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University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley *
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COUN 6310
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Arts Humanities
Date
Jan 9, 2024
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docx
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CULTURAL IMMERSION EXPERIENCE
Cultural Immersion Experience
Amanda Luna
COUN 6723
Multicultural Counseling
Dr. Moneta Sinclair
October 29, 2023
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CULTURAL IMMERSION EXPERIENCE
Cultural diversity has impact on many instances of mental health because of community
whom see cultures, religions, values, traditions, as defining one’s lifestyle. As time continues to
pass, one can see how much the world is continuously changing and how people are engaging
with one other no matter where one comes from. In some cases, discrimination and oppression
has been a big part of ones’ life leading to psychological issues and inability to trust in anyone
for the stereotyping they experience. Even today, you are able to see how much racism continue
to impact numerous individuals due to their backgrounds or beliefs, which affect them from
being accepted within the society. As a professional, it is extremely important for one to solely
focus on assist one without being judgmental or bias because of where they come from. Focusing
on practicing multicultural counseling is one as a counselor should consider has the diverse
environment continues to expand.
International Accordion Festival is an annual event that takes place at San Antonio, Texas
which was between mid-October (19th – 20th). This event was a remarkable, amazing
experience because having the opportunity to listen to distinctive solo accordionists and music
which is throughout Texas (Jasinski, 2015). Dissimilar genres including Brazilian, Irish, Czech,
German, etc., emphasizes the distinct music styles. Was definitely an eye opener when having the
opportunity to explores the various cultural roots. This event offered informational workshops
that allowed people to gain understanding and knowledge over the different instruments and
apart learn the multicultural diversity. I chose this event because it provides international
experience, where normally it was often only Hispanic events. As a 26-year-old in grad school
for Clinical mental health counseling, this has been a wonderful opportunity to provide aspects
as a future counselor. Not having any knowledge on the differences in culture roots, this event
allowed me to engage with others whom normally I do not interact with. I have never been one
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CULTURAL IMMERSION EXPERIENCE
to judge from one’s cultural background, but family members have tried to enforce how a
Mexican should only engage with their own race. So, attending this event has allowed me to not
only break the curse of my family’s beliefs, but allowed me to develop my own identity.
However, within ones’ own culture, it has shown to be on impact how one is unable to seek assist
because it shows ones’ weakness as a human being (Gopalkrishnan, 2018).
I have always been one to want to be able to learn about the different cultures which is
the main reason for why I chose this experience. I have grown up in a Mexican culture and never
quite was allowed to explore and interact with other from different races/ethnicities because my
family believe that as a Mexican, everyone hates us and see us as a threat. As I grew older, I
came to a realization at times it is wrongful to not be open-minded and accept others. So, during
this assignment, I wanted to be able to be openly involved in a cultural immersion experience
where I never had opportunity to explore as a young child. I could emphasize how emotionally
this experience has impact in a way I could not explain. Looking around the area, I was shocked
how many different ethnicities were around probability exploring like myself. For the first time, I
was able to see individuals that were not within the Mexican race. Interacting with numerous of
people was interesting and emotional as I continuous listen to their unique stories.
Having an understanding of the different cultures can allow anyone to fully immerse one
into others’ cultures. This experience has impacted my ability
to encompass cultural competence
in counseling by emphasizing how even though people come from different cultures does not
mean that they are any more powerful or better than other cultures. Since I have family members
who are extremely close minded and believe it is against our tradition to interact with others
from different ethnicities have cause myself to be close-minded to a certain extent.
Allowing
yourself to be open-minded as a future counselor can help assist in understanding others and the
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CULTURAL IMMERSION EXPERIENCE
issues one might encounter coming from a different background. Communicating to someone
and understanding their situation can permit to have a considerate and accepting attitude within
the community. Having gone through this experience, I was able to have an enormous
understanding a whole lot better than before.
As a counselor, you always learn as you continue with your career. This experience has
impacted my ability to encompass cultural humility professionally by learning ways to approach
certain issues within the different culture in the community. Coming in contact with different
individuals, you learn that you are not able to approach them similar to how you are used to with
your own people within the same community. Instead, you come to conclude you must find a
different approach depending on the individual. For instance, when I was in college, I had a
group of Nigeria friends which at first had issues to find a connection with because how
differently I was raised in comparison to where they come from. It took some time to fully
communicate and establish a friendship, but after a few weeks, was able to learn to approach and
connect with them. So, during this event, being able to communicate with other individuals from
different ethnicities has open opportunities to learn and expand my knowledge by providing the
support by advocating differently.
This experience changed my worldview completed in related to oppression,
discrimination, power, and privilege mainly due to the reason observing the different
perspectives from others. This has helped in not only expanding one’s ways of thinking, but also
realizing that just because society label individuals base on their cultural background does not
mean all individuals are the same. Realizing the community will always stereotype and judge
individuals without legit giving the opportunity to get to know the person themselves. Talking to
people of different ethnicities has been an eye opener because living in a society where whites
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CULTURAL IMMERSION EXPERIENCE
are privilege and powerful has caused issues in a Mexican community where Latinos are labeled
as criminals and dangerous. Developing self-awareness within my education, you learn and
aware of the discrimination and oppression that exists within this society and how to approach
other different cultural background individuals within your career.
Working as a counselor, I could infuse social justice advocacy into my work by utilizing
the cultural immersion experience I have encountered. As a future clinical mental health
counselor, I would like to focus on or work with multicultural individuals that have experience
discrimination or oppression within their lives which led to development of mental illnesses.
Consider in staring a multicultural alliance allowing different ethnicities to come together and
learn the differences within the cultures like the unique cultural ways of traditions, values, music
language etc., which would educate individuals overall. This would allow people to learn about
how mental health may be caused by discrimination and oppression which would be open for
anyone and everyone who have ever encounter or experience racism and such.
As a mental health professional, you must put aside all bias and judgements aside to be
able to utilize multicultural counseling practice to acknowledge how a client’s cultural identity
might influence their mental health (Joubert). There is numerous of people who have issues with
interacting with others due to the culture diversity which continue to be the problem today. This
cultural immersion experience assignment has not only been an eye opener, but it has included
knowledge how extremely important it is as a clinical mental health counselor to improvement
within the multicultural community. Being a part of the advocacy can emphasize an enormous
difference in assistance by allowing a healthy and trust-worthy relationship between the
counselor and client (Gopalkrishnan, 2018).
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CULTURAL IMMERSION EXPERIENCE
This assignment was essential and a wonderful method to be able to immerse within the
community. I have never encountered with many individuals of different culture, religion, etc.
like I did during this event. This has been an amazing experience to be able to see how different
ones’ culture is in comparison to your own. I have always been interested in learning the
different cultures, languages, traditions, etc., but coming from a culture that would not allow to
interact with others has been a challenge. Now, being an adult, I have been able to explore and
learn how different individuals’ lifestyle are compared to myself and learn to approach others. It
is fascinating to come from one culture and know that other cultures have similar beliefs just
different languages, music, values, and so much more. This has allowed me to get out of my
comfort zone and engage with something different and inspired me to work with multicultural
counseling within my profession.
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References
:
Golpakrishnan, Narayan. (2018). Cultural Diversity and Mental Health: Considerations for
Policy and Practice.
National Library of Medicine.
Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6018386/
Jasinski, Laurie E. (2015). International Accordion Festival.
Texas State Historical Association.
Retrieved from
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/international-accordion-
festival
Joubert,Shayna. (2021). What is Multicultural Counseling & Why Is It Important?.
Northeastern
University
. Retrieved from
https://graduate.northeastern.edu/resources/what-is-
multicultural-counseling/