( 3 page paper APA Style) Provide an analysis of the ethical, legal, and multicultural challenges/barriers that are relevant in crisis management and response.Then explain methods by which counselors can help overcome these ethical, legal, and multicultur

Journal of Counseling & Development ■ Winter 2007 ■ Volume 8514 © 2007 by the American Counseling Association. All rights reserved.

For at least 3 decades, the field of counseling has attempted to better meet the needs of an increasingly diverse American population. The Multicultural Counseling Competencies (Sue, Arredondo, & McDavis, 1992), which organize competency into three areas—knowledge, skills, and awareness—were developed (Sue et al., 1982) and updated (Sue et al., 1992; Sue et al., 1998) to set a standard for competent mental health care that is truly inclusive of all people. Much of mul- ticultural counselor training is based on this tripartite model of competence (Goodyear & Guzzardo, 2000). The goals to engender knowledge and skills tend to fit easily into the stan- dard pedagogies of counselor training programs. Developing counselors’ awareness of their own assumptions, values, and biases, however, tends to be more complicated.

This article proposes a unique approach to training for multicultural awareness. Although we describe the approach in the framework of increasing racial awareness, we believe that it could easily be adapted for other areas, such as gender, disability, and sexual orientation. We begin with a discus- sion of two perspectives on understanding the Multicultural Counseling Competencies (Sue et al., 1992). One perspective views the competencies as fixed, achievable goals, and the other views them as an ongoing process. Applying the process perspective to the multicultural awareness component of the tripartite model, we derive a unique view of awareness (active racial/cultural awareness) that emphasizes engagement in and commitment to a daily process of increased and increasing levels of awareness. We review current challenges to training for this type of active awareness and then present a training approach centered on critical incident analysis. The structure and implications of this new approach are discussed from three perspectives: those of the counselor training program, the counseling faculty, and the students. This article concludes

with potential challenges and limitations facing the application of critical incident analysis as a training method.

Multicultural Counseling Competencies: Fixed-Goal and Process Perspectives

The Multicultural Counseling Competencies (Sue et al., 1992) are a centerpiece of the multicultural movement in counselor education and counseling psychology (Ponterotto, Fuertes, & Chen, 2000) and have now been adopted as guidelines for psychological practice by the American Psychological Association (APA; 2003). The guidelines represent a major advance in multicultural counseling and are a compelling tool for fighting oppression and monoculturalism in the field (Sue et al., 1998). The competencies, as outlined in the literature, are often presented as specific, measurable capacities. For example, a competent counselor is able to describe examples of cultural conflict between himself or herself and culturally different others (Arredondo et al., 1996).

One way to look at these capacities is to see them as fixed, static goals. From this perspective, each competency is a cri- terion that can separate therapists into two groups: competent and incompetent. Each competency represents a linear ap- proach to development; in this perspective, counselors attain a level of competence that places them securely in the competent group as opposed to counselors who have not yet attained competence. This aspect of the competencies is most evident in the clear, operationalized definitions of the competencies (Arredondo et al., 1996). This clarity has been essential for the creation of the APA (2003) guidelines, and it offers an individual the ability to verify (in oneself and others) whether a competency is present or not. Clear operationalizations of competence have also been useful in responding to critics of

Noah M. Collins, Counseling Psychology Program, Teachers College, Columbia University; Alex L. Pieterse, College of Education and Human Development, George Mason University. This article is based on a symposium presented at the Winter Roundtable on Race and Culture in Psychology and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, and a paper presented at the Great Lakes Conference, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan. First authorship is shared by the first and second authors. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Noah M. Collins, Counseling Psychology Program, Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 West 120th Street, Box 102, New York, NY 10027 (e-mail: [email protected]).

Critical Incident Analysis Based Training: An Approach for Developing Active Racial/Cultural Awareness Noah M. Collins and Alex L. Pieterse

The authors discuss 2 perspectives on the Multicultural Counseling Competencies (D. W. Sue, P. Arredondo, & R. J. McDavis, 1992): fixed goal and process. Noting that the process has been underemphasized, they introduce active racial/cultural awareness as an operationalization of this perspective. Current training approaches are critiqued from this process perspective, and critical incident analysis is discussed as a tool for increasing active racial/cultural aware- ness. A sample analysis and suggestions for implementation are provided.

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the multicultural movement, who have stated that the goals of multiculturalism are too vague (Sue et al., 1998).

