Diversity, Culture and Counselling, A Canadian Perspective [3 ed.] 9781550598759, 9781550598766, 9781550598780

Citation preview

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected]

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected]

Diversity, Culture and Counselling A Canadian Perspective

THIRD EDITION

Edited by M. Honoré France María del Carmen Rodríguez Geoffrey G. Hett

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected]

Copyright © 2021 M. Honoré France, María del Carmen Rodríguez and Geoffrey G. Hett 21 22 23 24 25 5 4 3 2 1 Thank you for buying this book and for not copying, scanning, or distributing any part of it without permission. By respecting the spirit as well as the letter of copyright, you support authors and publishers, allowing them to continue to create and distribute the books you value. Excerpts from this publication may be reproduced under licence from Access Copyright, or with the express written permission of Brush Education Inc., or under licence from a collective management organization in your territory. All rights are otherwise reserved, and no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, digital copying, scanning, recording, or otherwise, except as specifically authorized. Brush Education Inc.

www.brusheducation.ca

[email protected] Cover design: John Luckhurst; Cover images: istock-­illustration-­18585903-­group-­of-­hands Interior design: Carol Dragich, Dragich Design Copyediting: Kay Rollans

All figures belong to M. Honoré France unless noted below.

Figure 9.1: Reprinted with permission from Are Refugees Good for Canada: A Look at Canadian Refugee Integration by UNHCR, n.d., p. 4 (https://www.unhcr.ca/wp-­content/uploads/2020/03/ Are-­Refugees-­Good-­for-­Canada-­A-­Look-­at-­Canadian-­Refugee-­Integration-­English.pdf ). Copyright UNHCR. Used with permission. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Diversity, culture and counselling : a Canadian perspective / edited by M. Honoré France, María del Carmen Rodríguez, Geoffrey G. Hett.

Names: France, Honoré, editor. | Rodríguez, María del Carmen (Professor of indigenous education), editor. | Hett, Geoffrey, editor. Description: Third edition. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20210245425 | Canadiana (ebook) 20210245468 | ISBN 9781550598759 (softcover) | ISBN 9781550598766 (PDF) | ISBN 9781550598780 (EPUB)

Subjects: LCSH: Cross-­cultural counseling—­Canada. | LCSH: Minorities—­Counseling of—­ Canada. Classification: LCC BF636.7.C76 D59 2021 | DDC 158.3—­dc23

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected]

For Ruth and George Cook, Kwakwaka’wakw

Elders from Alert Bay, BC, with and from whom I have had the privilege to work and learn. —­M. Honoré France

A mis padres, Humberto y María del Carmen: Por respetar y honrar mis sueños de niña.   Por estar a mi lado en la cercanía y en la distancia.

Por dejarme alzar el vuelo y confiar en las Raíces que me heredaron.

—­María del Carmen Rodríguez

To my amazing family: my loving wife Lorraine, our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. —­Geoff G. Hett

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected]

Contents

PREFACE.. ......................................................................................................... VII

PART I ISSUES IN DIVERSIT Y, CULTURE AND COUNSELLING................... 1

1. Counselling Across Cultures: Identity, Race and Communication......... 5



2. Exploring Worldview......................................................................... 35



3. Developing Cross-­Cultural Counselling Skills................................... 57

M. HON ORÉ FRAN CE

MARÍA DEL C ARMEN RODRÍGUEZ M. HON ORÉ FRAN CE

PART II CULTURAL COMMUNITIES AND COUNSELLING PROCEDURES. 85

4. Counselling in Indigenous Communities........................................... 89



5. Counselling in Asian Communities.................................................. 129



6. Where Are You Really From?: Counselling in the Chinese Canadian Community...................................................................... 147

M. HON ORÉ FRAN CE, MARÍA DEL C ARMEN RODRÍGUEZ AND ROD MCCORMICK M. HON ORÉ FRAN CE AND DAVID SUE

ANDREA SUM



7. Counselling in South Asian Communities: Challenges and Promises From a Sikh Canadian Perspective.................................... 159



8. Counselling Migrants: Acculturation, Adaptation and the Multiphase Model........................................................................... 185

RUBY RANA AND SUKKIE SIHOTA

M. HON ORÉ FRAN CE AND YALI LI



9. Refugee Trauma Pre-­and Postmigration: Considerations for Counsellors..................................................................................... 209 LISA KURY TNIK



10. The “Hardest Burden”?: Helping and Working With People With Disabilities............................................................................. 229 ABEBE ABA Y TEKLU

v

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] v i  Contents



11. Counselling in Hispanic Communities............................................. 243



12. Counselling Black Canadians........................................................... 263



13. Islamic Identity: Counselling Muslim Canadians............................. 289



14. My Multiracial Identity: Examining the Biracial/Multiracial Dynamic.......................................................................................... 311

JORGE GARCIA, MARÍA DEL C ARMEN RODRÍGUEZ AND M. HON ORÉ FRAN CE

ELIAS CHEBOUD AND M. HON ORÉ FRAN CE

M. HON ORÉ FRAN CE AND ABDULL AHI BARISE

NATASHA C AVERLE Y



15. Upon Arrival: Ordeals and Challenges in Working With International Students..................................................................... 331 MARÍA DEL C ARMEN RODRÍGUEZ AND M. HON ORÉ FRAN CE



16. The Counselling Profession and the LGBTQ2+ Community........... 353



17. Counselling Euro-­Canadians: A Multicultural Perspective............... 377



18. Counselling in National Crises: Vulnerable Populations and Lessons From the COVID-­19 Pandemic......................................... 405

TRACE Y COULTER AND M. HON ORÉ FRAN CE

M. HON ORÉ FRAN CE AND STEVE BEN THEIM

GEOFFRE Y G. HET T

PART III APPLICATION AND PRAC TICAL APPROACHES.......................... 429

19. The Red Road: Spirituality, the Medicine Wheel and the Sacred Hoop.................................................................................... 431 M. HON ORÉ FRAN CE



20. Yoga Therapy: Ancient Wisdom for Today’s Body, Mind and Spirit. 463



21. Transpersonal Counselling: A Cross-­Cultural Approach.................. 493



22. Intellect, Feelings and Sufism: A Multidimensional Approach to Healing....................................................................................... 521

SARAH KINSLE Y

M. HON ORÉ FRAN CE AND GARY NIXON

AVA RAZAVI, MORTEZA RAZAVI AND M. HON ORÉ FRAN CE



23. Buddhist Psychotherapy: Naikan Therapy, Mindfulness Meditation and Tonglen.................................................................. 539 M. HON ORÉ FRAN CE



24. Reconnecting With Nature: Using Nature in Counselling................ 561



25. Diversity, Culture and Counselling in a Time of Change and Transition........................................................................................ 587

M. HON ORÉ FRAN CE

M. HON ORÉ FRAN CE

About the Editors....................................................................................611

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected]

Preface

Diversity, Culture and Counselling: A Canadian Perspective, 3rd Edition is designed for those who teach courses in the fields of counselling, social work or other helping professions, or for professional counsellors who are interested in working with the diverse people of Canada. It is important to the field of counselling psychology in Canada, where many college and university textbooks still come out of the United States. When I first designed a course on counselling in the multicultural Canada of the 1990s, I had very few resources and no textbooks to work with. I wanted to use materials that reflected the voices of the diverse people with whom I was working as a counsellor. Developing these materials was vital for teaching a course that was relevant to Canada. Out of this initial work and collaboration with colleagues and students on the subject, this book was born. My experience as a professional counsellor has always been a part of my teaching, particularly in working with people in my community. My professional work has impressed upon me the huge role that culture plays in the healing processes. As intercultural helpers, awareness, knowledge and sound counselling skills are necessary when approaching someone who seeks support. By awareness, I mean two things: awareness of the worldview of our clients and how it shapes and is shaped by their feelings, thoughts, perceptions and experiences; and awareness of how our own worldview affects what we as counsellors bring to counselling sessions. We need to know our privileges and biases and deal with our own internalized oppression. We need to have knowledge about other cultures’ experiences and perspectives. We need to be aware, too, of how experiences affect us internally and externally. We believe in decolonizing the counselling process by incorporating approaches such as liberation therapy that can move people in our society to deconstruct internal and external forces such as racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia and anti-­Blackness that hinder our and our clients’ dreams, plans and abilities to achieve the fullest expressions of the self. Finally, from our awareness around all of these things, we need to develop multicultural counselling skills that can help clients and their communities deal with v ii

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] v iii  P reface

the issues that they face. With this in mind, it has been important for me as an academic to promote diverse voices in educational contexts so that students, once they become professional counsellors, can better frame the work that they do with diverse populations. Awareness is also important to the way this book has come together—­ specifically, the editors’ and contributors’ awareness of our own worldviews and how they influence the material in this collection. We have drawn from our own experience and our own perspectives as counsellors, social workers and academics in Canada with our own diverse cultural backgrounds. We speak from what we know, acknowledging the limits of our perspectives but also honouring them as the places from which we can both share and learn. One of the reasons for redeveloping this book is, like the intentions behind its initial development, to bring more Canadian content to the area of cultural diversity in counselling. More than this, however, there has been a great deal of change in Canadian society since the second edition came out in 2013. Much of this change relates specifically to issues of race, cultural norms, gender and sexuality, and other areas of diversity that are highly relevant to the counselling profession in general, and specifically to any counsellor working with culturally diverse clients. In 2013, around the time of the second edition’s publication, the Idle No More movement was ongoing and picking up steam. Also in 2013, the first wave of the Black Lives Matter movement began in response to the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and to systemic police violence against Black people in the United States and globally. The #MeToo movement, which sparked global conversations around the world about sexual harassment and gender inequality, began in 2017. In 2018, Canadians began paying attention to the Indigenous land rights claims of the Wet’suwet’en. This evolved, in February 2020, to nation-­ wide protests in support of the Wet’suwet’en that blocked rail transport across the country. Shortly afterward, the world was hit with the COVID-­19 pandemic (ongoing at the time of writing), which has disproportionately affected communities of colour, sparking a widespread reckoning with the deep-­seated social, political and economic inequalities that underlie societies around the world, including in Canada. In the midst of this, George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, relaunching Black Lives Matter protests in the United States, which have expanded into movements that address systemic violence against not just Black, but also Indigenous, trans and other minority identity people in Canada and around the world.

