Multicultural Counseling Competence

Charles R. Ridley & Debra Mollen

Multicultural counseling competence—the intentional consideration and utilization of culture to facilitate therapeutic change—has become one of the most critical forces guiding the discipline of counseling psychology. In response to both the diversifying of the population of the United States and the civil rights, women's rights, and gay and lesbian rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s, pioneers in the counseling profession instigated changes in their theories and practices. One of the enduring changes is the profession's deploring of racist, ethnocentric, sexist, and heterosexist practices, which were found to be ubiquitous in the mental health system. Although the deplorable practices sometimes were unintentionally motivated, the consequences for consumers, nevertheless, were deleterious. Among the more formidable initiatives were attempts to make counseling more accessible to members of disenfranchised groups and also the development of new competencies to shape and guide counseling practice. Counseling psychologists, led by visionaries such as Derald Wing Sue, ...

Users without subscription are not able to see the full content on this title. Please, subscribe or login to access all content on this website.