However, the fixed-goal aspect of the competencies brings its own set of limitations. When multicultural competence is seen from the vantage point of fixed goals to be attained, poten- tially harmful and limiting interpretations of what competence actually is can arise. First, this perspective might suggest that once counselors have achieved a competency, no more effort is required to be competent. Second, the fixed-goal perspec- tive can lead to a narrow and external view of the attitudes and behaviors associated with multicultural competence. To illustrate, using the aforementioned example—that competent counselors can describe examples of cultural conflict—from the fixed-goal perspective, the key to this competency is the act of identifying and describing a conflict when it occurs. These actions are highly demonstrable and, therefore, relatively easy to evaluate; however, this perspective could lead counselors to focus mainly on what they can show or demonstrate externally. Such counselors may conclude that competence involves say- ing the right things at the right times, leaving out the internal processes associated with the external behavior.

There is, of course, much more to the competencies than fixed goals, as statements from the multicultural competency documents demonstrate. Sue et al. (1992) stated, “Culturally skilled counselors are constantly seeking to understand them- selves as racial and cultural beings and are actively seeking a nonracist identity” (p. 482). Arredondo et al. (1996) stated that culturally skilled counselors “actively seek out and participate in . . . activities designed to develop cultural self-awareness, and work toward eliminating racism and prejudice” (p. 62). The competencies, therefore, strongly imply active engagement in a process of personal and social change. The current article explores and emphasizes this process aspect of the Multicultural Counseling Competencies.

We focus on competency as a process that involves engag- ing in an honest exploration of one’s experience of racial and cultural reality. Such a process may not necessarily arrive at an end point; rather, it requires a daily choice to engage is- sues of race and culture internally and externally. Choosing to participate in this approach necessarily involves openness to personal growth and change. The process of growth is ongoing for both inexperienced and experienced counselors. Novices at facing racial/cultural issues and those who could be identified as competent are essentially participating in the same process. The activity required to become competent is the same activity that maintains competence. To clarify, we return to the example of competence as the ability to identify and describe cultural conflicts between oneself and different others. Underneath the demonstrable ability to identify and describe cultural conflict is a complicated process involving thoughts, feelings, and defenses. Because individuals are socialized to ignore, deny, and distort how they see racial reality (Carter, 1995), they must be willing to be honest with themselves and others in order to overcome this socialization.

To do this, they must be willing to grow and change. Seen from the process perspective, this competency involves more than identifying and describing a conflict.

A process perspective of the competencies has several strengths. Most important, focusing on the process allows for a nuanced and complex understanding of what the competencies entail: It requires examining the mechanics of competence as a daily lived experience. The process perspective also empha- sizes that competence involves ongoing effort and commit- ment. This perspective views competence not as an end point but as a consistent recurring choice, encountered day by day, to be aware of and not deny racial/cultural realties. Because this choice is the same for the expert and the beginner, there is increased opportunity for collaboration, offering the promise of a less hierarchical approach to training for competence.

Of course, emphasizing this complexity of the concept of competence has limitations as well. Seen from the process perspective, the competencies become vague and, thus, more difficult to measure. This perspective limits their utility for empirical research, and it hampers accountability because it is more difficult to discern the competent from the incompetent. The most important liability associated with the focus on process is the misinterpretation that an attempt to engage in the process is sufficient to denote competence, regardless of the behavior that results or the impact on clients and others. This misinterpretation can lead to the perpetuation of the harm that racism and other oppressions wreak in the field.

To some, viewing the competencies as a process may appear to contradict the view of them as fixed goals, but we assert that the competencies, as they currently appear in the literature, contain both process and fixed-goal aspects. Ar- redondo et al.’s (1996) operationalization of the competen- cies exemplifies the fixed-goal perspective yet also describes competent counselors as those who engage in activities that lead to increased personal growth and awareness. We further assert that the ability to hold both of these perspectives is essential for capturing the full depth and richness of the competencies. Each perspective illuminates important aspects of competency, and when one of them is ignored, harmful misinterpretations can result. Although both perspectives are contained in the competencies, we believe that the field has tended to emphasize the fixed-goal perspective more than the process perspective.

Multicultural Awareness We have found that the skills and knowledge components of the tripartite model of the competencies can be viewed most clearly from the fixed-goal perspective, whereas the awareness component appears to best fit the process perspective. This conclusion is based, in part, on the fact that awareness involves a process of making something explicit that is implicit or hid- den. According to the competencies, multicultural awareness entails affective and cognitive processes that engender in the