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] P reface i x

Though this brief account is far from exhaustive, it is meant to illustrate an important point about Canada today: We exist in a time of transition. The third edition of Diversity, Culture and Counselling is a necessary step forward from the second, but like the time in which it is written, it is a transitional text. Some contributors were no longer available to update their pieces; however, their contributions remain valuable. Still, this edition includes changes that need to be made now, along with content that will evolve in future editions. The changes in this edition address important issues such as systemic racism, immigration policy, discriminatory policies in society and climate change, just to name a few. All the chapters have been revised and new ones have been added to reflect the current state of diversity in Canadian counselling. Similarly, chapters that have become less relevant were left out. You will hear the voices of professional counsellors and contributors from myriad different backgrounds: from African Canadians, to South and East Asian Canadians, to counsellors of different abilities, to Indigenous counsellors (myself included). You will also hear from contributors who are Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh. The contributors talk about counselling in their communities, the specific challenges they face, and their implications for counsellors. The book is organized in three parts. Part I outlines the central concepts that underlie the book as a whole. Chapter 1 deals with issues of identity, race and cross-­cultural communication. Chapter 2 introduces students to the concept of worldview through an intercultural lens. Chapter 3 explores the fundamentals of multicultural and culturally sensitive counselling skills, including perspectives from both advocates and critics. This chapter also stresses the importance of intersectionality within intercultural counselling as a framework for understanding the ways in which we—­our clients and ourselves—­all embody different, interconnected identities related to, among other things, our appearance, (dis)ability, class, gender, race/ethnicity, religion, sexuality and cultural identity. In Part II, each chapter deals with a specific population or cultural community and presents considerations for developing strong counsellor-­client relationships. Some chapters give broad overviews of particular communities (e.g., Chapter 5, “Counselling Issues Within Asian Canadian Communities,” by Sue and France), while others look at more personal experiences from within a community (e.g., Caverley’s Chapter 14 on her experience as a multiracial Canadian). With the exception of Chapter 18, which addresses advocacy and direct-­action

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] x  P reface

strategies for connecting and working with vulnerable populations, the chapters in Part II have been written by or in collaboration with a person or persons from the community they are about and provide insight into the implications of these different perspectives on the counselling profession. Finally, Part III addresses counselling methodologies related to multicultural identity and from outside of the conventional, European tradition of counselling practice. The chapters in the final part of the book have been written by or in collaboration with practitioners who have specific expertise in the methods described. They include chapters on traditional helping and healing methods from Indigenous communities, the use of nature to assist in the helping relationship, the use of yoga in therapy, transpersonal counselling and the use of Sufism in therapy. A new chapter in this edition looks at preparing for future crises and exploring ideas and attitudes that counsellors can use to support themselves and others through times of cultural change. For me, the scope of Part III is one of the best features of this book because it expands the Western idea of what counselling is, emphasizing that all cultures have a psychology and healing methods that are both valid and valuable additions to our therapeutic repertoires, particularly in intercultural contexts. I believe in the importance of culture to the health of the individual and the positive impact that diverse cultural perspectives can have on the health of a multicultural society. I also believe that multicultural counselling approaches offer effective starting points to working with people from different ethnic/racial backgrounds, sexualities, gender identities, abilities and religious backgrounds, thus moving the profession to another dimension of effectiveness. Racism and prejudice against group identities that are different from one’s own are major areas of concern in every society; counselling is not immune to these problems and must address them. Understanding the causes and costs of stereotypes and biases is vital if counsellors are to bridge the divide between “us” and “them.” This is an important factor that can help or hinder effective counselling across cultures; consequently, knowing how to enhance communication becomes necessary. One facet of this work involves understanding and being secure in one’s own identity, culturally and racially, in order to leave space for others to feel secure in theirs. Cross-­culturally effective counsellors must also remember that, as helpers, they are working not just with individuals but with groups of people with collective orientations and differences.

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] P reface  x i

I close this preface with a deep thank-­you to every contributor to this book for their work and commitment. We are also grateful to Brush Education for taking this book on and continuing to promote Canadian content, to Lauri Seidlitz for accepting our idea and promoting the third edition of this book, and to Kay Rollans for her assistance in ensuring that all the references were correct and that our language was clear. We recognize that there is more to say on all of the topics presented in this book, but at a certain point we had to let go of our desires for perfection. We offer this book with the attitude of the student, always open to learning more. Now, in the words of Indigenous leader Sitting Bull: “Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children.” M. Honoré France March 26, 2021

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected]

PART I

Issues in Diversity, Culture and Counselling

Canada sees itself as a multicultural society. The term multiculturalism was introduced to the Canadian public in 1971 by Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, but did not become government policy until the mid-­ 1980s. Trudeau’s multicultural policy was at first primarily intended to address growing tensions between Anglophone and Francophone Canadians (the latter primarily in Quebec), and specifically to create protections for the Quebecois as a minority culture in Canada. This resulted in a number of policy strategies geared toward uniting these two communities. However, the policy also marked gains in protections for other minority populations and the beginning of changes to racist immigration policy that unfairly excluded certain groups from entry into Canada. However, the term multicultural and the political discourses around it have not, for Indigenous people, accomplished what they have promised. More work needs to be done. In the counselling literature, the word multicultural has been adopted in dialogues around “culturally sensitive counselling.” In this discourse, the focus is on how diversity, culture and counselling merge. Thus, in using the word multicultural, we include all people. That is, we include visible minorities as well as mainstream cultural groups too—­in Canada, that means the cultures that have developed out of the early English and French immigrant settlers whose languages still dominate here. In this way, the idea of multiculturalism is used to address issues of culture, oppression, privilege and a host of other factors that influence the counselling process, and to acknowledge that these issues touch all people in our society in different ways. Culturally sensitive counselling focusses on addressing the challenges we all face in striving to live together in ways that celebrate our differences. The focus of the chapters in Part I of this book is on understanding and celebrating difference in our society today, and on productively addressing our reactions to it. We will also explore the concept of worldview and be introduced to the basic skills of culturally sensitive counselling. As counsellors, we believe in the need to embrace and encourage cultural diversity in 1

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] 2

I ssues in D i v ersity, C ulture and Counselling

our profession as being enriching and valuable. Distrust towards those who are different seems to be a common reaction in people around the world. Perhaps it is, to a certain extent, part of the human condition. In many ways, however, fear of difference stems from fear of the unknown—­and while we can’t eliminate difference, we can learn more about one another and disarm this fear. The truth is that, regardless of one’s language, race or culture, communities do not exist in vacuums. We are all interdependent. We, the editors of this volume, profoundly believe that when a community discriminates against and marginalizes people for being different, instability occurs and everyone suffers. The changing trends in immigration to Canada are having a major impact on how counselling services are offered. The multicultural reality in Canada is changing and necessitates a shift from the dominant Eurocentric counselling theories and practices, which favour the White, middle-­class population, to approaches that emphasize diversity and a global perspective. As counsellors, we need to recognize the importance of language and communication in counselling diverse groups of people. We believe that multicultural experiences can enhance a counsellor’s personal growth and overall communication skills. When we work with diverse groups, our behaviour and language greatly influence the communication process and counselling outcome. Further, we live in a time that warns us that our very survival may depend on our ability to communicate effectively on a multicultural level. Counsellors are in a unique position to model culturally sensitive behaviour and language within their counselling practice and support their clients in a world that is not always set up to accommodate them. They can, in this way, help challenge issues of discrimination and racism and advocate for a more just society. Frequent contact with different cultures is particularly important in achieving this goal. The cornerstone of counselling with diverse clients is an understanding of worldview and how it relates to developing multicultural counselling skills. No matter where we live on the globe, we modify our perception of the world by understanding, experiencing and making meaning of an array of customs unique in their own right and dissimilar to our own. Worldview is sometimes entrenched in folklores, traditions and rituals, but also involves normative standards of subsistence, communication, technology and political ideas. Exposure to these different customs and worldviews is indispensable to interacting with others in a culturally diverse setting. However, the process of modifying our own worldview goes beyond just gaining knowledge of cultural customs as facts. Rather, learning about these customs also allows us to pursue an understanding of the values, beliefs, attitudes and affective perceptions that constitute the life of a people with different cultural touchstones than our own. As Canada has evolved, immigration has reshaped the population of the country, making it one of the most diverse in the world. The impact of this

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] I ssues in D i v ersity, C ulture and Counselling 3

shift in immigration is significant for counsellors. The multicultural reality of Canadian society will challenge counsellors in a time when universities are slow in providing multicultural training for the helping professions. As most Canadian counselling theories and practices originate from European models, counsellors are at a disadvantage when providing services to people who hold a different worldview from their own. We encourage counsellors to seek out the experiences, training and competencies necessary to support people who hold different worldviews and cultural values. Gaining multicultural counselling skills is necessary and doing so is the only ethical way to proceed if we are to move beyond a Eurocentric position and empower all clients, regardless of their culture, race, abilities, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected]

