Psychology 801

PSYC 801: Multicultural Counseling

Prerequisites: Admission into Psy.D. program or permission of instructor

Credit Hours: (3)

This course will include background in the historical context of multicultural counseling, personal examination of areas pertaining to multicultural counseling, a strong foundation in common domains of cultural competency, as well as implications for clinical practice.

Detailed Description of Course

I. Historical Context of Multicultural Counseling
II. Personal Multicultural Competencies
        A. Awareness of assumptions, values, and biases
        B. Personal areas of privilege and oppression
III. Cultural Competence Areas
        A. Ethnicity
        B. Culture
        C. Gender
        D. Age
        E. Sexual orientation
        F. Religious/Spiritual preference
        G. Ability status
        H. Socioeconomic status
        I. Family status
        J.  Rurality
IV. Implications for Clinical Practice
        A. Culturally appropriate assessment
        B. Culturally appropriate interventions
        C. Interface of counseling, client culture, and society
        D. Evidence based practice considerations
V. Current and Future trends in Multicultural Counseling
               A.  Privilege and oppression
               B.  Social justice perspectives
               C.  Feminist perspectives


Detailed Description of Conduct of Course

This course will provide students with a deeper understanding and appreciation for various cultural factors that shape and inform human experience, particularly those regarding ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, socio-economic status, ability status, rurality, and culture. The course will include a significant amount of reading, writing, group discussion, and self-reflection along with experiential activities, a final exam, and possibly group or individual projects. It will primarily be conducted as a seminary with an emphasis on student participation.


Goals and objectives of the Course

 At the end of this course the student should:

1. Be able to describe the sociopolitical trends within society and within the American Psychological Association leading to the current emphasis on multicultural competency for psychologists;
2. Be aware of their own personal assumptions, values, and biases that have an impact on counseling with clients different from oneself;
3. Be aware of personal areas of oppression and privilege;
4. Be able to articulate possible differences and similarities between self and clients who are diverse in the areas of ethnicity, culture, age, sexual orientation, religious preference, gender, family status, socioeconomic status, ability status, and rurality;
5. Be able to recognize and acknowledge the impact that setting, assessment, and interventions have on clients who are culturally diverse;
6. Be able to differentiate between culturally appropriate and inappropriate settings, assessments, and interventions for clients how are culturally diverse;
7. Be able to demonstrate culturally appropriate interactions with clients who are culturally diverse;
8. Be able to acknowledge the limits of their own competency within the domain of multicultural competence, and note additional resources and referral sources should they be appropriate
9. Be knowledgeable about issues of current interest to psychologists and the APA regarding future and current trends in multicultural counseling;
10. Be able to integrate cultural and social justice issues into considerations of all the preceding goals.


Assessment Measures

Students will be assessed using several measures which may include grades on written assignments, participation in group discussion and experiential activities, and performance on the final exam and project(s).


Review and Approval

December 2007