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individual a comfort with and positive attitude toward cultural differences (Arredondo, 1999). Competent counselors are aware of their own cultural heritage and the meanings that their group memberships (e.g., race) hold for them and those around them (Arredondo, 1999). This awareness includes understand- ing how counselors’ cultural heritage and resulting worldview differ from those of other cultural heritages and worldviews. The awareness also includes cognizance of the sociopolitical realities that are associated with counselors’ group member- ships and the group memberships of others; that is, they are aware of the existence and dynamics of racism and other op- pressions (Arredondo, 1999). In their operationalization of the Multicultural Counseling Competencies, Arredondo et al. (1996) divided multicultural awareness into specific measur- able capacities, such as being able to name personal cultural traits, being able to describe examples of cultural conflict between oneself and culturally different others, or being able to describe how one can involve clients’ intrinsic help-giving networks. These statements provide a fixed-goal view of this competency of awareness by listing externally demonstrable behaviors. The statements also imply an internal process of honestly experiencing and exploring the tension between one’s own personal cultural traits and sociopolitical realities and the traits and realties of others. However, how this awareness is experienced daily is not explicitly emphasized. We believe that the experience of awareness implied in the competen- cies involves both an active commitment and an intentional and consistent approach to being more aware of the racial and cultural situations that occur day to day. We refer to this process as active racial/cultural awareness.

Active Racial/Cultural Awareness The process aspect of multicultural awareness is implied and not explicitly outlined in the competencies. In effect, the field has made much progress in defining where we, as counselors, want to get to but has achieved less clarity in how to get there; that is, what the multicultural awareness process looks like. We believe that actively engaging in multicultural awareness means replacing the natural avoidance or denial of racial reality with an active understanding and acceptance of one’s participation in creating racial reality. This necessarily involves the capacity to consistently engage with others in an exploration of the automatic assumptions that guide one’s everyday thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Thus, we define active racial/cultural awareness as the ongoing choice to en- gage in a process of grappling honestly and openly with the racial/cultural realities of daily life experiences, intentionally bringing to consciousness thoughts and feelings that were previously denied, ignored, or unseen.

An example from the operationalized Multicultural Coun- seling Competencies may help to illuminate the definition of active racial/cultural awareness. The competencies state that skilled counselors are “aware of how their own cultural

background and experiences have influenced attitudes, values, and biases about psychological problems” (Arredondo et al., 1996, p. 57). In this competency, skilled counselors know their cultural traits, how these traits affect how they view the world and others, and how these traits differ from those of other cultures. Viewed from a process perspective, this competency implies that competent counselors understand and are sensitive to the dynamics of conflictual multicultural interactions, includ- ing their own affective and cognitive responses and what these responses are based on. If appropriate, competent counselors are willing to engage in spontaneous and genuine exploration of the dynamics in the moment, a process that allows them to deconstruct the differing worldviews, cultural orientations, and sociopolitical realities that inform the current interaction.

Challenges in Training for Multicultural Awareness

Helping trainees to reach this standard of awareness often involves helping them to change in very meaningful and profound ways. The fact that increasing awareness involves intangible outcomes, such as attitudinal change, makes it dif- ficult to measure and difficult to set as a training goal (Ridley, Mendoza, & Kanitz, 1994). There is a great deal of variance in the pedagogical efforts to achieve this goal (Helms et al., 2003; Ridley et al., 1994). Reaction papers, journal writing, role playing, videotaping, cross-cultural immersion experi- ences, cross-cultural simulation experiences, experiential exercises, fishbowl exercises, small-group processing, and focus groups are a few of the interventions discussed in the counseling literature (see Helms et al., 2003; Pope-Davis & Coleman, 1997). This literature suggests that these efforts are meeting with some success and that, in programs across the country, students are grappling with issues of race and culture and growing as a result (Helms et al., 2003).

The current approaches to multicultural training are es- sential parts of the armamentarium required to effect the meaningful change discussed here, yet counselor education research suggests that these efforts may be falling short of increasing multicultural awareness. In a survey of American Counseling Association (ACA) members, most reported feel- ing that their level of multicultural training was insufficient (Holcomb-McCoy & Myers, 1999). Holcomb-McCoy and Myers concluded that the current training methods were producing competence in the cognitive domain only, while experiential and emotional domains remained unaffected. Counselor educators have also pointed out that there is not sufficient understanding of the impact of experiential learn- ing aimed at increasing multicultural competence or how to use it most effectively (Achenbach & Arthur, 2002). Others (Estrada, Frame, & Williams, 2004) have noted that there is little guidance on how to put frank discussions of race and culture into training and supervision, and the absence of such discussions marginalizes these issues.

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We contend that current approaches to training have limita- tions from an active awareness perspective. First, in some of the current exercises, racially salient events can become mar- ginalized as discrete, isolated episodes that invade “normal” life from time to time. For example, in cultural immersion experiences, students are asked to “visit” places where such events occur, rather than exploring the racial and cultural reality of their own daily lives. Counselor educators have noted that simulating the experience of being a member of a group not one’s own (e.g., being disabled) may engender a simplified view of that group’s experience (Grayson & Marini, 1996). In fishbowl exercises and cultural simulation experi- ences, racially salient events are created or superimposed on “normal” life, as if normal life did not contain such events. This manner of treating the issue of race mirrors the dominant view of these issues (the view into which Whites are social- ized; Carter, 1995; Jones & Carter, 1996).

