week 11 CD, G & FD

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Northcentral University *

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6103

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Oct 30, 2023

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Synthesizing My Learning Isabel Del Valle Department of Marriage and Family Sciences, Northcentral University MFT-6103 v3: Cultural Diversity, Gender, and Family Development Dr. Smita Kapoor October 22nd, 2023

How I Have Changed Throughout the Course Being a MFT you learn to have a systemic way of thinking. One of the fundamental concepts I have learned during my courses including this one highlights the importance of a systemic way of thinking for MFT. MFTs learn and understand that individuals are a part of a more complex system that includes their family (Gutierrez, 2018). A client’s family system is the main focus of MFT because therapists look at their client’s problems as an expansion to their family’s dynamics/system. This way of thinking transforms our perspective into looking at the bigger picture rather than just looking through a magnifying glass at the individual. Systemic thinking will serve as a foundational framework to my work. Although I have had prior knowledge in some of the concepts we spoke about, this course helped me learn these topics more thoroughly. This course was based on cultural diversity, gender, and family development. The main goal of this course was to help extend our knowledge on cultural diversity a well as cultural sensitivity. Therefore, this course helped me learn more in depth how these concepts are incorporated into individual and family therapy by digging deeper in our client’s cultural background. Throughout this course I have definitely learned a lot. I genuinely think I significantly improved personally and professionally. My improvement certainly stems from the readings and assignments I’ve completed over the last 2 months. I personally chose to go down the path of MFT because I consider myself to be respectful, understanding and open about one’s cultural ties to therapy amongst other things. In the following I will be talking about five of the most important things I learned throughout this course. The first topic I am choosing to speak about is intersectionality. “Intersectionality is the interaction between gender, race, and other categories of difference in individual lives, social

practices, institutional arrangements, and cultural ideologies and the outcomes of these interactions in terms of power,” states Davis. I find it extremely important to understand and constantly update yourself on information about a client’s demographics when it comes to working through their problems. The second topic I chose is cultural sensitivity which ties in with the first topic I spoke about. This course definitely played a firm emphasis on cultural sensitivity/competence. I learned that being aware as well as sensitive to our client’s cultural backgrounds and differences plays a major role in making therapy effective. I think recognizing and being aware of my own possible biases is critical to providing my clients with ethical and competent mental health care. There is so much diversity and it is important to remain inclusive. The third topic is empathy/active listening. I believe my empathy has helped lead me down this path and my ability to communicate and empathize effectively. I found empathy highly important when I had to create then reflect on the scenarios we had created. These two skills in my opinion are crucial to gaining my client’s trust and building a good rapport. The fourth topic I chose is self reflection. During this course we had to take a look at our own weaknesses and give ourselves constructive criticism in order to self reflect and be more prone to self awareness. Therefore, this course taught me to get into a habit of self reflecting on my own biases and perspectives so that I do not impact my interactions with my clients negatively. The power of my self awareness encourages me to better manage and mitigate potential biases I may have that I might not be aware of. This self reflection and awareness can help ensure a more ethical and effective therapy for my clients. My final topic is self care. I think self care is just as an important topic as the others because my mental health can affect myself and my clients. If I am going through a burnout and I

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do not do anything about it then I am compromising my physical and mental health, my career as well as my client’s physical and mental health, progression, and trust. My self awareness also ties in with this topic because I have to know when I need help in order to be there for myself and my clients. Stereotypes of Self a. Most Prevalent Stereotypes The older I have gotten I have definitely become more self aware of stereotypes I occasionally hold towards others. An example of a stereotype I have held against others is that I tend to sometimes have preconceived notions about the client’s family dynamic. To go into further detail because MFT looks further into the individual’s presenting problems by acknowledging their family system, I have caught myself thinking that the client’s problems were caused by the family system when that may not always be the case. Because of the level of self awareness I have I am able to catch myself about these preconceived notions and so I am able to not let it impact my clients. Another example of a stereotype I find myself aligning with is religion. During my upbringing, I grew up in a religious and strict household, therefore, my opinion may tend to be biased toward a client’s background. I only say this because growing up I blamed religion for the things I was either allowed or not allowed to do. I always felt like I was being held back from being my truest self. When I was trying to figure out my identity as a teen I felt like God was always judging me or that I would be a disappointment to my parents. Therefore, I believed that religion was toxic and a way to control/brainwash others. Therefore, my self awareness has taught me to approach each of my clients with respect as well as an open mind from any preconceived notions I have had in the past along with the

