● Knowledge ● Skills ● Values ● Behaviors
● Ongoing critical self-reflection ● Lifelong learning ● Institutional accountability and change ● Addressing and challenging power imbalances
Components
● Client ● Practitioner ● Institution ● Larger community
Stakeholders
Practitioner
● A “young concept” ● Empirical data in early stages of development ● Conceptual framework still being developed
● Suggests an end point ● Can lead to stereotyping ● Applied universally rather than based on a specific client’s experience(s) ● Issues of social justice not adequately addressed ● Focus on gaining knowledge about specific cultures
Critiques
Note : Adapted from “Mastery to accountability: Cultural humility as an alternative to cultural competence,” by Fisher- Borne, M., et al., 2015. Social Work Education, 34 , 165-181. Multicultural and cultural competency frameworks inevitably lead to stereotyping various racial and ethnic groups by attempting to define and categorize entire ethnicities by a few cultural traditions and practices. Examples of such stereotypes include the following: Asian Americans push results in an infinite number of individual identities that are difficult, if not impossible, to categorize (Rosenthal, 2016). The cultural humility framework recognizes and acknowledges the layers and dimensions of diverse identities, encouraging counselors to self-reflect and understand the potential for many intersecting personal identities. Correspondingly, counselors assuming cultural humility ask clients questions regarding their intersecting diverse identities (Gallardo, 2014). Multicultural counseling and cultural competency
their children to succeed in school and to be obedient to adults, Latina/o men have “machismo,” and African Americans are assertive (Lum, 2011). Although the intent to understand the diversity within the U.S. is meant to be helpful to counselors, it often strengthens the status quo (i.e., “White” as the norm and all other racial and ethnic groups as outside that norm). Because of the desire to describe various racial and ethnic standards, multicultural counseling and cultural competency frameworks overlook the diversity within ethnic and racial minority groups and White groups (Lum, 2011). For instance, Asian American and Latina/o categorizations lump together individuals from a wide array of countries, suggesting, for example, that if you are Chinese American, Vietnamese American, or Japanese American, you are similar because you are Asian. Categorizing whole regions of the world as similar is likely to present problems, as individuals from a wide array of countries are very diverse. Moreover, individuals and groups within groups have a great deal of intragroup diversity. For example, a Chinese American family that has been in the U.S. for five generations is likely to be quite different from a Chinese American family that immigrated to the U.S. during the last decade. Cultural humility suggests that counselors should not assume cultural knowledge about clients; instead, they should ask clients questions about their cultural experiences and identities and view the client as the expert on this topic (Gallardo, 2014). Multicultural counseling and cultural competency frameworks also neglect the intersecting dimensions of diversity. By focusing on ethnic and racial groups, these models ignore the complexity of group and individual identity. Complex identities include many dimensions of diversity, such as race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, LGBTQ status, dis/ability, religion, regionality (e.g., southern, northern, western, eastern regions of the U.S.), age, gender, and so on. These dimensions of diversity intersect in many ways. The intersectionality of a multitude of sides that are oppressed or marginalized identities within one individual may result in experiencing much discrimination (Rosenthal, 2016). On the other hand, the intersection of a multitude of privileged dimensions within one individual may result in experiencing multiple oppressions; the intersectionality of dimensions of diversity
frameworks have been further criticized for focusing on having the counselor gain knowledge regarding differing racial and ethnic groups and assuming that there is an endpoint in cultural training where the counselor achieves competency (Fisher-Borne et al., 2015). However, culture is fluid and ever-changing, with a complex array of interacting dimensions. Thus, it is impossible to reach an endpoint to be deemed competent. Cultural humility requires counselors to acknowledge their lack of knowledge (Gallardo, 2014). It is firmly rooted in lifelong, ongoing learning and reflection. The final major criticism of multicultural counseling and cultural competency frameworks is that they do not present a social change/social justice perspective (Fisher- Borne et al., 2015). These frameworks assume that the lack of knowledge and understanding of oppressed and marginalized groups is commonly responsible for ineffective counseling. The frameworks fail to address the power imbalances in society and its institutions that are integral to many challenges and issues that clients bring to counseling. Cultural humility requires counselors to recognize the power imbalances within the counseling relationship and society. Moreover, cultural humility demands that practitioners hold institutions accountable and asks that counselors work to correct social injustices on community and national levels to achieve wellness for clients that can only be realized through working toward a more equitable society (Foronda et al., 2016). It is important to note that the related counseling professions are committed to cultural competency and increasingly understand the need to adopt a cultural humility framework. Counseling professions, including social work, psychology, mental health counseling, counseling, school counseling, and marriage and family counseling, incorporate cultural competency and cultural humility within their ethical and educational guidelines for competent practice (AAMFT, 2015; ACA, 2014; AMHCA, 2015; APA, 2017; ASCA, 2016; NASW, 2017).
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