1

Counselling Across Cultures Identity, Race and Communication M. HONORÉ FRANCE

In the 1960s, Toronto was not a diverse city, with only 3% of its population coming from other countries (Dyer, 2001). Today, Toronto is one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world, with 51% of residents being born somewhere other than Canada (Ryan, 2020)—­and it’s not the only place in Canada with impressive diversity numbers. In Burnaby (a community in the Metro Vancouver area), there is a “73 per cent chance two randomly chosen people from Burnaby will be of a different ethnicity” (Todd, 2020, para. 10). In Richmond, another Vancouver suburb, and in the city of Vancouver itself, this drops to a still impressive 68%. According to the Statistics Canada (2017a), about 1.2 million immigrants arrived in Canada between 2011 and 2016, or about 240,000 people per year. The impact of this is especially visible in urban centres—­in particular, Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, where about 70% of immigrants to Canada settle. More than half of all immigrants to Canada are from Asia, particularly from China and India, with fewer immigrants from Europe. The number of international students coming to Canada is almost 400,000 per year (although in 2020 during the COVID-­19 pandemic, that number decreased drastically). Most of Canada’s international student come from China, India, South Korea, France and the United States. The Indigenous population in Canada is approximately 1,700,000, or about 4.9% of the total population (Statistics Canada, 2019). This population is growing. The annual rate of increase in Canada’s population is 4.2% per year overall; the Indigenous population increased at a rate of 19.5% between 2011 and 2016 (Statistics Canada, 2019). The 5

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] 6

I s s u e s i n D i v e r s i t y, C u lt u r e a n d C o u n s e l l i n g

Census Bureau has also estimated that by 2030 the majority of British Columbia’s population will not be White. What do these levels of diversity mean for Canadian society? Baird et al.’s (2019) comparative study of the effect of collaborative governance on social-­ecological decision-­making found that diversity contributes to flexibility in problem-­solving and ultimately leads to more novel problem-­solving strategies. This, the researchers conclude, is due to the sheer variety of different perspectives at play. In other words, diversity increases creativity and innovation. One of the most dramatic diversity strategies has occurred in the higher educational system in Canada. In the last twenty years, universities across Canada have increased the diversity of their faculties and student bodies and have increased the percentage of international students coming to Canada. According to Blummer (2018), diversity has benefited everyone by allowing students to: • Have more exposure to a wide variety of social, political, cultural and economic perspectives • Experience different perspectives and viewpoints that expand and enrich their knowledge and education • Increase their critical thinking and leadership skills • Enhance their abilities to work with others

To put it plainly, the population of Canada is becoming ever more diverse, and we, that very same diversifying population, stand to benefit—­that is, if we commit to seeking out, centring and honouring the diversity of the people in our lives. Yes, former prime minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau declared Canada an officially multicultural country in 1971, making Canada the first country in the world to make such a declaration. But this declaration was not a magical incantation, suddenly making of Canada a land of peaceful and equitable cohabitation of many cultures. Neither, for that matter, was the recognition of multiculturalism in section 27 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms eleven years later, nor the Multiculturalism Act three years after that. For us all to reap the benefits of diversity, we must first learn to respect diversity. Such respect demands compassion, openness and work. For counsellors, it is no different. Many helping professionals still make unfounded assumptions, implicitly or explicitly, about people from a different ethnic or cultural group than themselves. One of the ways in which this assumption crops up in counselling is the belief that one theoretical orientation is universally applicable in any intervention effort with any person from any cultural background. Professionals with

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] C o u n s e l l i n g Ac r o s s C u lt u r e s 7

this perspective may approach clients not as distinct human beings with individual experiences, but rather as cultural stereotypes with pathological differences. It is vital for the practitioner to be in sync with the client and to facilitate movement toward the client’s goals (Sue et al., 2019). The practitioner’s goal should be to help clients to develop functional environmental mastery behaviours that lead to personal adjustment and optimal mental health with the operational therapeutic objective of helping clients empower themselves toward environmental mastery and competence.

D i ve r s it y : Challenges for Co u n sello rs In December 2020, a group of Black federal civil servants began a class-­ action lawsuit against the Canadian government. The employees allege that the government—­despite its official claims of multiculturalism—­ has been discriminating against Black employees, excluding them from high-­level promotions for decades. The suit may cover employees from the last 50 years. Nicholas Marcus Thompson, one of the claimants, says, “Our exclusion at the top levels of the public service, in my view, has really disenfranchised Canada from that talent and that ability and the culture that Black workers bring to the table” (cited in Ho & Arsenault, 2020). Though not a surprise to many—­especially to those who have experienced first-­hand exclusion and discrimination in Canada based on race, ethnicity or culture—­it’s a big let down from the heady days of Justin Trudeau’s promise to create a government committed to feminism, reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and a more egalitarian society overall. Much has changed around the world in the decade between 2010 and 2020—­indeed, even in the last few years of this decade. We’ve seen multiple refugee crises, including the Syrian refugee crisis, which has been called the largest displacement of refugees of this century. Donald Trump was elected president; his regime enacted “America first” policies that disrupted global trade, increased international and domestic tensions, and put at risk the lives of migrants trying to find safety. Britain voted to leave the European Union. In the last moments of this decade, the COVID-­19 pandemic swept the globe, killing thousands daily, disrupting the lives and health of millions, and causing the largest economic recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. In 2020, the leading cause of death in the United States was COVID-­19, affecting primarily Black and Indigenous people (APM Research Lab, 2020). The pandemic is ongoing at the time of writing.

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] 8

I s s u e s i n D i v e r s i t y, C u lt u r e a n d C o u n s e l l i n g

The year 2020 also saw the resurgence, especially in North American and Europe, of a movement to address systemic anti-­Black racism and end police brutality worldwide: the Black Lives Matter movement. It saw the fastest ever development of a vaccine, at once igniting hopes about the end of the pandemic and causing flare-­ups of COVID-­related conspiracy theories (Pierre, 2020; Romer & Jamieson, 2020). In Canada, these new tensions and alliances emerge from the reality of a multicultural, multiethnic and multilingual society. For counsellors, the rapid changes we are experiencing in this society need to be addressed in a realistic yet positive manner in which differences are celebrated rather than homogenized. Diversity, when honoured, is beautiful and strengthening. Being accepting and open to differences is often elusive. But why is this so? According to Anastasio and Rose (2014), the human tendency of intergroup bias or “the difference between how much one values one’s own group compared to how much one values other groups, can take the form of in-­group favoritism or out-­group derogation” (p. 593). One tendency of societies in general seems to be to exclude others who are different; it is not uncommon for people from majority cultural and racial groups to see someone different as being a stranger in their midst. Indeed, in Canada, people of colour—­including First Nations people, the original inhabitants of this land, as well as the Inuit and Métis—­are called “visible minorities.”1 This is a distinctively Canadian term that is often used as a shorthand to describe racial minorities who are not of European origin and who have physical characteristics that distinguish them from that origin, which is considered the mainstream in Canada (Labelle, 2007). Yu (2015) relates the story of Canadian poet Fred Wah, a man of Asian and Euro-­Canadian heritage. Wah’s family lived in Saskatchewan for several generations, feeling like foreign visitors. Despite multiculturalism policies, this country is seen, and tends to see itself, as a country of European—­specifically, White European—­immigrants. As Yu writes, Wah punctures multiculturalism with a blunt acknowledgement of racial hierarchy: “white is still the standard.” “Ethnic community” here is as much an exclusive as an inclusive force, and the relationship among ethnic and racial groups is a “game” all are compelled to play. (p. 35)

1 Officially, Statistics Canada (2017b) does not include Indigenous people in the category of “visible minority.” In unofficial, everyday terms, however, we believe that this categorization makes sense.

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] C o u n s e l l i n g Ac r o s s C u lt u r e s 9

The changing nature of society makes an argument for or against multiculturalism moot; but if society is to avoid cultural and racial misunderstanding, then the institutions of society need to adapt to the new realities. For counsellors, this adaptation may mean adopting frames of reference about what counselling is, and understanding that, for people from some racial or ethnic backgrounds, trust of the counsellor may not be inherent, nor can it be established in the traditional manner that theoreticians like Carl Rogers suggested. So, how does one establish a trusting relationship? One way may be to adopt the idea of counselling as a “working alliance” in which counsellors and clients work in a collaborative way to accomplish clients’ goals or to “find solutions.” In other words, the counsellor creates common ground by focussing with the client on a solution to the issue or issues that brought them to therapy. This involves establishing an avenue to resolution (or a common goal) rather than first building on the idea of a trusting relationship. According to Proudlock (2017), one of the important elements in this sort of solution-­focussed therapy is that trust is established through the process of finding a solution together. We must also consider that all counselling is potentially multicultural in one way or another, because it always deals with a range of variables that may be contradictory from situation to situation. Sciarra (1999) provides the following example: “the personalismo of the Latino culture can require a less formal and more affective counsellor, whereas these same counsellor characteristics may be alienating to some Asian clients” (p. 10). Adapting the process to suit the situation is fundamental, therefore, because there will always be some cultural differences between clients and counsellors. However, moving away from one’s routines and traditions and into the routines and traditions of another culture has a price. Dangers are always present, and change is a constant. Ethiopian Canadian Nega Mezlekia’s (2000) novel Notes from the Hyena’s Belly begins with a metaphor that illustrates this point: a lion, leopard, hyena and donkey come together to discuss why their land is in such a poor state. They explain that the turmoil must be due to a sin that has displeased God. One by one, each animal tells a story of attacking another animal and eating it—­except, of course, the donkey. However, each animal that tells such a story is told by the others that eating other animals is the nature of being an animal, so it is not wrong. When it is the donkey’s turn, he relates that while his human master was busy talking with another man, the donkey went off the trail and ate some grass. The other animals become enraged at this

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] 10

I s s u e s i n D i v e r s i t y, C u lt u r e a n d C o u n s e l l i n g

and tell the donkey that he is the one who has caused the problems by going off the path and eating the grass; they attack the donkey, kill him and eat him. Mezlekia concludes by saying that “we children lived like the donkey, careful not to wander off the beaten trail and end up in the hyena’s belly” (p. 7). This is the warning in Mezlekia’s metaphor: being different, like the donkey, can be dangerous—­though by no fault of the donkey’s own. But where, really, does the danger lie, and whose life—­real or metaphorical—­is really at stake?