Another disadvantage of current multicultural interventions is that they can distance the student from the immediacy of racial/cultural experiences. Students are sometimes asked to role-play situations rather than draw on their actual experi- ences as they occur. Journals and reaction papers help students reflect on their experiences, but they remove this reflection from the actual interaction. When racially salient events are created in training approaches, rather than allowed to happen naturally, students can develop a limited and narrow definition of racial/cultural experience as something that happens only at certain times and in certain circumstances.

These limitations have a number of implications for multi- cultural training. The limitations risk conveying the message that racial and cultural reality can be explored only in specific classes or exercises. If the location and circumstances in which racially salient events occur is controlled or manipulated, the context is often not seen as an active agent in the event and cannot be explored as such. Important systemic issues can be missed and ignored. Such training fails to communicate that multiculturalism is a way of life—part of daily existence in this country—not an issue marginalized to specific contexts. Counselor education scholars have long noted that any focus on racial and cultural issues in the field has a tendency to be “scattered, superficial, and marginalized” (Lappin & Hardy, 1997, p. 42).

Multicultural Infusion in Counselor Training

Combating the aforementioned sort of marginalization re- quires infusion of multiculturalism into training programs. Multicultural infusion has been called for in the counseling training literature for at least 2 decades. In 1991, D’Andrea and Daniels proposed that at the highest level of multicultural development, multicultural goals are infused into all courses in a training program. These authors considered such a level of infusion an ambitious goal, but the call for infusion has

continued since then. Scholars have emphasized the need for integrating multicultural counseling courses into the overall curriculum (D’Andrea & Daniels, 1995) and infusing mul- ticultural issues into a program’s philosophy and mission (Reynolds, 1995). All faculty members need to be actively involved in these efforts (Ridley et al., 1994) and model their commitment to multicultural issues (Reynolds, 1995).

A direct and powerful way to infuse multicultural issues into a training program is to actively engage these issues as they occur in the daily milieu of the program. Racial and cultural experiences occur in all classes and outside the classroom. If all faculty (including professors of statistics, for example) are able to engage them, then multicultural is- sues will truly be infused in the program, and the faculty will present a united effort to develop multicultural competencies in all students. Training for active awareness involves a new level of infusion by pushing the concept beyond the classroom walls, applying the multicultural curriculum, mission, and philosophy to the daily lived experience of the students, fac- ulty, and staff. Given this standard of multicultural infusion, the question remains, What training approaches might help a program meet this standard?

Critical Incident Analysis as an Approach to Racial/Cultural Awareness

Thus far, we have proposed emphasizing the process of multicultural awareness through a concept of active racial/ cultural awareness, def ined as ongoing engagement in grappling honestly and openly with the multicultural reali- ties of daily life experiences. We now put forth the use of critical incident analysis as a strategy to raise the active racial/cultural awareness of students and faculty in counselor training programs.

Critical incident analysis has many variants and has been used as a training tool across disciplines, including education, nursing, human resources, and crisis manage- ment (Dilworth, 1998; Minghella & Benson, 1995; Smith & Russell, 1991). Flanagan (1954), the founder of critical incident analysis as a training method, described the critical incident and the analysis that followed as “an observable human activity that is sufficiently complete in itself to per- mit inferences and predictions to be made about the person performing the act” (p. 332). Critical incident analysis is therefore composed of two facets: the critical incident, defined as a “snapshot, vignette, brief episode, a situation or encounter which is of interest” (Minghella & Benson, 1995, p. 207), and a reflective examination of the incident. The reflective component involves engaging with and explor- ing the incident on both cognitive and affective levels with the goal of reaching a new and transformative understanding of the experience (Boud, Keogh, & Walker, 1985). Dilworth (1998) summarized the rationale for a reflective and action- based approach to learning as follows:

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Adults learn best when confronted with real situations in which they consider themselves stakeholders. . . . Much as adult learning theories point to the need for a reflective component, action learning has the same emphasis. To act is insufficient. The learning is in the reflection on action and in the renewal that comes from then adapting the future action [based] on what was learned. (pp. 17–18)

Parker, Webb, and D’Souza (1995), in applying critical in- cident analysis to nurses’ training, emphasized that critical incident analysis is a type of reflective learning that involves three main features: personal experience, reflection, and transformation of knowledge and meaning.

A core element of critical incident analysis is examining situations and encounters that occur in a naturalistic setting (incidents that are raw and unedited). The examination takes the form of active reflection on an important incident, encoun- ter, or situation and then an application of the analysis to future behavior. Note that the change in behavior and attitudes that occurs is viewed as part of the critical incident analysis, not simply a by-product of the analysis. This suggests that the itera- tive exchange between action and analysis is ongoing—that learning based on critical incidents is truly a process without a focus on an end point.

