Due today by 8 pm EST Two DB post APA must write student one and student two, so I know which db reply belong to whom.

*** Student 1***

Assumptions, Judgement and Broaching

The two characteristics that I will highlight are my humor and being from the East coast. Because I present as lighthearted and often use humor and bring levity to situations people tend to not take me seriously. At times this hurts my feelings because, yes, I often use humor and take full responsibility for that, but it doesn’t mean that I do not have the capacity for deep meaningful conversations or intellectual debates and that I am not intelligent. The same is true of being from the East coast. Often people assume I am from New Jersey, which I am not. I would appreciate if people would ask rather than assume. Along with that comes judgement like if I am from Jersey then I am superficial, focused on how I look and not very intelligent. I need to be cautious about how I use humor and my slight accent especially in the professional arena as I want to be taken seriously. 

I recently had a client who was elderly and abusing alcohol. I made assumptions about how she might be uncomfortable participating in the addictions group setting. I assumed that she would be offended by the language that was being used during group or she would not feel comfortable with my client’s that were abusing drugs. I found myself being protective of her and treating her as if she was frail. I believe this came from how I was taught to respect my elders. As it turned out she became very respected in the group, was non-judgmental and each client felt very safe with her. She was like a strong oak tree, was very accepting of everyone and she certainly didn’t need protecting. Looking back on it, I wish I would have used broaching with her and asked as opposed to assuming.

I admit I have made assumptions about people like for example how men and women differ in how they manage emotions. According to Young, (2020), there is no evidence proving a difference between men and women and processing emotions. I have made a general blanket statement in my group before about how men and women differ in how they process emotions. I plan not to make a statement about that again.

I recently worked with a client who was a gay, male, Latino with HIV. He had experienced severe oppression, abuse, discrimination, and he was a victim of a hate crime in the past. I was able practice broaching with him. He responded positively and when I brought up the differences between us, he wanted to talk about that, and we both were respectful of one another. I could tell that he appreciated my ability to practice cultural humility with him.

Young, (2020), talks about the importance of being a student and leaving aside the expert role when it comes to culture and working with different groups. Young, (2020), emphasizes the importance of asking client’s when we are uncertain and that this is a good example of culture humility. Young, (2020), reports that cultural humility is a respectful action, very unassuming, taking other perspectives into consideration. According to Fisher-Borne, (2014), cultural humility as a concept may be more appropriate then cultural competence. This resonates with me, and I have used this approach numerous times in the past and I believe my former clients appreciated this humble approach.

Yet, I still have work to do. I do not believe a subject like this is something that I will ever master, and I believe being a reflective counselor will be the armor to protect against personal bias, judgement, and assumptions. I am imperfect and know I will make mistakes but being a reflective counselor will assist me with this. According to Young, (2020), being a reflective counselor and engaging in activities such as supervision and journaling helps with the ability to practice broaching. I also believe practicing self-care, being grounded and mindful will help. I also plan to work with this concept and practice asking vs. assuming.

According to Jones, et. al., (2019), broaching with clients leads to numerous positive outcomes and it should be initiated by the counselor within the first 1-2 sessions. According to Jones, et. al., (2019), broaching also should happen between supervisors and supervisees which leads to enhanced supervision and client outcomes. Jones, et. al., (2019), emphasizes that engaging in broaching during supervision is good role modeling for counselors who can use similar skills with their clients. According to Jones, et. al. (2019), ethnic and minority clients have the highest attrition rates following the initial session. The sooner the broaching happens the better and it could reduce the attrition rates and strengthen the therapeutic alliance. (Jones, et. al, 2019).

References

Fisher-Borne, M., Cain, J., & Martin, S. L. (2014). From mastery to accountability: Cultural humility as an alternative to cultural competence. Social Work Education, 34(2), 165–181. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2014.977244

Jones, C. T., Welfare, L. E., Melchior, S., & Cash, R. M. (2019). Broaching as a strategy for intercultural understanding in clinical supervision. The Clinical Supervisor, 38(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/07325223.2018.1560384

Young, M. (2020). Mylab counseling with pearson etext — access card — for learning the art of helping: Building blocks and techniques (7th ed.). Pearson.

****Student 2***

There are a few ways that people make assumptions about my personality, ethnicity, religion, or appearance. I am half of Tatar descent and perhaps this ethnicity belonging to Asian race gives me slightly slanted eyes. My other blood is Russian and that makes me Caucasian. People often assume I am Japanese specifically, and to me that is a mystery. My guess is some people judge others by the size of their eyes. Some have also assumed me to be Armenian because I have dark hair and brown eyes. Even though the original Armenians have light colored features. I believe people have assumed these traits about me because it is something they are familiar with. When we know something, we can easily compare and if the shoe fits, then we apply it a dress it up as something we already know. Some people who find out I’m half Russian also immediately assume me to be Christian Orthodox. Even though I have converted to it and that is true as of today, for the most part I grew up Muslim. I find that people have their own stereotypes in their mind and sometimes use them to assign it to people around them.

I am guilty of using such assumptions. Going back to the shape of the eyes or nose or face in general, I can sometimes correctly identify a Chinese, Philippines or Japanese person. I guess there is no pretending that sometimes some features do fit a certain group of people and our judgements align with the truth. But things become messy and complex when we meet a racially, ethnically, culturally mixed person.

To become more comfortable with broaching this subject with people it is best to politely and directly ask about their background. It is better to ask and learn than to assume, make a painful mistake, and ending up insulting someone. The people of the world are too various and practically everyone has traits that belong to multiple categories.

I want to share and expand on this quote from Scripture: “How many are your works, Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number— living things both large and small”(Psalm 104:24-35). This quote shows that God created huge variety of creatures, both in the seas and lands. My insight from these words is that the Lord graced the earth with his love and creativity in creating us all unique and different people. I believe he rejoices when the people combine differences to create something new. This is only possible through God’s blessing and his help through the Holy Spirit.

References

English Standard Version Bible. (2001).Psalm 104:24-35. ESV Online. https://esv.literalword.com/