at transcultural counselling? - New Therapist

The Second Edition of this clear and practical guide is designed to help counsellors and professional helpers give effective, sensitive and appropriate support to clients from cultures other than their own.

Patricia d?Ardenne and Aruna Mahtani illustrate the process of transcultural counselling using the contrasting case studies of four different clients, and highlight the impact of cultural issues at individual, community and global levels. Counsellors are encouraged to recognize the importance of life experiences for their work, and to think about ways of using their own skills and resources more flexibly in response to different cultural needs.

1

INTRODUCING TRANSCULTURAL COUNSELLING

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Counselling has been one of the growth industries in the last decade of the millennium. Counsellors have attempted to respond to the needs, beliefs and circumstances of the people that seek and use them. It is now over thirty years since Truax and Carkhuff (1967) published their definitive text, Towards Effective Counseling and Psychotherapy. Their index, however, contained no entries under ‘culture’, ‘race’, or ‘ethnic origin’. A likely explanation for this omission is that a transcultural approach to counselling was not yet perceived to be significant enough for separate consideration. Few of the counselling needs of ethnic groups had been documented or described by those writing on and researching counselling methods. Truax and Carkhuff (1967) maintained that it was possible to be a ‘good counsellor’, to have genuineness, non-possessive warmth, and accurate and empathic understanding, without further embellishment. ‘Good’ counsellors were presumed to be effective with all their clients, whether within or between cultures.

Carl Rogers (1951), on the other hand, refers to the desirability of counselling students having some knowledge of clients within their cultural setting. Further, Rogers (1951:437) observes, ‘Such knowledge needs to be supplemented by experiences of living with or dealing with individuals who have been the product of cultural influences very different from those which have molded the student.’ Although he does refer to culture in the context of counselling, Rogers (1951) does not examine this concept in any further detail, nor does he indicate the skills that counsellors use in practice.

The specific skills required for counselling culturally different clients have been significantly developed over the past two decades. We have written this book to describe the features that currently define effective counselling across cultures in a straightforward and practical way.

WHAT IS COUNSELLING?

There are as many different definitions of counselling as there are therapeutic approaches, but a common working model will be proposed and used. The British Association for Counselling (1985) which represents counselling at a national level in Britain, defines ‘counselling’ as:

When a person, occupying regularly or temporarily the role of counsellor, offers or agrees explicitly to offer time, attention and respect to another person or persons temporarily in the role of client.

In our working model, counselling has many of the components of short-term psychotherapy, that is it is a relationship aimed at facilitating the process by which clients change their feelings understanding and behaviour. Our model is essentially client-centred and non-hierarchical.

By client-centred, we mean that clients and their significant others are the focus of the relationship and make the choices about change. Counsellors do not offer solutions; they offer a relationship where the client can safely look at personal difficulties and move towards change. Counsellors enable their clients to recognise and use their personal resources more effectively. By non-hierarchical we mean that both clients and counsellors have skills that will be used co-operatively in the counselling process. Our model of counselling places more emphasis on the relationship between counsellors and their clients than on the theoretical framework of individual counsellors.

Furthermore, we believe that effective counsellors are people who demonstrate the essential qualities of genuineness, non-possessive warmth and empathy with their clients. Counsellors treat their clients with non-judgemental respect, and hope to introduce practical ways in which this can be achieved across any cultural divide.

WHAT IS CULTURE?

The terms ‘culture’, ‘ethnic groups’ and ‘race’ are frequently used to express very different ideas about a society. Fernando (1991) has described a helpful framework for distinguishing between these terms, (Figure 1.1, see p. 13). Our search for the meaning of ‘culture’ has shown that many workers in the field have struggled to achieve a workable definition of it. Before we can consider the use of ‘culture’ in our practice, it is important to look at how others have used this term.

For example, Triandis (1980) includes both physical and subjective aspects in his definition of ‘culture’. He quotes roads, buildings and tools as physical elements of culture, and myths, roles, values and attitudes as subjective ones. On the other hand, Reber (1985: 170) defines ‘culture’ as ‘the system of information that codes the manner in which the people in an organised group, society or nation interact with their social or physical environment’. Reber also emphasises that ‘culture’ pertains only to non-genetic characteristics and that people must learn these systems and structures.

Different groups of people, such as anthropologists, psychiatrists or politicians, are able to use the term ‘culture’ for their own diverse purposes. Sashidharan (1986), for example, has observed that in psychiatry, words like ‘culture’ and ‘ethnicity’ are not neutral terms; instead these words take on a politically loaded meaning. Fernando (1988) endorses this view when he asserts that ‘culture’ is used in psychiatry in an ethnocentric way. Consequently, non-Western cultures that are alien to psychiatry are themselves seen as pathological In this way ‘culture’ becomes the ‘problem’ that accounts for the abnormal behaviour of the client. Lago and Thompson (1996) have extensively debated the complexity of ‘culture’, and what differences in culture might mean between counsellors and clients.