The application of critical incident analysis to counselor training is not a new idea. In a recent study, Furr and Car- roll (2003) investigated the role of critical incidents in the development of master’s-level counselors. Defining a critical incident as a “positive or negative experience recognized by the counseling student as significant” (Furr & Carroll, 2003, p. 485), these authors reported that students identified an average of two to three critical incidents per semester, events both di- rectly and indirectly related to their training. Fukuyama (1994) applied the critical incident lens to supervisory experiences in counselor training, noting that the critical incident usually comprised a cognitive and an affective component. Because the experiences tended to move counselors to reevaluate their personal growth and the context in which the incidents oc- curred, they could spur profound shifts in both professional and personal development. Toporek, Ortega-Villalobos, and Pope-Davis (2004) explored the influence of critical inci- dents on the development of multicultural competence. They found that students and supervisors identified awareness as the area in which critical incidents were the most influential. Specifically, critical incidents led to increased attention to, understanding of, and insight about how race and culture influence counseling and supervision.

An essential aspect of critical incident analysis involves less structured and more spontaneous learning that is active, ongoing, and therefore not bounded by time and expectation. The use of critical incident analysis in training for racial/cultural awareness focuses on the experience of racial/cultural reality that undergirds the demonstrable competencies. For instance, whereas didactic instruction, practicum placements, and

externships may focus on the demonstrable skills a trainee exhibits, critical incident analysis elicits an exploration of the thoughts, feelings, defenses, and so on, that reside underneath and provide the basis for the demonstrable skills.

Theories of adult learning and communication have guided the use of critical incident analysis in other disciplines (Min- ghella & Benson, 1995; Parker et al., 1995). In the current discussion, however, we focus primarily on the rationale and structure of Critical Incident Analysis Based Training (CIABT). We limit ourselves here to suggesting that racial identity theory (Cook, 1994) and multicultural counseling theory (Sue, Ivey, & Pedersen, 1996) might serve as guides in analyzing critical racial/cultural incidents. The value of racial identity theory in developing active racial/cultural awareness has been specifically highlighted by Cook (1994):

Racial Identity models can provide a relatively non-threatening focus for discussing racial differences. . . . The models examine individual differences rather than sweeping generalizations about racial groups, generalizations that can contribute to alienation and defensiveness when individuals discuss racial issues. Individuals can discuss their racial differences from a perspective of “growth and development” rather than “blame.” (p. 137)

In view of the fact that race is such an integral aspect of American society and that interpersonal interactions are deeply affected by race relations, we believe that many critical incidents happen daily. These range from subtle interactions that are grounded in differing racial/cultural worldviews to more blatant occurrences of racial conflict. The following illustration is therefore offered as an example of an everyday incident that lends itself to analysis.

Example of a Critical Incident Three counseling students are in a small office. Two of the students, a man and a woman, are Black, and the third student, a woman, is a White. A White male student, well known to all the others, walks in and makes a humorous comment implying that the Black female student is trying to get some money from the Black male student. The Black female student responds, “Money? . . . No, he’s a Black man,” resulting in much laughter by the Black students and a stifled unsure laugh by the White students. The incident ends with the students returning to their prior activities with no comment about the interaction.

This experience illustrates the intellectual and affective re- sponses commonly associated with a racial interaction—awk- wardness, uncertainty, denial, a need to appear aware, the experience of being silenced. In these very experiences, much learning can occur about the automatic unspoken assumptions that drive behavior in racial situations. Our example was chosen for its lack of blatant or even subtle racism in order

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to illustrate what a racially salient critical incident might look like. We purposely want to avoid reifying the common notion that events of blatant discrimination or more subtle racism are the only ones that qualify as racially salient. Whereas acts of blatant racism and micro-aggressions (Franklin, 1999) are indeed critical incidents and therefore fruitful for analysis, our contention is that much learning can also take place if the more “innocuous” incidents that people encounter daily are also analyzed.

Analysis of Incidents: Format and Essential Elements

The analysis of a critical incident should incorporate four core elements:

1. Acknowledgment. This might be the most important step—and the step that involves the most risk. Indi- viduals need to acknowledge that something of signifi- cance just occurred. In the illustration, acknowledg- ment would require at least one student to draw attention to the result of the exchange—that something felt awkward and uncertain. A small perception check could then occur: “Am I the only one who felt something just then?” The risk, of course, is that the initiator could be dismissed; the other students could engage in the com- mon approach of denying that they had just experienced an awkward yet meaningful situation. It is important to note, however, that the very act of acknowledgment already moves the discourse beyond what commonly happens and allows for a space of genuine interaction. For students to engage at this level of risk taking, they need an introduction to and agreement to participate in critical incident analysis as a training tool, as well as a stance of courage and authenticity.