R at i o nal e for D iver s it y and Cro ss- ­C u ltu ral Co u n s e l l i n g The rationale for cross-­cultural counselling arises in part from the growing multicultural factor in everyday life and from the increasingly small world brought about by more efficient communication and transportation systems. In early 2003, as the war in Iraq began, tensions between Christians and Muslims increased alongside tensions between the Global North and South. These tensions highlight some of the cultural differences that divide people around the world. In counselling, the challenge is to understand differences and enhance communication among people and, ultimately, across cultures. Of course, cultural differences exist not just between one group of people in the West and another group in the Middle East or the Global South or Asia, but within the borders of nations as well—­not least within Canada’s borders, and within the larger boarders of North America. Canada is far from a homogenous nation, and Canadians, including Canadian counsellors, have no choice but to face the challenge of diversity issues and the changing mosaic of the Canadian nation. In the political and social environment of 2020, the “new normals” of coping with the present have created a great deal of anxiety about the future. North American society cannot close its eyes to the issue of culture, health, race and economic stability. In a world where most people are not Westerners, Caucasians or Christians, and in a world that is growing smaller, truly embracing multiculturalism is not only enriching but also protective. Everyone must be aware that humanity is, in many ways, acting together as a single community. We collectively have the power to nurture our world or to destroy it through war and pollution. War has its genesis in society’s disrespect for people who are different. People have to learn not only how to control their willingness to harm

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] C o u n s e l l i n g Ac r o s s C u lt u r e s 11

those who have different customs and views, but also how to live in harmony with others and the environment.

The Cos t of Prejudice, D isc rimin atio n an d R ac ism Prejudice refers to unfair and negative belief about the inferiority of people who are different from oneself based on faulty knowledge about and generalized views of those differences. These differences are usually be related to any of a variety of factors that are usually out of a person’s control, including sex, skin colour, ethnicity, language, education level, age and so on. The term discrimination refers to individual actions or institutional systems based on prejudiced beliefs that negatively impact people’s lives. Racism is a specific type of prejudice against certain skin colours, physical traits and ethnicities. It is important when talking about discrimination and racism to remember that they are closely tied to systems of power: while anyone can have prejudiced beliefs about anyone else, it is having the power to act upon these beliefs—­particularly in systemic ways—­that is the real danger. For this reason, when we talk about discrimination and racism here, we are speaking specifically about how Canadian society operates in ways that stack the cards against visible minorities, particularly racialized ones. Chief Dan George’s words about the nature of prejudice and racism in Canada resound as truthfully today as they did when he wrote them over 25 years ago: It is hard to understand a culture that justifies the killing of millions in past wars and is at this very moment preparing bombs to kill even greater numbers. It is hard for me to understand a culture that spends more on wars and weapons to kill, than it does on education and welfare to help and develop. It is hard for me to understand a culture that not only hates and fights his brothers but also even attacks nature and abuses her. (George, 1994, p. 38)

Dimitry Anastakis’s (2015) work looks at some of the human costs of this racism, recounting stories of violence from Louis Riel to Amanda Todd that show that this violence has permeated Canadian history and continues to permeate the Canadian present. Systemic racism in Canada costs millions of people of colour their social, economic and literal mobility, their health, their freedom, their lives. But racism, though prevalent, is not inevitable. It is “a social construction based on sociopolitical attitudes that demean specific racial characteristics” (Robinson & Howard-­Hamilton, 2000, p. 58). That is, it

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] 12

I s s u e s i n D i v e r s i t y, C u lt u r e a n d C o u n s e l l i n g

is not a natural response, but one learned from societal norms and observations of parents, friends and neighbours. Importantly, prejudiced attitudes do not result from constant or repeated negative experience with a specific group that is different; it is not experience-­based, but reinforced through social discourses around occasional negative experiences, race-­ based jokes and feelings of in-­group entitlement. The cost of racism on individuals and communities and for other people of colour is not minor. In one study looking at the health outcomes of those who experience racism, it was found that racism was associated with poorer mental health…including depression, anxiety, psychological stress and various other outcomes. Racism was also associated with poorer general health… and poorer physical health. (Paradies et al., 2015, p. 1)

In Canada, visible minorities have been subjected to at least three forms of discrimination: individual racism, institutional racism and cultural racism. The most obvious forms of individual racism involve personal expressions that one race is superior to another. Institutional racism is communicated through established practices that perpetuate inequities. Cultural racism involves believing in the inferiority of one culture over another (Este et al., 2018). The Canadian residential school system is an example of cultural racism. The Canadian government established this system in order to “help” Indigenous people assimilate into majority society. This program was based on the assumption that Euro-­Canadian culture was an inherent improvement on the millennia-­old cultures of Indigenous societies. Of all the things that the residential school system did, helping Indigenous communities was not one of them. As the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2015) summarizes, these schools caused immense suffering, including physical and sexual abuse, forced labour and destruction of language and culture. It tore children from families and introduced into Indigenous communities many of the challenges that are now used to justify this pattern through Canada’s child welfare system. The human impact of this system and its legacies is enormous. Indigenous people continue to be penalized in Canada for being culturally different. They continue to deal with the fallout of a system that neither allowed them citizenship nor allowed them to practise their language and culture. In the words of Chief Dan George: Do you know what it is like to have your race belittled…? You don’t know for you have never tasted its bitterness…It is like not

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] C o u n s e l l i n g Ac r o s s C u lt u r e s 13

caring about tomorrow for what does tomorrow matter? It is having a reserve that looks like a junk yard because the beauty in the soul is dead…Why should the soul express an external beauty that does not match it? It is like getting drunk for a few brief moments, an escape from the ugly reality and feeling a sense of importance. It is most of all like awaking next morning to the guilt of betrayal. For the alcohol did not fill the emptiness but only dug it deeper. (cited in Montigny, 1972, pp. 162–­63)

When people are faced with evidence of prejudice, they tend to reject it: “I’m not prejudiced against ‘Indians,’ it’s just that most of them want to live on government assistance.” There is, of course, some cognitive dissonance going on, because prejudice and racism are difficult to admit. It is easy for a society to judge situations in other nations as racist or oppressive, such as apartheid in South Africa or the practices of the Israeli occupation forces on the West Bank. Some might respond by saying, “It’s their fault that their culture has disintegrated.” While this is not an uncommon response, it is a curious one because it blames the victim for being victimized. But refusing to address racism comes with serious costs—­for those directly impacted by it most of all, but also for society at large. Consider, for example, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC, 2020) report about the presence of anti-­Black racism and profiling in the Toronto Police Service. The report found that Black people in Toronto are disproportionately subject to arrests, charges and use of force by the city’s police. Although Black people represent just under 9% of Toronto’s population, they make up 32% of all charges. What’s more, only 20% of all charges actually result in a conviction. This is no surprise to those whose communities have been dealing with the impacts of this discriminatory policing for years: loss of jobs and wages, loss of housing, loss of children, loss of time, loss of life. But as Moya Teklu (2020), a Toronto-­based lawyer, points out, this kind of discriminatory policing not only has terrible human costs for the people unjustly caught in the criminal justice system, but is an incredibly expensive and wasteful way of using taxpayers’ money. It costs money to put and keep people in jail: about $183 per day before trial, and up to $600,000 per year if convicted (Teklu, 2020). We must, too, consider that almost 80% of charges against Black people are dropped before their trial, and that many of the charges that go forward are poverty related. How can we justify not only these monetary costs, but also the human ones? The answer is: We can’t. As Teklu says, “Whether you care about

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] 14

I s s u e s i n D i v e r s i t y, C u lt u r e a n d C o u n s e l l i n g

people, your pocketbook, or both, the OHRC report makes clear that the cost of policing is too high” (para. 22).

The Cau ses of Conflic t and Preju d ice Do societies with high ethnic diversity experience more conflict than those that are more homogeneous? Certainly, one need look no further than a counselling group session to see that cultural differences are often, if not usually, the source from which communication issues among group members spring. But again, like Mezlekia’s (2000) allegory of the donkey, we need to ask: What is the real danger of this kind of disagreement? Is it the disagreement itself or the way the disagreement is handled? There has been a good deal of research examining what creates conflict and gives birth to prejudice. Is it a part of the human experience? Are people born feeling prejudice? Consider that when people compete for scarce resources, they form groups to help them get ahead. Often, these groups are based on similarities within the group. This becomes the in-­group. Those who are different become the out-­group. Differences could be based on a number of factors including group norms, language, race, religion or even goals. However these groups form, people tend to be more generous towards those in their own groups and less generous towards those from other groups. In other words, people from one cultural group will be more forgiving of those in their group and less forgiving of those from another group (Leavitt & McKeown, 2013). The bias is reinforced with each “negative” experience one has—­but one is also more likely to perceive an experience as negative, or to contribute to a negative experience, if one is expecting the experience to be negative in the first place. In the end, one’s attitude becomes a more rigid and ideological reflection of one’s cultural norms. Then there is the reciprocity rule, or the notion of “tit for tat,” in which if a “wrong” is done, the harmed party retaliates, causing a series of behaviours that reinforce one’s beliefs. Social comparison is also a factor in creating a sense of anger, prejudice and aggression. And finally, “triggering” events may lead people to react on the basis of emotion. These reactionary actions can produce a chain of events that can last for decades, or even centuries. Consider, for example, the Kosovo situation in which Serbs fought Albanians. Historical wrongs were enmeshed within the differing groups’ attitudes about each other. The Turkish invasion during the sixteenth century continues to be played out in the