negative idea of religion when each client’s situation has its own and unique background. This is a crucial part of who I want to be as a person as well as what type of therapist I want to be. I want to ensure my clients feel heard and understood. This awareness will help me provide unbiased therapy. b. Stereotypes Others Hold Towards You I have noticed many stereotypes towards myself as I grew older. These stereotypes include my ethnicity, my gender/sex, and my age. I have had people look at me as too young to be a knowledgeable therapist and think I am less qualified. Although I understand that someone else can have more experience than me being that I am just becoming a new therapist I think my age plays a role in how others think of me. To manage this I like to express my dedication and understanding of the Marriage and Family Therapy field. I also like to express that as the years go on and the more experience I gain I will be continuously learning more and evolving to society. Another stereotype that I have noticed is my sex/gender as a female. Although this does not relate to therapy I have had many situations where men have been surprised at the amount of knowledge I have with cars. I cannot say I know a lot about cars but I know my fair share because my father always wanted me to know a bit so I would not be taken advantage of. Not too long ago a guy saw me putting air in my tires and asked if I knew what I was doing so I felt slightly offended because I felt like me being able to put air in tires was towards the fact that I was a female. c. Stereotypes Towards Yourself I most certainly think the stereotype I hold towards myself the most is self doubt. I think the fact that MFT is such a different and more complex field than regular therapy I sometimes

feel like I am not worthy or good enough to be a MFT. But I can genuinely say my past experiences and traumas along with the additional knowledge of this course has helped my self confidence increase. Lastly, my grades have also played a role in my understanding of this course and my previous courses. d. Looks Alone, How Do You Think People First Experience You? I have been told that I do not have the most approachable face and therefore sometimes people are scared to open up to me. I think this is because I tend to have a very blunt look on my face that people cannot determine whether I am friendly or not. I have always had such facial expressions since I was a kid and the older I have gotten I have definitely worked on it. I think my first impression is very important to a client so that they feel welcomed therefore, I will continue to make smaller changes such as a small smile. Although I can say that in a professional setting my facial expressions are completely different than when I am in an open and natural environment. Impact of Similarities and Differences a. Positive and Negative Aspects As I work with clients that have the same race, religious beliefs, SES, sex/gender, etc. as me I think there can be positive and negative aspects. On the negative side I think there is a possibility of not being able to present a fresh perspective leaving there little more for learning anything new. But on a more positive note I think our shared background can create an immediate rapport as well as an understanding and comfortable environment for my clients. As someone who attends therapy themselves I find comfort in having a therapist who understands the struggle of being a minority as well as being a female. Having the opportunity of having a

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female therapist who is also a POC has allowed me to feel more understood and willing to express my deeper self. b. Potential Dangers and Strengths of Having Similarities and Differences The potential dangers of having similarities and differences with our clients can include assumptions, bias, and even possible infliction on a client’s values. Therefore these possible dangers can include the therapist presenting with negative reactions focusing attention on the therapist rather than the client. This can cause the needs of the client to be blinded and therefore ignored. But strengths can include a shared culture between the therapist and client leading to a faster development of rapport. Another example of a strength can include a decrease in stigma therefore making the client feel more comfortable to open up. A positive thing about similarities with your client is that it allows the client to open faster leaving more time to reach the client’s goals and target the presenting problems. Therefore, acknowledging these potential dangers and strengths are crucial to the client’s journey. c. How I Recognize This Impact As I have previously mentioned in the paper I have learned to recognize the impact of similarities and differences by self reflecting and in the future I will be able to get feedback from my supervisor. I think this can be positive because self reflection along with feedback from an experienced professional is very important to how ethically/properly you do your job. The ability to self reflect but also take constructive criticism is crucial to your client’s health. Allowing yourself to hear constructive criticism while also applying it can benefit you as a therapist tremendously. My ability to understand the possible impact on my clients allows me to not favor or discriminate against any of my clients whether we have a similar or different cultural background or experiences.