2. Confrontation. Here, individuals are required to move beyond acknowledgment to disclose their internal processes in the interaction. If all agree to analyze the incident, a dialogue of exploration and disclosure en- sues. In the aforementioned example, White students may describe and explore what led to their hesitant laugh, and Black students may explore whether they responded overenthusiastically to a comment that itself was rather self-denigrating. Of importance here is that the confrontation also needs to explore the affective responses that accompanied the behavioral response. Expressing and exploring negative affect might well be challenging. With regard to race, individuals are generally socialized to be polite and courteous and, above all, to deny or repress the automatic feelings that surface. In the context of a counselor training program, this type of exploration might be best undertaken under some form of supervision, particularly if the students are new to critical incident analysis.

3. Reflection. As individuals move to reflect on the expe- rience, they form an understanding of the interaction. At this point, racial identity theory and Sue et al.’s (1992) Multicultural Counseling Competencies (or other theoretical models) can be applied to increase the understanding of patterns of behavior and interac- tions. In the illustration, the focus for the students is on their individual behavior and how their behavior collectively created the incident. Greater understand- ing is pivotal to processing the affective experience; as understanding develops, participants may begin to explore alternative behaviors and reactions and experi- ence a greater sense of choice.

4. Commitment. The final element of the analysis is simi- lar to the initial step. It includes an acknowledgment of the process of trying to understand, an appreciation of each individual’s choice to engage in a moment of learning, and a commitment to maintain a stance of openness around racial/cultural experiences. Whether it is made explicit or not, participation in analysis of the incident may heighten the students’ awareness of such experiences so that future incidents are ac- knowledged, attended to, and even analyzed. Thus, a commitment to increased awareness and honesty in future behavior may occur.

Now that we have presented the mechanics of a critical incident analysis in counselor training for active racial/cultural awareness, we turn to a discussion of CIABT as a training method and some of the challenges associated with imple- menting it. We draw heavily on both the ACA (2005) ethical guidelines and counselor education literature on ethical and safety considerations in experiential training.

Implementation of CIABT The Program as a Whole

We are suggesting a systematic and comprehensive approach for the implementation of CIABT rather than its use as a spe- cific instructional technique or tool. It is vital that CIABT be implemented as a formal, program-wide initiative, endorsed by the entire faculty, in an institution that has an active com- mitment to social justice and an expanded dialogue on issues of race and culture. This initiative must be clearly announced and explained to all stakeholders. Programs that have adopted a particular emphasis—for example, social justice—have noted the importance of explicitly outlining the nature of the training that students will engage in (F. Bemak, personal communication, October 10, 2004). This includes placing the CIABT initiative in a central and highly visible position in program descriptions, application materials, student and faculty selection processes, new student and faculty orienta- tions, student and faculty review and promotion processes, and program goals and outcome measures. Explicit disclosure

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that this is a central aspect of the program’s methods and goals is also consistent with ethical mandates that require informed consent to all experiential approaches to counselor training (see ACA, 2005). Ultimately, the hope is that this will lead all stakeholders to feel a sense of ownership of the CIABT methods and goals.

The Faculty Perspective

One goal is to institutionalize the values and goals of active racial/cultural awareness among faculty. Part of the socializa- tion of new and current faculty is achieved by the high vis- ibility of the critical incident analysis initiative in all faculty interview, selection, and orientation procedures. It should be extremely clear to all faculty in the program that they are expected to engage in critical incident analysis methods and that their participation in and commitment to CIABT as a core aspect of the mission of the program will be part of annual evaluations and progress reports.

As stated in the ACA (2005) ethical guidelines, counselor educators must be skilled in the pedagogic approaches they use. Achenbach and Arthur (2002) proposed that skilled facilitators of experiential learning are able to move beyond traditional teaching methods, manage group dynamics, and link students’ learning to competencies. They help students to be as comfortable as is reasonably possible when participating in novel training experiences and to process the difficult feel- ings that can emerge. Part of the selection and orientation of new faculty will involve assessing these abilities and providing training and mentoring where skills can use improvement.

The ethical standards (ACA, 2005) for counselor educators also specify that faculty be capable of serving as role models for their students. As applied to a critical incident analysis initiative, this includes being able to engage in analyses of incidents in which faculty members themselves are involved. To facilitate this modeling, critical incident analysis should be integrated into faculty meetings, with a portion of the meeting reserved for analysis of incidents that may come up. In such a milieu, faculty may be able to model for each other, practice, and even struggle with exploring racial and cultural issues together, as a testing ground for how this can be best done with students. In these sessions, faculty can experiment with levels of risk taking, self-disclosure, and processing methods. They may also develop more empathy with the students who struggle with engaging in analyses of critical incidents.

