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Multicultural Key Strategies Multicultural Skills Training Team
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Experiential-Multicultural (EM) Strategies for Culture-Centered Adaptation of
Experiential
Psychotherapy Interventions
Case
Example: EM1. Attending to Feelings within the Cultural Context a. Literature: "The natural process of feeling can be depicted as a set of phases, those of emergence, awareness, owning, expressive action, and completion" (Greenberg & Paivio, 1997). b. Marker: IF feelings are being addressed in therapy, THEN it may be helpful to do so in a culturally sensitive manner. c. Consequence: IF feelings are attended to from clients' cultural contexts, THEN clients will be more aware of their feelings, manifest them in culturally appropriate ways, and feel respected by their therapists. d. Example: "Keiko, how would you be dealing with your depression if you were home? Can we find a way for you to handle your depression in a similar manner here in Hawai'i?" EM2. Promoting Culturally Appropriate Growth a. Literature: "A reasonable, theoretical, and empirical case has been made for the presence within the human being of a tendency toward, or a need for growing in a direction that can be summarized in general self-actualization, or psychological health" (Maslow, 1968, p. 155). b. Marker: IF growth is an issue that is being explored with clients, THEN it may be useful to address clients' cultural expectations for human growth. c. Consequences: IF clients' cultural values are respected and taken into account, THEN culturally appropriate growth may occur. d. Example: “You have talked about how lonely you feel here and that you feel some anxiety about leaving your dorm room. It seems like you would like to feel more connected with people. Let's talk about some ways you might be able to do so.” EM3. Communicating Respect, Empathy, and Positive Regard a. Literature: "For constructive personality change to occur, it is necessary that these conditions exist and continue over a period of time... The communication to the client of the therapist's empathic understanding and unconditional positive regard is to a minimal degree achieved" (Rogers, 1957, p. 96). b. Marker: IF a humanistic orientation with an awareness of cultural issues is utilized, THEN experiencing and communicating respect, empathy, and positive regard for clients is essential. c. Consequence: IF respect, empathy, and positive regard are provided to clients, THEN trust is likely to increase, growth will be encouraged, and clients will not feel judged based on their cultural identities. d. Example: “I have never lived outside of the country I was born in; I think you are very brave to do so. Tell me what it has been like for you living in a different culture.” EM4. Integrating Cultural Parts of Self a. Literature: "Any complex organism will order its forces so as to function with economy, organizing its diverse resources into the smoothest, most graceful and most efficient combination as possible at that given moment" (Polster & Polster, 1974, p. 64). b. Marker: IF clients display different patterns of behavior in various situations, THEN exploration of these patterns and their cultural meanings may be appropriate. c. Consequence: IF cultural parts of self are explored, THEN clients may increase their congruence. d. Example: "We've talked a lot about your feeling depressed. How would you be acting if you were depressed in Japan? Are there any differences with what you've been doing here?" EM5. Examining Freedom, Choice, and Responsibility with Cultural Sensitivity a. Literature: "How fine it would be to synthesize...task with freedom. Freedom then could fully develop. It really is a negative concept which requires a positive complement. And the positive complement is responsibleness" (Frankl, 1969, p. 48). b. Marker: IF decision-making is a therapeutic issue, THEN it may be helpful for therapists to explore issues of freedom, choice, and responsibility with clients while acknowledging social forces that are beyond clients' control. c. Consequence: IF decision-making is addressed with cultural sensitivity, THEN clients will be able to fully explore freedom, choice, and responsibility knowing that they are not being judged. d. Example: "Keiko, if you weren't feeling so down right now, what kinds of things would you be looking forward to doing during your time here in Hawai'i? What kinds of experiences would you like to be able to say you had 5 or 10 years from now?" EM6. Clarifying Self-in-Relation a. Literature: "Our concept of self includes our perceptions of what is characteristic of 'I' or 'me,' our perceptions of our relationships to others and to the world, and the values attached to these perceptions" (Prochaska & Norcross, 1999, p. 136-137). b. Marker: IF clients are struggling with the tension between independence and interdependence, THEN exploring the self in the context of relationships may be useful. c. Consequences: IF clients explore the self in context of relationships, THEN clients' cultural values, including collectivism, can be respected and integrated into therapy. d. Example: “We've talked about how you have many more friends in Japan than you do here. What have you tried in terms of making more friends here? Let's brainstorm some ideas of what you might be able to try to make more connections with people.”
Copyright © 2004
D. Jennette, J. Oliveira-Berry, K. Wagner, G. Hanawahine, C. Castagnini.
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