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] C o u n s e l l i n g Ac r o s s C u lt u r e s 15

twenty-­first century. People adopt these historical attitudes and make them part of their behaviour, thus creating another myth that reinforces prejudice. This reinforced prejudice fuels a tendency to exaggerate one’s similarities with one’s in-­group while also exaggerating one’s differences with out-­groups. People react to each other based on their group membership. Since they do not know the others, viewing the others as faceless and interchangeable is common. This “facelessness” of the other facilitates conflict among different groups through a process of dehumanization of those who are other. The dehumanization of “enemies” can clearly be observed when examining the emotional demonstrations of Afghans shouting, “Down with America!” or the indifference of American leaders to the welfare of civilians during the long war against the Taliban. During and after the 2016 election, American President Donald Trump constantly demonized Mexicans and Central Americans as “rapist and criminals,” ignoring the fact that over 25% of the United States are Mexican American: loyal citizens of the United States overrepresented in US military service. In politics and in war, politicians dehumanize the other in order to sustain hate and facilitate domination by alleviating any guilt one nation or individual citizens may feel about their treatment of other human beings. These rationalizations are really a façade for an attitude that allows people to treat their in-­group differently than out-­groups. Many of the issues that have divided people historically are still unchanged. Over time the enemy changes, but the process of dehumanizing stays the same. As mentioned, some research evidence suggests that individuals need to maintain a sense of group distinctiveness (Berry et al., 2002). Sometimes people refer to this group belonging as “group pride”—­but why does pride hinge on a feeling of superiority over and a putting down, dehumanization or even destruction of the other? Pride in doing things well or in a feeling of solidarity with one’s ethnic or cultural group is beneficial, but when it evolves into in-­group superiority, it becomes destructive. Still, the importance of common goals in the creation of in-­and out-­groups is worth emphasizing. People who have different goals but are otherwise similar become frustrated with those whose goals differ from their own. In fact, according to Baron et al. (1992), people become less aggressive, and thus more cooperative—­thereby reducing prejudice toward aspects unrelated to goals—­if goals are mutual despite other dissimilarities. Friendships develop and differences of colour or race are

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] 16

I s s u e s i n D i v e r s i t y, C u lt u r e a n d C o u n s e l l i n g

minimized when goals are mutual. Yes, hostilities can still arise between those with different goals, but the point I want to emphasize here is this: cooperative activities can reduce racial and other tension if all parties work intentionally in a strategic alliance. Leavitt and McKeown (2013) use the term cooperative intelligence (CI) to describe those who prioritize cooperation over conflict: In a high-­CI group…the typical reaction is increased productivity. This group understands that the solution to the problem resides in applying their collective knowledge and skills to help each other work toward a solution, and that means that problems or setbacks catalyze a greater output of energy and effort. (p. 157)

Those high in CI are not motivated by an “us-­versus-­them” mentality, but by collective action. They are thus more able to break down group boundary lines. The more people foster the notion that there are multiple explanations or sides to an issue, the less the chance there is that we will be ignorant and fear the unknown. Fear, after all, is the culprit behind racism.

An Op p o r t unit y for Couns ellin g an d Th erapy Regardless of our language, race or culture, every community is interdependent with others. Therefore, when society discriminates, marginalizes and ostracizes people because they are different, everyone suffers. Canadian society has come a long way in being more accepting of differences among people. Still, it has a long way to go in creating a society that truly respects diversity. The same is true of the counselling profession. According to Alexander and Mitchell (2017), when diverse cultures are added into the mix of the counselling process, the process itself—­ which, in North America, is largely based in Eurocentric traditions of thought—­is challenged. Alexander and Mitchell propose the following eight challenges to counselling that must be addressed for competent multicultural counselling to be possible: 1. Counsellors must supplement familiar rules of objective, rational thought with a tolerance and appreciation of logical inconsistency, paradox and subjective ways of knowing. 2. Counsellors must appreciate the importance of collectivism over individualism in some cultures and relationships. 3. Counsellors must challenge in themselves the implicit or explicit belief that modernization and Westernization has better solutions to our world’s problems than other cultures.

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] C o u n s e l l i n g Ac r o s s C u lt u r e s 17

4. Counsellors must understand that “change” and “progress” are not inherently good for their own sakes, and that clients may experience change as both good and bad at the same time. 5. Counsellors should welcome the metaphor of natural ecological settings, and how they remind us of the many unknown and perhaps unknowable mysteries of the relationships among people and their environments. 6. Counsellors should question the perceived absoluteness of categories such as problem and solution, success and failure. 7. Counsellors should learn to recognize that new theoretical and methodological approaches to counselling are needed to deal with the complexity of diverse cultural interactions. 8. Counsellors should understand that the need for a grounded theory of multicultural counselling is essential to all counsellors and is not an exotic or specialized perspective. Therapists and counsellors in Canada are in a unique position to bring about a more just society in a multicultural country. Racism and othering forces such as sexism, classism, ageism and so on permeate the very foundations of most nations today, but most people are uncomfortable talking about these forces and their implications, even denying that they exists or that we are implicated in them. These conversations need to be had, and these discomforts need to be encountered and processed. Counsellors must be models for promoting the acceptance of diversity. We must encourage others not only to be culturally sensitive but also to fight discrimination and racism. All people are capable of change from day to day and from situation to situation, but counsellors who work with people from different cultures have a unique opportunity to act as agents of change. Ethnic boundaries are changing swiftly, and the world must change with them. The issue goes much deeper than simply tolerating or accommodating the multicultural fact of Canadian society. We must change the structures of our society, originally designed for a homogeneous, White, European population, to structures that support and celebrate the diverse reality of our country today. Indeed, this multicultural reality is already changing the nature of a Eurocentric counselling theory and practice into a system that emphasizes diversity and a world perspective.

D i ve r s it y Cons iderat ions fo r Co u n sello rs According to Arthur (2019), a multicultural orientation has tremendous implications for counselling practice because being knowledgeable and

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] 18

I s s u e s i n D i v e r s i t y, C u lt u r e a n d C o u n s e l l i n g

sensitive to cultural diversity makes all the difference between success and failure. Multicultural counselling is concerned with the usual developmental issues, but with the added element of cultural differences. We live in a society that demands that we become engaged in intercultural communication for our survival. If the interaction is to be significant, and if cross-­cultural communication and multiculturalism are to foster increased understanding and cooperation, then counsellors must be aware of the factors that may affect how we relate to others. Counsellors must not only avoid actions that hinder effective communication but also be actively engaged in helping others deal with diversity issues. It is axiomatic to suggest that the success of cross-­cultural communication may well depend on the attitudes and philosophies people adopt. The ways in which people in a group relate to each other often reflects their larger philosophy towards life and themselves.

Cultural Influences Culture is a human necessity. It is the way in which people establish and maintain relationships with each other and with their environment. According to many social scientists, culture is both a critical aspect of a person’s lifestyle and an essential element of human behaviour. While the clothes people wear and the attitudes they voice may reflect the dominant culture they inhabit, it is their cultural background that shapes their thinking and their feelings; as the expression goes, “blood is thicker than water.” There are strong indicators that cultural conditioning reflects how people communicate with others (Pedersen et al., 2016). As people of understanding interact with those who are culturally different, they must explore the socialization forces that affect behaviour, values and language. For example, consider the way in which you were taught to relate to the natural world. Many people brought up in the Canadian colonial and Eurocentric context have learned to stress the importance of controlling the natural world, and to see what is in control as good and what is out of control as bad. Such ideas about control of the natural world bleed into ideas of how humanity ought to be treated. If people are not “good”—­ that is, if they are not consistent with societal norms—­then they need to be controlled. Taking this attitude one step further, people may also seek to control the urges they feel within themselves. Even in a relatively homogeneous population, there are cultural differences that are easier to be aware of in others than in the self. All human beings have at least one thing in common: no matter who people are or where they are from, they are human beings. But we tend

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] C o u n s e l l i n g Ac r o s s C u lt u r e s 19

to make much of the biological difference that distinguish us. Some biological differences include age, shape, size, colour and sex. With few exceptions, these differences are not up to us. In all societies, biological differences have produced attitudes relating to behaviour and how people interact with others. For example, someone large is viewed as powerful and possibly aggressive; as a result, more deference may be shown towards that person. A big and muscular person may be seen as a brute, a lean and slight person as effeminate, someone with rough features as unrefined; in some groups, plumpness is considered healthy and beautiful while in others it is seen as unhealthy and unattractive. The cultural norms that dictate reactions to biological differences are infinite, with each group having its own interpretation about the meaning of these characteristics. All cultures are affected psychologically by various influences on the group. People in the group are continuously subjected to pressures to conform to the norms of the group. In this respect, personality is to a large extent formed through group norms. The family, as a primary socializing agent, is responsible for the basic values people exhibit. This is particularly true of cultures that value respect for authority, tradition and learning. Exposure to significant others, relatives, friends, teachers and peers enhances one’s repertoire, inculcating the social mores and behaviours of the entire culture. This trait is obvious if we compare the ways people feel, think and act in different cultures. For example, according to Salagame (2011), people from different places in the world have different constructs of self: It is observed, in general, that the Western Concept of Self is of an individual who is separate, autonomous, and atomized (made up of a set of discrete traits, abilities, values, and motives, seeking separateness and independence from others). In contrast, in Eastern cultures relatedness, connectedness, and interdependence are sought, rooted in a concept of the self not as a discrete entity, but as inherently linked to others. The person is only made “whole” when situated in his or her place in a social unit. (p. 133)

Behaviour may also be affected by ideology or one’s characteristic manner of thinking (e.g., assertions, theories or aims). The ideological foundation of an individual’s culture will, to a large degree, have an impact on their behaviour. It is from such foundations that people derive religious, social and political beliefs that direct and govern their behaviour. Being born in a certain culture occasions the display of certain characteristics that are behaviourally right for that culture. In other words, people have

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] 20

I s s u e s i n D i v e r s i t y, C u lt u r e a n d C o u n s e l l i n g

a cultural or national way of thinking and seeing the world, which is reflected in their language, values and beliefs, norms, sociopolitical history and the like. The ideological differences can be observed in the behaviour of group members who come from different ethnic groups. The ideology of a nation dictates to people certain attitudes, beliefs and ways of thinking that frame their existence. Beliefs about life, death and marriage, for instance, determine relationship behaviours. People tend to respond to their environment in consistent ways that are dictated by the attitudes of their society. Minority cultures often must partially adopt the ideology of the dominant culture in which they live in order to survive, but this adoption may or may not be fully ingrained in their personality. Consider that even after three generations of living in the United States, some children and adolescents of Mexican American families have still modified their basic Mexican cultural characteristics in only a few small ways (Padilla, 2016). Yet people living as minorities in a dominant culture are also dissimilar to their cultures of origin. For example, African Canadians and Arab Canadians may have more in common with one another than with people in Ethiopia or Jordan. This dissimilarity creates a strain for visible minorities who can feel that they are neither here nor there. It is also true that some beliefs and values are more affected by gender than cultural differences—­for instance, the belief that men have more freedom of choice regardless of culture or intersectional aspects of their identity (e.g., race, religion, ability, etc.). Environmental or ecological forces also influence culture and behaviour. Climate, terrain, prosperity and population density also play a role in developing distinct cultural norms. Someone born on an isolated island may develop a different view of the world than someone born on a large continent or in a crowded city. People born in highly populated areas may have to be more assertive because that is the only way to survive, while someone born in a less populous area may be more relaxed and quieter.