In talking about culture, we have found that people avoid the more emotive aspects of this term, for example, ‘race’ or ‘class’, because they fear being faced with their own deeply-held prejudices. We are dealing with a complex and value-laden topic.

In common use, the term ‘culture’ has come to mean any difference between one group of people and another. Some researchers refer to differences in family role, gender, lifestyle, religion or politics as ‘cultural’ differences. In fact the term covers a very wide range of issues to do with the way people live. For our purposes, therefore, ’culture’ means the shared history, practices, beliefs and values of a racial, regional or religious group of people.

In practice, this definition of culture requires that counsellors seeing clients from other cultures will consider the following:

A Shared History

A client from a particular cultural group has a common set of previous experiences that brings that group of people together and helps them to define who they are. For example, counsellors who see clients with a history of white oppression and colonialism appreciate the anger that this generates, their own response to that anger and the impact of this on the counselling relationship.

Religion

Clients from another culture will have ways in which their faith and worship define them and which prescribe moral purpose and practices for everyday living. For example, a counsellor seeing a Roman Catholic woman contemplating abortion would need to understand how her religious belief about the sanctity of unborn life will influence her thinking and feeling, and subsequent decision.

Family Values and Intimate Relationships

Individual societies have accepted beliefs and expressions of family life, including marriage and child rearing. For example, any counsellor dealing with a client from an Indian cultural background needs to be sensitive to the difference between Western individualist counselling and the client’s collectivist culture. The counsellor understands the importance of family responsibility and respect for elders within this framework.

WHAT IS ‘RACE’?

Science in the last two centuries has legitimised the concept of ‘race’ as a means of classifying human beings on the basis of biological characteristics. Research on ‘race’ ‘was used to justify slavery, imperialism, anti-immigration policy, and the social status quo’ (Bhopal, 1997). In current thinking, ‘race’ ‘is a scientific myth, it persists as a social entity for historical, social and psychological reasons …’ (Fernando, 1995); ‘race’ is a ‘concept that has largely been discredited in biological science …’ (Bennett et al., 1995). Currently in the social sciences the term ‘race’ is placed in quotation marks.

In everyday speech, ‘race’ almost always refers to differences of skin colour, and is often used in a derogatory manner. In anthropological circles, ‘race’ has referred to a wide range of genetic characteristics, for example, skin colour, blood group, and hair texture. Reber (1985), however, reminds us that ‘race’ cannot be defined usefully using only genetic criteria. The whole biological issue is fraught with complexity and contradiction. He concludes that a useful definition of ‘race’ must include a combination of social, political and cultural factors.

For our purposes, the importance of this observation is that the traditional distinction between ‘race’ (nature) and ‘culture’ (nurture) cannot be made. Phillips and Rathwell (1986) point out that the study of ‘race’ has more to do with social relationships, power and domination, than with biological differences.

We do not seek to define ‘race’. Instead, we are concerned with racism. Fernando (1995) asserts ‘Racism is fashioned by racial prejudice and underpinned by economic and social factors’. Thomas (1992) provides a powerful account of the insidious and harmful effect of racism in psychotherapy. He describes how racism even in its covert forms has a countertherapeutic effect on the relationship. Dominelli (1988: 6) points out, racism is about the construction of social relationships on the basis of an assumed inferiority of non Anglo-Saxon ethnic minority groups and flowing from this, their exploitation and oppression’. We find this a useful definition. But we also note that certain physical characteristics, often described as ‘race’, result in one person suffering discrimination from another who is in a position of power. These characteristics refer to those aspects of an individual’s appearance that distinguish him or her from the dominant culture, which for most of our readers will mean white Anglo-Saxon culture.

WHAT IS TRANSCULTURAL COUNSELLING?

We have chosen the term ‘trans’ as opposed to ‘cross’ or ‘inter’ cultural counselling because we want to emphasise the active and reciprocal process that is involved. Counsellors in this setting are responsible for working across, through or beyond their cultural differences. Eleftheriadou (1994) emphasises this and states that ‘cross’ and ‘inter’ cultural imply that we ‘use our own reference system to understand the client’s experience rather than going beyond our own worldview’. Clients from other cultures have already had to overcome many barriers in everyday life, and may find the counselling environment a further challenge. Transcultural counselling means that the counsellors accept there is another worldview and try to meet their clients more than halfway.