The inclusion of CIABT can be formalized by creating an ongoing seminar on critical incident analysis training and supervision. All faculty can be expected to teach this seminar, rotating on a regular basis. Mentorship should be a central aspect of the faculty experience of a critical-incident-oriented program. New faculty (or colleagues being socialized into a critical incident initiative) are paired with and taught by faculty who either are experienced in the methodology or are introducing the initiative. Pairs are assigned to teach the criti-

cal incident analysis course together. In processing meetings, faculty discuss the analyses done in class. New pairings are created each year, so that all new faculty have an opportunity to work with each experienced faculty member.

The modeling and training in identification of critical in- cidents and their analysis extends beyond the classroom and conference room walls. Faculty must endeavor to identify incidents and initiate analyses in more informal milieus, even in hallways, lunchrooms, and lounges. In this way, faculty expand the boundaries of the process and begin to establish critical incident analysis as a cultural norm of the program. This approach furthers the goal of infusing multicultural is- sues throughout the training program (D’Andrea & Daniels, 1991) and the ethical mandate that counselor educators strive for infusion in all training endeavors (ACA, 2005). Identify- ing and analyzing critical incidents should not be limited to experiential courses or courses that directly pertain to the practice of counseling.

This initiative requires faculty to take risks and become vulnerable with each other and with students. Issues may arise regarding uneven power relationships and appropriate boundar- ies. The ACA (2005) ethical code discusses the importance of counselor educators being aware of uneven power dynamics and maintaining appropriate boundaries with students. Power dynamics also arise between professors of differing ranks and levels of seniority. It is not difficult to imagine critical incidents being raised around faculty promotions, student evaluations, and other high-stakes decisions. Thus, it is extremely important to keep the focus of critical incident analyses on exploration and understanding, not on judgment or decision making. As much as possible, the processes for programmatic decisions must be kept distinct from the processes of critical incident analysis. This is not to say that the light shed by analysis of critical inci- dents will never influence program decisions, but the purpose of identifying and analyzing a critical incident should not be to influence decisions; rather, critical incident analysis should be motivated by a desire for self-exploration and learning.

The Student Perspective

Like faculty, students must experience full disclosure about the CIABT model and its centrality in the program’s training methods via written materials and the application process. With this knowledge, students who choose to apply will be motivated to take on the challenge of this sort of growth expe- rience. A key aspect in the orientation for new students and all of the CIABT training is to disabuse stakeholders of the notion that racial incidents are exclusively bad things done by racists. The goal is to create a program culture in which racial and cultural experiences are seen as normal and in which denial and distortion of these experiences are seen as great sources of harm. The orientation includes readings and instruction on the CIABT method as well as modeling and practice of the method by faculty and advanced students.

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In their first 2 to 4 years, students must have space for ex- ploring, reflecting on, and being supervised in critical incident analysis. This space could be provided by the CIABT seminar, which is required and serves as a general and CIABT “home room.” In it, critical incident analysis is modeled, and debrief- ing, a key aspect of experiential learning (Achenbach & Arthur, 2002), takes place. The course may also include instruction and exercises about effective communication, dialogue, and group facilitation. Instructors use some of the many experiential train- ing interventions in the counselor education armamentarium, but the central focus always remains the analysis of everyday incidents. As students progress, they are encouraged to bring in critical incidents that occur outside this classroom to analyze them there and, ultimately, to report back on critical incident analyses that occur elsewhere. Unsupervised analysis of critical incidents is encouraged only after a student has gained enough facility in participating in and facilitating these analyses in the classroom. The idea is to slowly increase the amount of responsibility students take in the CIABT process.

The process asks students, like faculty, to take risks and become vulnerable with each other and their professors. Thus, in the consideration of students’ safety, students and faculty should have the right to choose not to engage in any given CIABT reflective process. Counselor education scholars have suggested that participation in experiential training should be voluntary to promote safety (Achenbach & Arthur, 2002). The ACA (2005) ethical code mandates that students not be evaluated based on their level of self- disclosure during experiential exercises. At times, it can be less useful to engage in analysis of a critical incident than to leave it unexplored, such as when individuals are feeling particularly vulnerable or upset due to other factors or when there simply is not enough time. Just declining to participate should suffice, although a stated reason for declining would be helpful. Allowing people the choice not to participate may sound frighteningly similar to avoiding these issues in daily life, but we believe that the open acknowledgment and the active choice to engage or not serve to create a very different phenomenon. Allowing choice may also help convey that critical incidents are happening all the time and that another opportunity will present itself soon enough. As counselor educators, we need to change the view of “having a racial experience” from something students get caught at or something that is done to them into something that is part of the day-to-day fabric of experience. Such a view can provide even more motivation to explore racial/cultural experiences and to avoid the misunderstandings and distor- tions that commonly occur.