Cross-­C ultural Communications As a primary form of communication, language is of great importance to people in groups. Language patterns reflect people’s culture or subculture: People of all cultures communicate and use language—­a major similarity across people around the globe. At the same time, language also stands out as one of the most salient differences observed across cultures. Language contributes to both understanding and misunderstanding between peoples. Yet, no matter

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] C o u n s e l l i n g Ac r o s s C u lt u r e s 21

how different they may seem, all languages have in common certain key characteristics, while continuing to possess their own unique features. (Kreiner, 2019, p. 357)

Thus, it becomes easy to imagine why people who do have different cultural and linguistic backgrounds misunderstand each other. When people encounter cultural and language differences, miscommunication is a risk. As Kreiner (2019) reminds us, this is not an insurmountable challenge: “We…have the flexibility to make adjustments in our language use and in our assumptions about the language use of others. Our shared capacity for flexible thinking opens the door to understanding other cultures” (p. 371). Still, a counsellor should be prepared for cross-­cultural misunderstandings. Being sensitive to and aware of others’ frames of reference is elementary in any counselling scenario, but it is particularly significant when working with those of diverse cultural backgrounds. In some ways the following list of stumbling blocks applies to almost any group but is especially pertinent in cross-­cultural counselling: Language: Vocabulary, syntax, idiom, slang and dialect can create problems of understanding. The problem is the tenacity with which people cling to “the” meaning of a word or phrase in the new language, regardless of its connotation or the context.

Nonverbal communication: People from different cultures employ different nonverbal sensory [cues]. They see, hear, feel and smell only that which has some meaning or importance for them. They extract whatever significance fits their personal world of recognition and then interpret it through the frame of reference of their own culture.

Tendency to evaluate: Some people from different cultures need to approve or disapprove the statements and actions of others, rather than try to comprehend the thoughts and feelings expressed. This bias prevents the open-­minded attention needed to look at attitudes and behaviour patterns from others’ frames of reference. This is heightened when feelings and emotions are deeply involved. Yet this is the time when listening with understanding is most needed. As counsellors, we especially need to examine values that are negatively evaluative towards those who are different. High anxiety: This stumbling block is not distinct but underlies and compounds the others. Its presence is very common because of uncertainties present when people function in a foreign language where the normal flow of verbal and nonverbal interaction

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] 22

I s s u e s i n D i v e r s i t y, C u lt u r e a n d C o u n s e l l i n g

cannot be sustained. There is a sense of threat by the unknown knowledge, experience and evaluation of others. This sense of threat and uncertainty brings the potential for scrutiny and rejection by the self. There is also the added tension of having to cope with the differing pace, climate and culture. Self-­esteem is often intolerably undermined unless people employ defences such as withdrawal into their reference group or into themselves, thus screening out or misperceiving stimuli, rationalizing, overcompensating or even showing hostility. (France, 2002, p. 219)

An inaccurate picture of another person’s issue formed from verbal responses—­or in some cases formed from what is not said—­produces real conflict. Certain phrases in one language may be uninterpretable in another or, if translated literally, may not convey the many dimensions the phrase encompasses. Some words, phrases or expressions might have negative meanings that are acceptable to some people from a cultural group but not to others. For example, many high school and professional sports teams have names and logos like “Braves,” “Indians” and “Redskins.” Indigenous communities have protested such names on the basis that they reinforce negative stereotypes, use Aboriginal images and icons in a disrespectful manner and trivialize their ethnic background. An incident in greater Vancouver, for instance, created controversy when the Musqueam name Spull’u’kwuks was proposed for a school. Authorities felt the name, meaning “place of bubbling waters,” risked being used in a negative way because of the potential for rhyming with derogatory words. The response from the Musqueam First Nation was that “it was their language [and] it should be celebrated, not made the subject of humour” (France, 2002). Even nonverbal gestures are relatively different from culture to culture. According to Matsumoto and Juang (2012), “being unaware of these differences can definitely cause problems” (p.  352) because each culture develops unique patterns of nonverbal communication. Eye contact and personal space, for example, differ from culture to culture. Arabic societies gaze even longer than North Americans do (Matsumoto & Juang, 2012), but the degrees of eye contact may have different implications for different cultures. In North America, people are taught that eye contact communicates closeness and attention, while lack of eye contact communicates dislike, lack of interest or disrespect. According to Sue et al. (2019), White middle-­class people, when speaking to others, look away (i.e., avoid eye contact) approximately 50% of the time. When

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] C o u n s e l l i n g Ac r o s s C u lt u r e s 23

White people listen, however, they make eye contact with the speaker over 80% of the time. Black people, on the other hand, make more eye contact when speaking and infrequent eye contact when listening. This difference reinforces the idea that we should be careful when we try to attribute reasons for the amount of eye contact we encounter; eye contact is not necessarily related to aggressiveness, shyness or inattentiveness, but rather may depend on cultural patterns. Physical distance is another cultural variable. Francophones touch more in conversation and kiss those they feel close to, while Anglophones touch far less and rarely kiss in greeting. In North America, proximity is closely related to relationships. In intimate relationships, people may be as close as zero to one and a half feet from one another; in a personal relationship, one and a half to four feet; in a social consultative relationship, four to eight feet; and in a public relationship, up to ten feet. According to Matsumoto and Juang (2012), Latino(a)s feel more comfortable in close proximity across the board than those of European ancestry. According to Pedersen et  al. (2016), socioeconomic factors further affect the way people communicate and interact. For example, groups with members from lower economic and educational levels appear to prefer more concrete and structured activities. These people may want direct advice or at least a chance to talk in terms of concreteness and tangible outcomes. In general, those in the lower socioeconomic spheres report that counselling activities are all talk and no action (Pedersen et  al., 2016). In addition, people from different cultures may be unfamiliar with the dynamics of counselling sessions or counselling groups, which may be incongruous with what they expect. This inexperience may in turn block their progress.

Understanding, Interpreting and Responding As counsellors, we must be aware of and able to identify the values of different people that we work with. All people tend to project their cultural values in their behaviour and in their verbal and emotional expressions. Obviously, these differences may create distances between people. Individuals from some cultural groups may be reluctant to disclose their feelings because their culture places a high priority on restraint in expressing feelings and thoughts, particularly to strangers. If one misinterprets the reasons behind the reluctance to self-­disclose, the results may produce a block of communication, severe anxiety and extreme discomfort.

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] 24

I s s u e s i n D i v e r s i t y, C u lt u r e a n d C o u n s e l l i n g

Another important cultural value is the family relationship. People of European ancestry and those acculturated by this ancestry tend to centre on personal responsibility; their decisions may be made based on the good of the individual. Other cultures emphasize the family or the collective good. If someone from a culture that emphasizes family involvement in decision-­making makes a personal decision, the family might block attempts to achieve the individual’s goals. One Asian Canadian client, for example, stated: “Whenever I disagreed with my mother, it seemed to her that I was questioning her character” (France, 2002, p. 220). In this client’s family, the authority of the parents is paramount and not to be questioned by the child. When the client made a decision without consulting her family, her mother felt hurt and angry. The client loved her mother but felt a desire to assert her individuality, and this desire produced many conflicting feelings. There are also positive aspects to cultural values in which adult children make important choices only after consulting with their parents. For example, a Brazilian woman, age 30, said that she and her husband felt it necessary to ask her parents whether their decision to buy a particular apartment was a good one. Upon hearing her, a Canadian male responded that if he asked his parents what they thought, the response would be: “You’re an adult now; decide what you think is best.” Multicultural experiences can enhance a counsellor’s personal power and improve overall communication skills not only with culturally different clients but with clients in general. What counsellors say and do can either promote or reduce their credibility and effectiveness with others. Their style of self-­disclosure, perceived trustworthiness and approach to counselling emphasize just a few of the variables. In this regard, the cultural background of counsellors is not as important to how effective they are as the way their credibility, approachableness and trustworthiness are perceived by clients. That being said, in studies on evaluating the effects of counsellors’ race and ethnic background on perceived effectiveness in communication, people were affected by the person’s race and ethnic background either negatively or positively (cited in France, 2002). However, in other studies in counselling situations, the evidence suggests that, for culturally different people, the issue of expertise is raised more often than whether the person has a similar cultural or racial background (Pedersen et al., 2016). In other words, using appropriate communication skills and strategies that are congruent with the client’s values is more important than race or ethnic background.