d. Strategies you use to remain aware of the impact similarities and differences have Strategies I will use to remain aware of the impact is to continue to engage in the constant evolving of new cultural findings. Whether it is going out in person and collecting data, reading recent literature or signing up for cultural training I plan to be engaged with the day to day changes. I also find it very important in my succession to consult with my colleagues when needed because they are there to help and be there for one another. Lastly, I do find it most important to consult with my supervisor. My supervisor will be the shoulder I can lean on if I need help or feedback for my work. The continuous check-ins will help me stay on top of any possible biases/assumptions that might come up on my behalf. e. How MFT Professional Ethics Inform How You Will Work With Clients To begin, I would like to state that as a student and therapist we are given the website of AAMFT that gives us access to the Code of Ethics at the start of the program. Because I always have accessibility to the Code of Ethics, MFT professional ethics inform you how I will work with clients who are similar or different from me by always treating my clients with respect. This includes confidentiality, no discrimination, fairness, etc. Clinical Application of Gender and Diversity a. Which Practices as a MFT Will You Keep and Which Will You Change In this last section I will be discussing the MFT practices I would keep and those I would change. As a future family and marriage therapist I will be applying all the information that I learned from this course because a client’s cultural diversity and demographic play a huge role in who they are. I will remain to take one’s cultural background into consideration when speaking to them and creating a plan. In broader terms I would keep the practice and importance of

cultural competence and active listening. Another example I will continue is self care and self awareness/reflection because I believe the work I put into these two things will make me a better therapist. I would continue this practice because I believe it shows integrity and that it is important in this field of work. Continuing such practices will also help maintain my client’s well being. As I have mentioned, continuing my self awareness, self reflection and self assessment to improve my work ethic and knowledge. These practices will help me grow and become a better therapist in order to better assist my clients and create a more effective therapy treatment. I would also like to focus on learning more about the community that relates to my client to enhance my knowledge and understanding about their culture. To be more specific, the first practice I would keep is cultural competence. I chose this because this course heavily focused on this factor used in therapy and it ensures our client’s comfortability. Cultural competence involves the understanding of diverse cultural perspectives, norms, and values in a respectful manner (Tervalon & Murray-Garcia, 1998). I will keep prioritizing this practice because it is detrimental to the rapport and trust I build with my clients. This course also emphasized how much more cultural diversity needs to be incorporated into therapy. Integrating our client’s background is fundamental to our time together. Secondly, I would continue active listening and empathy because these factors play a major role in building a strong rapport. I believe this practice allows a safe and supportive environment for the client in order for them to open up freely. Therefore, this is essential for a successful future in my work and practice as well as in the outcome of my client’s well being. Next, I would keep the ethical considerations because proper ethics is the most important

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thing in therapy and being a mental health professional because it creates boundaries between the therapist and client. Boundaries are extremely important in therapy because they help protect our client so that they do not get the wrong idea of the therapeutic relationship. These boundaries also help from adding any more emotional trauma to the client (AAMFT, 2015). Ethical considerations include things like informed consent forms and confidentiality. This factor plays the biggest role, trust as well as the respect, fairness and non-discrimination we have towards them (AAMFT, 2015). The first practice I would change is self reflection and self care because I do not think the course emphasized on these two factors. As important as our clients are, I think our mental health should also be focused on too. I do acknowledge we have done an assignment on burnout and self care but I do not think it was incorporated enough. Therefore, I would like to emphasize and prioritize them more. Just like our clients we too have emotional trauma and sometimes the effects of hearing several different stories can become traumatic to us. I also think instead of just acknowledging our biases we should speak more thoroughly about how we can attack the problem at the source and how we plan to manage it in an effective manner. I also acknowledge earlier in this paper we speak on managing potential dangers but I think our supervisors should also give us resources to look at to get better ideas on how to tackle and manage these potential biases. Lastly, because of this course I feel like I got to learn a lot more about minorities and even those who are underprivileged which I think will stick with me the most throughout the rest of my journey. As a POC myself I feel like I am a part of two worlds in the sense that I am considered white passing but I am also a Latina whose low class immigrants came to America in