Counselor educators who write about multicultural train- ing often raise the issue of safety for trainees (Achenbach & Arthur, 2002). Many of their interventions are designed to promote the feeling that students will not be judged or at- tacked. We agree with these authors that a feeling of safety

is an important aspect of training on sensitive issues such as race. Faculty who engage in instruction and participation in CIABT must have expertise in doing experiential and group interventions in a safe and supportive manner that allows participants to take greater risks.

We also emphasize, however, that there is room in the pedagogical repertoire of counseling to push for greater risk taking and for challenging the need for safety as a possible resistance to growth. Counselors often see risk taking as necessary to promote change in their psychotherapy clients. Why is it not seen as necessary in their own training? Our view is that inherent in counselor training is a commitment to the experience of personal growth. Furthermore, we be- lieve that racial/cultural competence involves and, at times, requires profound personal change. Thompson and Neville (1999) acknowledged that discussing issues of racism with clients evokes intense, uncomfortable emotions. However, when an attempt is made to empathize and work through these emotions, “an interpersonal environment of growth and learning can occur” (Thompson & Neville, 1999, p. 204). Group therapy scholars assert that safety develops in a group, in part, because the members take risks, whereas unfaced, unstated issues between members lead to a cul- ture of guardedness (Yalom, 1995). In essence, the goal of critical incident analysis is to make the environment safer for open discussions of issues of race and culture. This is done by taking greater risks, normalizing racial/cultural experiences, and sharing these experiences.

Monitoring and Evaluation The ACA (2005) ethical code and the ethical code for counselor educators (Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, 1993) mandate that counselor educators evaluate student performance based on specific standards of competence. Counselor educators are to evaluate the effectiveness of experiential learning methods on an ongo- ing basis (Achenbach & Arthur, 2002). We propose that a process for monitoring and evaluating the program-wide progress of CIABT be formally incorporated in the program (e.g., as part of faculty staff meetings). In these meetings, faculty discuss what has been effective and what barriers remain to creating a culture of more open dialogue on race and culture as well as to creating graduates who are com- petent to address these issues. Student feedback about the method and its implementation can be helpful in the process (Achenbach & Arthur, 2002), and faculty can explore and try out modifications and new interventions in the faculty meeting forum. Finally, in keeping with the nonhierarchi- cal approach of CIABT, monitoring should include faculty accountability regarding their personal involvement in their analysis of critical incidents or other evidence of their commitment to this program-wide initiative.

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Concluding Thoughts: Further Development of CIABT

If the Multicultural Counseling Competencies (Sue et al., 1992) are to be taken seriously as a standard for effective counseling and counselor training, it is imperative that coun- selors develop training methods and outcome measures that fulfill the standard mandated by the competencies. The present discussion represents an attempt to imagine and concretize a training program that might approach this standard. As we have struggled to articulate the idea of critical incident analysis as a vehicle for active racial/cultural awareness training, we have been both excited and daunted by the possibilities and challenges inherent in this approach. An ongoing question involves the level of multicultural organizational development required for a program to implement CIABT. Is CIABT ap- propriate only for programs that are multiculturally competent, or could it begin a process of development for programs that are not in tune with racial/cultural issues? Once the initiative is started, how can counselor educators deal with the inevitable resistance to this type of training? Resistance is often exhibited in the unstated delegation of issues of race and culture to a particular subgroup of faculty and students. This article was written with the hope of initiating a dialogue on the merits of CIABT for multicultural awareness, and, in that spirit, we offer the following recommendations for practice and research:

1. We recommend that educators review and implement CIABT and other training models (e.g., see Carter, 2005) that affect the process aspect of multicultural competence and promote active racial/cultural awareness.

2. Counselor educators and researchers need greater empirical understanding of the underlying processes of multicultural competence and incompetence to better inform multicultural training strategies. Because this involves constructs and phenomena that are uncon- scious and difficult to measure, we recommend that researchers use a variety of research methods (e.g., both qualitative studies to explore processes in depth and experimental methods using deception to access latent and unconscious motivations).

3. We recommend participatory research (Cornwall & Jewkes, 1995) because it might be a particularly useful tool for assessing the utility of CIABT. By drawing on models that emphasize collaboration and deemphasize hierarchy, participatory research is consistent with the values of CIABT and could illuminate how this and other experientially driven training models can be successfully implemented.

Although implementation of CIABT does present signifi- cant challenges, it also provides an important approach to ra- cial/cultural training. Unmasking the subconscious, automatic responses that guide and frame our racial/cultural interactions

is a key ingredient of multicultural competency. It is our hope that CIABT, as described here, will be an additional tool for fulfilling the promise inherent in the Multicultural Counseling Competencies (Sue et al., 1992).

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