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] C o u n s e l l i n g Ac r o s s C u lt u r e s 25

There seems to be no particular communication strategy that proves more successful with specific populations. Yet the approach used by counsellors from the majority culture must be consistent with other cultures’ lifestyles and must involve flexibility for individual differences within a culture. Not all people with a similar cultural background behave in the same way. Treating everyone in exactly the same way without regard to their cultural context and background or their life experience may, in a counselling context, be discriminatory treatment. Using an approach that assumes that everyone is the same without recognizing differences may have a negative effect and is likely to be alienating to those who communicate differently. Approaches such as Atkinson et al.’s (1993) three-­ dimensional model (see Chapter 11) attempt to take these differences into consideration while providing a practical approach to effective counselling across cultures. If we could all be more aware and appreciate other cultures and their different attributes and individual expressions, perhaps we could be more accepting of the cultural differences and individual needs of others.

The Process of Cultural Adjustment The process of adaptation is a universal phenomenon that everyone experiences simply by growing from infancy to adulthood within a given cultural milieu. For those adjusting to new cultures, however, the process has its own particular challenges. For many newcomers to a culture, there is a “honeymoon period” in adjustment in which the newcomer is enthusiastic. According to Oberg (1960), this is followed by the anxiety, frustration and adjustment difficulties of “culture shock.” However, as the newcomer develops new coping mechanisms specific to their new cultural milieu, these dissipate. Building on Oberg’s U-­shaped model of cultural adjustment, Ting-­Toomey (1999) proposed a W-­shaped model, suggesting that individuals typically experience waves of alternating satisfaction and dissatisfaction as they adjust to a new culture. According to Sciarra (1999), “counselors working with clients from non-­dominant cultural backgrounds need to assess their acculturative levels and the amount of stress resulting from living in a different environment” (p. 25). Chung (2019) builds on this, saying that the degree of intercultural development influences an individual’s capacity to function in a multicultural society by undergoing the struggle to manage the stress, the need to successfully adapt, and

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] 26

I s s u e s i n D i v e r s i t y, C u lt u r e a n d C o u n s e l l i n g

the maintenance of identity distinctiveness. The result is an intercultural identity, defined as an increase in the individual’s capacity to integrate conflicting cultural demands into a cohesive new whole. (pp. 385–­86)

Such is the challenge of being oneself while also striving to connect with others who may be different. How one does this can determine how safe one feels in any different cultural situation. Three categories of processes of adaptation that strive to deal with this challenge have been identified (Chung, 2019; see also Chapter 8; Chapter 17, Acculturation section): 1. Unidirectional: Adapting to one culture and away from another 2. Bidirectional: Adapting by moving back and forth between two cultures while feeling at home in both 3. Multidirectional: Adapting to other cultures but feeling positively grounded in one’s own culture.

Racial/Ethnic/Cultural Identity Regardless of how a person adapts to new cultural situations, their cultural roots bind them and this binding in turn affects how they feel about themselves and are perceived by others. In other words, being connected to one’s culture is important to identity because it is a vehicle to self-­acceptance—­it is the first step to being able to “place” oneself. Racial/ethnic identity development may be defined as pride in one’s racial, ethnic and cultural heritage. People who have strong cultural identities seem to have a greater sense of control about their lives. Sue et al. (2019) suggest that counsellors’ cultural identity can adversely affect how they interact with clients by reinforcing negative self-­esteem if the client is experiencing dissonance about their cultural development. Helms (2010) suggests that if majority-­culture counsellors want to understand minority people (and vice versa), they must understand their identity development. Helms thus proposes two models of identity development to describe how minorities form their identity compared to the majority group. The first—­the majority identity development model—­has six stages: 1. Lack of awareness: A person from the majority culture has no sense that there are any differences in cultures simply because they have had no contact with different cultures. 2. Contact: The person has contact with someone who is different. This stage is characterized by curiosity and the recognition that

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] C o u n s e l l i n g Ac r o s s C u lt u r e s 27

there are differences among people: colour, race, language and so on. 3. Conflict: Once differences are identified, they become exaggerated, and there is a greater chance for conflict. The person becomes frustrated and differences create fear; they may become defensive and sometimes aggressive. 4. Pro-­minority stance: Once the person understands that conflict is not a positive option, they begin to reach out to others. In their desire to connect, the person (from the dominant group) embraces minority characteristics and values (e.g., language, dress, etc.). However, this strategy is bound to fail. The person reaching out is from the majority group; they cannot change where they are from and they cannot become part of the minority group. 5. Pro-­majority stance: This stage only occurs when the pro-­ minority stance is not accepted. The dominant group individual embraces an attitude that is not diverse or accepting of others (i.e., they support only their own group exclusively). 6. Internalization: At this stage, the person accepts themselves as coming from a certain ethnic group and accept others in the same way. They have a good sense of their own boundaries and those of others. They recognize that their ethnic identity is a part of themselves and is built on a positive foundation. They accept others who are different and value others based on their behaviours, not their colour.

The second model—­the minority identity development model—­ consists of five stages: 1. Conformity: The person from the minority group accepts majority standards and values at the cost of their own ethnic identity. 2. Dissonance: The person perceives a difference between what they feel and what they experience. 3. Resistance: Based on their sense of dissonance, the person revolts. A sense of power and even exclusiveness takes place. 4. Introspection: Based on the sense that resistance doesn’t always accomplish what one wants, the individual looks for reasons and reflects on the whys and hows of what works and what doesn’t. 5. Synergistic articulation and awareness: This stage occurs when the individual accepts themselves.

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] 28

I s s u e s i n D i v e r s i t y, C u lt u r e a n d C o u n s e l l i n g

Biracial Identity Poston (1990) developed a third model: the biracial identity development model. Biracial identity development is a complex process and is more undefined in the literature. Recognizing the increasing numbers of biracially identified people in North America and elsewhere, Poston’s model is an attempt to address this problem, though it should be noted that this progressive developmental model is a tentative model based on the scant research available on biracial individuals and on information from supportive groups (Kassan, 2019). Nevertheless, the following five-­ stage model does have implications for personal identity constructs (e.g., self-­esteem) for biracial youth: 1. Personal identity: Biracial children tend to display identification problems when they internalize outside prejudices and values. Young children’s reference group observation attitudes are not yet developed, so their identity is primarily based on personal factors such as self-­esteem and feelings of self-­worth within their primary reference group. 2. Choice of group categorization: Youth at this stage are pushed to choose an identity, usually of one ethnic group. Numerous factors can influence the individual’s identity choice (e.g., status, social support, personal appeals). It is unusual for an individual to choose a multiethnic identity at this stage because this choice requires levels of cognitive development and knowledge about multiple ethnicities/ races/cultures beyond what is characteristic of this age group. 3. Enmeshment or denial: This stage is characterized by confusion and guilt at having to choose one identity that is not fully expressive of one’s background. Biracial youth may experience alienation at the choice stage and make a choice even if they are uncomfortable with it. 4. Appreciation: Individuals at this stage begin to appreciate their multiple identities and broaden their reference group orientation. They might begin to learn about their racial/ethnic/cultural heritage, but they still tend to identify with one group. 5. Integration: Individuals at this stage experience wholeness and integration. They tend to recognize and value all of their racial and ethnic identities. At this level, biracial youth develop a secure, integrated identity. This model is similar to Helms’s (2010) models in that it integrates a lifespan focus, yet different in that it underscores the uniqueness of biracial identity development. In addition, it recognizes that the most

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] C o u n s e l l i n g Ac r o s s C u lt u r e s 29

difficult times of adjustment and identification confusion are during the choice and enmeshment stages. Counsellors and helping professionals who understand and accept these five stages will be better prepared to assist biracial youth in their identity development.

Interracial Relationships Social ostracism and racism continue to be direct stressors on many interracial couplings even though most legal barriers to interracial marriage and coupling have been abolished. A greater acceptance of interracial unions exists today than even 15 to 20 years ago (Matsumoto & Juang, 2012). This increase in acceptance is reflected in the steady growth in the number of interracial couples and their offspring. Helping professionals therefore need to be cognizant of and prepared to address this increasing population in their professions. Matsumoto and Juang (2012) say that studies of intercultural marriages have shown that conflicts arise in several major areas, including the expression of love and intimacy, the nature of commitment and attitudes towards the marriage itself, and approaches to child-­ rearing when couples have children. Other potential sources of conflict include differences in perceptions of male-­female roles, differences in domestic money management, differences in perceptions of relationships with extended family and differences in the definition of marriage itself. (p. 419)

They also note that “anecdotal evidence suggests intercultural marriages are not necessarily associated with higher divorce rates than intra-­cultural marriages” (p. 421). Thus, the factors that contribute to a successful intercultural marriage are the same ingredients that make for successful multicultural counselling—­that is, the ability to compromise and be flexible, a commitment to the relationship, the ability to negotiate differences existing within the relationship and the desire to stay together regardless of the challenges.

