Lesson 2: Ethics and Multicultural Competence


Attention


Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this lesson's material, students will be able to:

  • Identify standards of ethical practice
  • Understand ethics and conducts practice in a professional manner (MHRT/C Outcome)
  • Identify personal multicultural biases
  • Awareness of prevalence and common effects of trauma (MHRT/C Outcome)

Teaching

Ethics

The MHRT/C certificate in the State of Maine is not currently a license so there are no specific Ethical Guidelines (outside of general practice guidelines) that have been developed specifically for the MHRT/C.

For this lesson we will focus on the Guidelines developed by the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association.

Click the image above to visit the PRA website...click HERE to view the Code of Ethics for Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioners

(This is a PDF document...be sure to save it to iBooks!)

Other organizations have developed Ethical Guidelines that we can "borrow" to enhance our practice.

  • Click HERE to review the American Counseling Association's Code of Ethics
  • Click HERE to review the CRC/CCRC Code of Ethics

Multiculturalism and Personal Bias

Most often when we hear phrases like "multiculturalism" and "cultural diversity" we think of language and race. While these aspects of human life do have a lot to do with culture, there is a lot more to culture than just the color of one's skin or the language we speak.

Culture is the set of "Norms, Values, Expectations, and Objects" that make up a person's environment. As you can likely imagine, each of us has grown up in a fairly unique environment of norms, values, expectations, and objects and these differences make us unique.

We also share a lot of these aspects of culture with each other.

In this field we need to be acutely aware of the individual perspectives that individuals have of the world, even if many aspects of their culture is similar to your own. Each of us is going to be a bit BIASED in regard to our own view of the world...this is called "Ethnocentrism" and is perfectly normal. However, it can be problematic if we assume that others, including our clients, hold the same norms, values, and expectations that we do!

Consider the cultural differences that might exist between two individuals who differ ONLY along these identified dimensions:

  • Grew up in the country vs. Grew up in the city
  • Went to private school vs. Went to a public school
  • Had a child when very young vs. Did not have a child until adulthood
  • Experienced a traumatic event or events as a child vs. Did not experience these events
  • Has a label of mental illness vs. Does not have a label of mental illness

Each of these circumstances shape a persons' view of the world...sometimes dramatically. While we may share many aspects of culture with out clients, we need to be sensitive of their particular world view.

Trauma

One particular way in which we may (or may not) differ from our clients relates to trauma. A vast majority of our clients have experienced a significant trauma in their lives (even if that trauma is simply that they developed a mental illness.) Even if we have experienced similar trauma, the individual's world view as a result of this trauma is STILL unique from ours!

We are very often dealing with the overall impact of this trauma, so, to best understand a person's behavior we need to understand the impact of trauma.

Read this Article titled The Impact of Trauma: How Best to Help

Consider the various ways in which someone might experience trauma...it may be personal (something that happened to them) or it may be vicarious (something that happened to someone else...and this is sometimes impacted by how well they knew the person). Consider how the trauma may impact a persons' "Culture" (their norms, values, expectations, etc.)


Assessment

Lesson 2 Discussion

Reflect on the many ways that you may be culturally different and unique. Describe a value that you hold very strongly to (it may be work related, or religious, or it may be about self care.) Review the guidelines in the Code of Ethics for Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioners related to cultural differences. Discuss how you may respond to working with someone with a very different set of cultural norms from the ones you described.

Lesson 2 Quiz

  1. Read the article above on the Impact of Trauma. Describe what motivates individuals to come to counseling.
  2. Describe how the unique experience of trauma constitutes a difference in "culture" between you, the counselor, and your clients.