MULTICULTURAL
Leah,
Good evening.
You mentioned age, gender, race, ethnicity, and nationality as all impacting someone’s
views on death and the bereavement process. I agree with you, all of those have a major
impact on how that is looked upon. I would also like to suggest another factor that can play
a part in those views, it is the person’s occupation. Doctors and other frontline workers see
death and how they handle grief differently than most other people, it is a part of their
culture. Another big group that gets overlooked in the cultural realm is the military. By
definition the military is its own culture we have our own language, customs, and traditions
(
Chatraw & Prior, 2019
). Men and women that are part of the military and are
surrounded by death frequently have developed their own coping mechanisms on how to
best handle it.
In any client therapist relationship trust is the most critical aspect of the relationship (Webb,
2019). I would say it is even more important when dealing with someone that is currently in
the military or someone who served. Not every counselor or therapist will understand the
military lifestyle or the hardships that are faced by the men and women in uniform. My hope
is that every therapist or counselor will practice cultural humility by seeking out someone
who has a better understanding for the client’s point of view instead of pushing their own
judgement on to him or her (Hook et al, 2017).
References
Chatraw, J., & Prior, K. S. (2019). Cultural engagement. HarperCollins
Christian.
Hook, J. N., Davis, D., Owen, J., & DeBlaere, C. (2017). Cultural humility:
Engaging diverse identities in therapy. American Psychological Association.
Webb, K. E. (2019). The coach model for Christian leaders: Powerful leadership skills for
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.
Chatraw and Prior (2019) highlight that there is no such thing as a “culture-
free” individual (p.339). With this being the case, culture is able to impact
many areas of life and the end of life. When considering how an individual
processes bereavement, death, and dying, there are many elements of
culture which can affect how grief is managed as well as how the deceased
person is cared for and viewed. Religion as an element of a person’s cultural
identity can provide comfort of the deceased’s eternal afterlife with God in
heaven, helping to ease the pain of the loss with living relatives. In a human
services counseling setting, the death or declining health of a loved one may
be a common concern for a client. In order to best determine how a client’s
cultural identity can impact their views of coping, death, and dying, a
professional can ask a client how they believe their loved one views their end
of life or death vs. how the client personally feels about the loss. This can
provide insight to the client’s individual feelings in connection to the dying
person and the cultural relationship between them based on their individual
feelings on death.
Empathy within a human services counseling setting is important to help
bridge an understanding with a client in order to better assist in the
treatment process. Even if a client is detailing an experience or event which
the professional has not personally experienced or agrees with, the ability to
recognize hardship free of judgement is helpful in diminishing conflict or
differences between the client and the professional (Hook et al., 2017).
Expressing understanding, especially in an emotionally difficult situation
such as the death of a loved one, can create a counseling environment in
which the client and professional can use their open and empathic
communication to determine the best solution to the problem. In my own
personal experience, I come into contact with many different people in all
different cultural backgrounds through my occupation. Articulating
acceptance and lending a helping hand despite the differences between
myself and an individual I am communicating with through empathy can
promote more open communication and improves the chances that we can
come to a beneficial solution.
References
Chatraw, J., & Prior, K. S. (2019). Cultural engagement. HarperCollins
Christian.
Hook, J. N., Davis, D., Owen, J., & DeBlaere, C. (2017). Cultural humility:
Engaging diverse identities in therapy. American Psychological Association.
Meagan
I enjoyed reading your post and like your thoughts on the importance of empathy.
Many people (myself included) has had a hard time knowing and understanding the difference
between sympathy and empathy. Clients come to seek help not to be judged by the mental health
professional, so it is important that there is little to no conflict between them (Hook et al., 2017).
Hopefully there is a good line of communication between the counselor and the patient. I feel
after trust that is the most important thing. The client should feel comfortable to open up and not
worry they are being judged.
Judging people on their actions or differences is something that a counselor should not do, if that
counselor is a Christian then they really should not be judging anyone. “Do not judge, or you too
will be judged. For in the same way, you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure
you use, it will be measured to you” (King James Version, 1769/2017, Matthew 7:1-2).
Following that teaching then it is wrong to judge someone based on your own cultural values
That does not mean you have to agree or like the cultural differences that the client is expressing
but you should try to understand their point of view (Hook et al., 2017).
References
Hook, J. N., Davis, D., Owen, J., & DeBlaere, C. (2017). Cultural humility: Engaging diverse
identities in therapy. American Psychological Association.
King James Bible. (2017). King James Bible Online. https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/
(Original work published 1769)