Co nclus ion In that moment, he realized that the Land of the Free had imposed a caste system not unlike the caste system of India and that he had lived under that system all of his life. What Martin Luther King, Jr., recognized about his country that day had begun long before the ancestors of our ancestors had taken their first breaths. (Wilkerson, 2020, p. 42)

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] 30

I s s u e s i n D i v e r s i t y, C u lt u r e a n d C o u n s e l l i n g

The democratic systems in place in most of the Western world, despite their assertions to the contrary, have been built on the idea that people are not equal. They have been built upon slavery, genocide and their legacies. Isabel Wilkerson’s (2020) book Caste: The Origins of our Discontents echoes this feeling—­one that was brought into sharp relief once again in the Summer of 2020, after the police killing of George Floyd in the United States. Once again, we have been reminded that we as a society need to change. Once again, all signs have pointed to the fact that “caste makes distinctions where God has made none” (Wilkerson, 2020, p. 44). Why is it that this message has required so much repeating? People, like nations, have a tendency to look at the world beyond themselves from their own perspective. This is natural and perhaps necessary, for all people are “prisoners” of a particular space and time. We are all tied, after all, to our own bodies, our own points of view. One way to look at this situation is to see everyone as a stranger; another is to see everyone as a neighbour. The challenge for counsellors is to develop their cultural sensitivity while maintaining a sense and an understanding of their own cultural identity. Many attitudes and behaviours are deeply ingrained in people’s psyches and many of them are subject to ethnocentrism. The challenge for counsellors is to help people become grounded in their cultural identity, develop an appreciation for others who are culturally different, and look for ways of reaching out to others who are different. The changes required are not simple, nor are they easy. They require that people possess a willingness to communicate, show empathy toward those from different backgrounds, tolerate views that differ from their own and develop a more open approach to communication with others from different cultural groups. In order to increase societal acceptance of people who are different, more contact with among different cultural groups is particularly important (Rieger, 2015). If people have the resolve and desire to adapt their behaviours and attitudes to overcome ethnocentrism, they may begin to know the feelings of exhilaration that come when they have made contact with those from cultures far removed from their own sphere of experience. They may, further, come to understand the way in which, in this globalizing world, we are, all of us, interdependent. This willingness to realize interdependency is voiced eloquently by McGaa (1990): Our survival is dependent on the realization that Mother Earth is a truly holy being, that all things in this world are holy and must not be violated, and that we must share and be generous with one

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] C o u n s e l l i n g Ac r o s s C u lt u r e s 31

another…Think of your fellow men and women as holy people who were put here by the Great Spirit. Think of being related to all things. (p. 208)

R e fe rences Al-­Solaylee, K. (2016). Brown: What being brown in the world today means (to everyone). HarperCollins Publishers. Alexander, C., & Mitchell, A. (2016). Review of the counseling profession’s ethical guidelines: Are they meeting the challenges of today’s society? In J. Casas, L.A. Suzuki, C.M. Alexander, & M.A. Jackson (Eds.), Handbook of multicultural counselling (4th ed.; pp. 31–­42). ACA Press. Anastakis, D. (2015). Death in the peaceable kingdom: Canadian history since 1867 through murder, execution, assassination, and suicide. University of Toronto Press. Anastasio, K., & Rose, J. (2014). Beyond deserving more: Psychological entitlement also predicts negative attitudes toward personally. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5(5), 593–­600. APM Research Lab. (2020, December 10). The color of coronavirus: COVID-­19 deaths by race and ethnicity in the U.S. https://www.apmresearchlab.org/covid/deaths-­by-­race Baird, J., Plummer, R., Schultz, L., Armitage, D., & Bodin, O. (2019). How does socio-­ institutional diversity affect collaborative governance of social-­ecological systems in practice? Environmental Management, 63(2), 200–­14. Baron, R.S., Kerr, N.L., & Miller, N. (1992). Group process, group decision, group action. Brooks Cole. Berry, J., Poortinga, H., Segall, M., & Dasen, P. (2002). Cross-­cultural psychology (2nd ed.). Oxford Press. Blummer, B., Kenton, J., & Wiatrowski, M. (2018). Promoting ethnic diversity and multiculturalism in higher education. IGI Global Information Science Reference. Dyer, G. (2001). Visible majorities. Canadian Geographic, 121(1), 44–­55. Este, D., Lorenzetti, L., & Sato, S. (2018). Racism and anti-­racism in Canada. Fernwood Publishing. France, M.H. (2002). Nexus: Transpersonal approach to groups. Detselig. George, D. (1994). My heart soars. Hancock House Publishers. Helms, J.E. (2010). An update of Helms’ White and people of color racial identity modes. In J.G. Ponterotto, J.M. Casas, L.A. Suzuki, & C.M. Alexander (Eds.), Handbook of multicultural counseling (3rd ed.; pp. 181–­98). SAGE. Ho, J., & Arsenalut, A. (2020, December 3). Black civil servants allege discrimination in proposed class-­action lawsuit against Ottawa. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ black-­civil-­servants-­lawsuit-­discrimination-­1.5826344 Kassan, A. (2019). Using a feminist-­multicultural lens when counselling adolescent female: Intersection cultural identities and multiple social locations. In N. Arthur (Ed.), Counselling in cultural contexts: Identities and social justice (pp. 227–­48). Springer Nature. Kreiner, D. (2019). Language and culture: Commonality, variation, and mistaken assumptions. In K. Keith (Ed.), Cross-­cultural psychology: Contemporary themes and perspectives (2nd ed.; pp. 357–­ 74). Wiley. Labelle, M. (2007). Challenge of diversity in Canada and Quebec. Policy Options, (March–­April), 88–­93. Leavitt, M., & McKeown, R. (2013). Finding allies, building alliances: 8 elements that bring—­and keep—­people together. Wiley. Matsumoto, D., & Juang, L. (2012). Culture and psychology (5th ed.). Wadsworth.

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] 32

I s s u e s i n D i v e r s i t y, C u lt u r e a n d C o u n s e l l i n g

McGaa, E. (1990). Mother Earth spirituality: Native American paths to healing ourselves and the world. Harper. Mezlekia, N. (2000). Notes from the hyena’s belly. Penguin Books. Montigny, L., de. (1972). Racism and Indian cultural adaptations. In Waubageshig (Ed.), The only good Indian (pp. 97–­111). New Press. Oberg, K. (1960). Culture shock: Adjustment to new cultural environments. Practical Anthropology, 7, 177–­82. OHRC (Ontario Human Rights Commission). (2020, August). A disparate impact: Second interim report on the inquiry into racial profiling and racial discrimination of Black persons by the Toronto Police Service. http://www.ohrc.on.ca/sites/default/files/A%20Disparate%20Impact%20 Second%20interim%20report%20on%20the%20TPS%20inquiry%20executive%20summary. pdf#overlay-­context=en/disparate-­impact-­second-­interim-­report-­inquiry-­racial-­profiling-­and-­ racial-­discrimination-­black Padilla, A. (2016). Bicultural social development. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 28(4), 467–­97. Paradies, Y., Ben, J., Denson, N., Elias, A., Priest, N., Pieterse, N., Gupta, A., Kelaher, E., & Gee, G. (2015). Racism as a determinant of health: A systematic review and meta-­analysis. PLOS one, 10(9), e0138511. Pedersen, P.B., Draguns, J.G., Lonner, W.J., Trimble, J.E., & Scharron-­del Rio, M. (2016). Counseling across cultures (7th ed.). SAGE. Pierre, J. (2020, December 15). COVID-­20 and the year of the conspiracy theory. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/psych-­unseen/202012/ covid-­20-­and-­the-­year-­the-­conspiracy-­theory Poston, C. (1990). Biracial development model: Needed addition. Journal of Counseling & Development, 69(2), 152–­55. Proudlock, S. (2017). The solution focused way: Incorporating solution focused therapy tools and techniques into your everyday work. Routledge. Rieger, A. (2015). Making sense of White identity development: The implications for teacher education. Multicultural Learning and Teaching, 10(2), 211–­30. Robinson, T.L., & Howard-­Hamilton, M.F. (2000). The convergence of race, ethnicity and gender. Merrill. Romer, D., & Jamieson, K.H. (2020). Conspiracy theories as barriers to controlling the spread of COVID-­19 in the U.S. Social Science & Medicine, 263(October), article no. 113356. Ryan, A. (2020, March 22). How multicultural is Toronto? Let us count the ways… Toronto Global. https://torontoglobal.ca/TG-­Blog/March-­2019/ How-­multicultural-­is-­Toronto-­Let-­us-­count-­the-­way Salagame, K. (2011). Ego and ahaṁkāra: Self and identity in modern psychology and Indian thought. In K.M.M. Cornensen, G. Misra, & S. Varma (Eds.), Foundations of Indian psychology, concepts and theories (Vol. 1). Longman / Pearson Education. Sciarra, D.T. (1999). Multiculturalism in counseling. P.F. Peacock Publishers. Statistics Canada. (2017a). Immigration and ethnocultural diversity: Key results from the 2016 census. In The Daily. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-­quotidien/171025/dq171025b-­ eng.htm?indid=14428-­1&indgeo=0 Statistics Canada. (2017b). Visible minority. Dictionary, census of population, 2016 (catalogue no. 98-­301-­X). https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-­recensement/2016/ref/dict/pop127-­eng.cfm Statistics Canada. (2019). Response mobility and growth of the Aboriginal population, 2006–­ 2011 and 2011–­2016. In National household survey: Aboriginal Peoples (catalogue no. 99-­011-­x). https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/99-­011-­x/99-­011-­x2019002-­eng.htm Sue, D.W., Sue, D., Neville, H.A., & Smith, L. (2019). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice (8th ed.). Wiley.

Download Complete eBook By email at [email protected] C o u n s e l l i n g Ac r o s s C u lt u r e s 33

Suzuki, L., Ponterotto, J., Alexander, C., & Casas, J.M. (2009). Handbook of multicultural counselling (3rd ed.). SAGE. Teklu, M. (2020, August 17). The high cost of anti-­Black racism and policing. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2020/08/17/the-­high-­cost-­of-­anti-­black-­ racism-­and-­policing.html Ting-­Toomey, S. (1999). Communicating across cultures. The Guilford Press. Todd, D. (2020, November 2). There’s “diversity,” then there’s “super-­diversity,” Burnaby style. Vancouver Sun. https://vancouversun.com/news/local-­news/ theres-­diversity-­then-­theres-­super-­diversity-­burnaby-­style/ Truth and Reconciliation Commission. (2015). The final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Vol. 1, Canada’s residential schools: The legacy. http://www.trc.ca/assets/ pdf/Volume_5_Legacy_English_Web.pdf Wilkerson, I. (2020). Caste: The origins of our discontents. Random House. Yu, T. (2015). Waiting for Asian Canada: Fred Wah’s transnational aesthetics. Canadian Literature, 227(Winter), 17–­36.