Leininger (1985) has referred to ‘transcultural caring’ as using cultural knowledge and skills creatively to help people live and survive satisfactorily in a ‘diverse and changing world’. Leininger’s emphasis on intentional and positive processes in the therapeutic relationship is very useful for our model of transcultural counselling. In addition, we stress that transcultural work offers a perspective on counselling rather than a particular school of thought. Our approach to transcultural counselling includes the following components:

• counsellors’ sensitivity to cultural variations and the cultural bias of their own approach;
• counsellors’ grasp of cultural knowledge of their clients;
• counsellors’ ability and commitment to develop an approach to counselling that reflects the cultural needs of their clients;
• counsellors’ ability to face increased complexity in working across cultures. This does not mean that such work entails more problems. On the contrary, a properly developed transcultural approach will enrich the skills of all counsellors.

In addition, there are three significant areas in any counselling relationship that begin to take on an added meaning and importance in a transcultural relationship. First, all counselling deals with the establishment of boundaries. Both counsellors and clients need to delineate the nature of their relationship and the tasks at hand. The two parties bring expectations and beliefs to counselling which will need to be made explicit and negotiated. For example, clients might come expecting the counsellor to provide them with immediate solutions to their problems. Counsellors, too, might be tempted to prescribe answers without giving clients the opportunity to work through them.

In a transcultural setting, there will be other limits set by the different beliefs about the nature and purpose of problem solving. Boundaries will also need to be drawn regarding the relative power of counsellors, as well as the role of clients’ other support systems, such as their families and friends. Both parties recognise and agree the limits within which the counselling relationship will function.

Secondly, transference and countertransference have a particular effect in the transcultural setting. The transference of feelings outside the relationship, especially about parents by clients on to their counsellors, is another process that plays a vital part in transcultural counselling. Kareem (1992) observes that both counsellor and client’ … throughout their lives, carry inner feelings about others and these feelings become accentuated in the therapeutic situation’. This may have a positive, but more often a negative impact on the counselling relationship. Our own view is that transcultural counsellors will actively work to deal with these powerful emotions in ways that we shall demonstrate in the following chapters.

Similarly, countertransference, that is the feelings that are elicited in the counsellor by the client, needs to be recognised and used constructively. The previous experiences and feelings of clients and counsellors will inevitably come to bear on any current counselling and will mould its progress. In a transcultural setting, counsellors will need to see counter-transference in terms of the cultural beliefs, prejudices, and racism that is theirs. These additional emotional components are not only active in the counselling relationship, but will affect the clients’ attitudes and feelings in all other relationships. Eleftheriadou (1994) concludes that despite substantial personal training, counsellors are not objective and still experience strong emotions towards their clients.

Thirdly, anyone who seeks counselling is in transition, that is, moving from one state of being to another. Counselling tasks involve the process of change as a means of achieving personal growth. We often talk about our lives as a journey with stages and pathways. Counselling enables clients to choose the most appropriate pathway through a satisfactory transition. Gilbert and Shmukler (1996) describe the therapeutic environment as a ‘transitional space’ where clients can try out new ways of expressing themselves in a safe space.

Clients in a transcultural setting must make transitions in a number of different ways. Not only are they dealing with the changes that face us all in personal growth, but they may in addition have to deal with an alienating and often hostile environment. Clients who have suffered these changes and losses have had to develop coping skills (Furnham and Bochner, 1986). These skills can be used by a sensitive counsellor to help clients achieve personal change in counselling.

Finally, transcultural counsellors will be able to examine their own cultural assumptions and face the fears they themselves might have of being separated and alienated. Once counsellors can do this, they become more effective. The term ‘transcultural’ emphasises the common experiences and tasks facing clients and counsellors, who are aware that their values, assumptions and practices are not absolute.

TRANSCULTURAL STUDIES

Transcultural studies have their roots in anthropology and psychiatry, an uneasy alliance which in the twentieth century has centred on the ‘validity of applying anthropological modes of thought to the problems posed by the occurrence of mental deviance and emotional suffering in all cultures’ (Krause, 1989). Krause (1998) poses the fundamental question about whether modern anthropology, which ‘set out to understand others on their own terms’ can ever b...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword to the Second Edition
• Preface to Second Edition
• Preface to First Edition
• 1 INTRODUCING TRANSCULTURAL COUNSELLING
• 2 CLIENTS
• 3 COUNSELLORS
• 4 GETTING STARTED
• 5 A COMMON LANGUAGE
• 6 THE THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIP
• 7 CHANGE AND GROWTH
• 8 ENDINGS
• References
• Index