their 20’s with only knowing how to speak Spanish. My parents and I have experienced discrimination, racism, etc. I will prioritize this because there are a lot of underprivileged individuals who cannot afford or even access mental health treatment (Foss-Kelly, Generali & Kress, 2017). a. A Gender or Diversity Issue That You Believe You Would Have Difficulty Working With A challenging gender and diversity issue that I think I may have is with the LGBTQ+ community because I am afraid they may not find me adequate being heterosexual/straight female. I have heard a lot from individuals a part of the LGBTQ+ community that straight people do not understand their struggles and see them as just a fun experience. I would not want the members of the community to think I am less competent because I would ensure that I educate myself properly. I am lucky enough to have friends from the LGBTQ+ community to open up to me and express themselves freely. But I understand that at the end of the day because I do not experience their struggles directly, I can never truly understand what they go through. Therefore, I will continue to engage and educate myself about the LGBTQ+ community along with showing empathy. Lastly, if available I would like to attend events and talk to people to inform myself on more present problems. Another challenge I might struggle with are clients who are highly conservative because my past experience with very conservative people tends to have a closed mind when it comes to sex and respecting other people’s values and beliefs that differ from theirs. I have had problems in the past where I was judged for my opinion on being pro-choice. A lot of the conservative individuals I have met tended to argue with me and tell me I was going to hell for being

pro-abortion. Therefore, I think that this would be a delicate situation to handle not because I would express my beliefs but because of the closed mindedness that might be causing harm or stress to them. These conservative beliefs can cause a lack of diversity and inclusivity. I do not want to disrespect their views or make them feel like my perspective is superior to theirs and let them know I respect their values and beliefs. I would manage both the struggles I mentioned by talking to my supervisor and peers because I know that they would be able to give me the right insight. I truly want all my clients regardless of their sexual orientation or beliefs to feel accepted because it is my duty to provide a safe haven. Therefore, to manage these challenges I would: - I will work with supervisors and colleagues for guidance when needed. - I will create a space where clients can express their beliefs and values freely without any judgment. - I will use my knowledge on psychoeducation to introduce different viewpoints and information. - I will not engage in confrontational conversation so that I can explore their views. - I will examine my own biases and stereotypes to make sure I am providing my clients with respect, integrity, and respect. Then I will address and manage when I sense a potential bias/stereotype. In conclusion, my responsibility as a marriage and family therapist is to provide for my clients ethically, respectfully, and with compassion. Providing my clients with such allows us to proceed with reaching their goals and restoring their mental well being. This course has helped me tremendously be more aware of myself, my client and cultural differences.

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References Gutierrez, D. (2018). The role of intersectionality in marriage and family therapy multicultural supervision. American Journal of Family Therapy, 46(1), 14–26. American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. (2015). Revised AAMFT Code of Ethics. Mock, M. R. (2019). Social justice in family therapy training: The power of personal and family narratives. In M. McGoldrick & K. Hardy (Eds.), Re-visioning family therapy (pp. 496-511). The Guilford Press. Foss-Kelly, L. L., Generali, M. M., & Kress, V. E. (2017). Counseling strategies for empowering people living in poverty: The I-CARE model. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 45(3), 201-213 Tervalon, M. & Murray-Garcia, J. (1998). "Cultural humility versus cultural competence: a Critical discussion in defining physician training outcomes in multicultural education." Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 9 (2) 117-125. National Alliance for Hispanic Health (2001). A Primer for cultural proficiency: Towards quality health care services for Hispanics. Washington, D.C