On Sounds Good, Tracy Ross and Murray State psychology professor Michael Bordieri discuss the tools that therapists use to treat people of different cultural backgrounds.
The Pew Research Center estimates that the United States will have no single racial or ethnic majority by 2065, meaning therapists will likely be dealing with more patients who come from varying cultural backgrounds. Borideri points out that ethnicity is only one aspect of cultural identity. Age, generation, sexual orientation, gender, and religion are among other cultural forces that shape our lives and behaviors.
“Typically, therapy is a rather intense and personal communication. When therapy is working well, folks report having a very close and intimate relationship. By intimate I mean sharing details about their life that they don’t often share with others,” Bordieri said. “And because of the nature of that communication, cultural competency is really important. Because in order for folks to feel comfortable to open up to share details about their fears and their hopes and their aspirations, we want to create an environment where folks feel comfortable and they feel heard and understood.”
The three parts to cultural competency include awareness, knowledge, and skills. Awareness is recognizing that everyone has their own cultural identities. “Sometimes culture is invisible, especially for folks who might be in the majority culture or in a place of privilege. They don’t necessarily see how others might differ in those dimensions. So we take our own culture for granted sometimes and don’t recognize our assumptions,” Bordieri said. He says awareness of personal cultural identities can help therapists realize when their values may not match the values of their clients. An example of this is that western culture values individualism where other cultures find group harmony or family more important.
Knowledge is having a general understanding of other cultures in order to know which methods of treatment could be most effective. Continuing with the previous example, Bordieri says when treating someone of a culture that values family over individualism, it can be important to bring family members into the therapy session rather than shutting them out.
Finally, therapists are trained the skill of engaging in cross-cultural communication in the therapy room. Bordieri says one of the more important skills is being willing to experience the ambiguity of navigating cultural differences. Being open to uncomfortable conversations, Bordieri says, can open up spaces where meaningful change can occur.
