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Do we need multicultural counseling competencies?

Article Excerpt
Weinrach and Thomas (2002) have shown rather conclusively that the Competencies are irreparably flawed. The attempt to develop such a document was misguided in the first place. There is no need for such a document, and thus no purpose in attempting to remedy its flaws. In the present discussion, I consider the more general problems with multicultural counseling. In addition, I propose a general solution to the problems of counseling clients who are members of a wide variety of culturally distinct groups. The Competencies are lacking any philosophical or theoretical foundations and are based on two untenable assumptions.

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The seeds of the irrelevance of the Competencies are found in two early statements: (a) that "we are all multicultural individuals" (Arrendondo et al., 1996, p. 3), and (b) that "everyone is a multicultural person" (p. 8). Thus there is no specific form of counseling that is multicultural. All counseling is multicultural. Everyone lives in a multicultural society. But this does not mean that the mental health professions need different counseling theories and practice for all the possible groups in that society. These statements would appear to negate the attempt to define competencies based upon classifying individuals--even when attempting to see individuals as members of a combination of classes. Everyone is a member of a class of one. No mental health counselor, however, can be prepared to counsel every possible client. The mental health practitioners prepared under the universal system summarized below will have the bases of becoming capable of counseling a wide variety of clients. Such mental health counselors will, of course, need special preparation to work with clients from particular groups. It is here that knowledge of the backgrounds of particular clients is necessary. Such knowledge provides a basis for understanding clients, colloquially, knowing "where the client is coming from." The Competencies (Arrendondo et al., 1996) simply provide a compendium of the elements of this knowledge. This knowledge is acquired, but not from academic courses such as anthropology courses. Such courses foster stereotypes and view persons as subjects. The best way of attaining such knowledge is by living in a community of the kind of clients the mental health counselor expects to work with. Minimally, a lengthy internship is necessary. The assumption that simply a knowledge of the culture of the client will lead to more appropriate and effective therapy has not been borne out. Sue and Zane (1987) stated that "recommendations that admonish therapists to be culturally sensitive and to know the culture of the client...

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