Sue, Ivey and Pederson (1996)

Worldviews – one’s perception of his or her relationship with the world, the way one understands the world, and including individual attitudes, values, opinions, and concepts that influence how a person thinks, makes decisions, and behaves.  Trevino contends that worldviews are formed out a personal experience through interaction with members of an individual’s culture.

If our present counseling theories represent different worldviews, it is very possible that a counselor’s theoretical orientation could clash with the client from a different culture.

Fischer, Jome, and Atkinson (1998) suggest that there are common factors in counseling that can bridge the gap between “culturally specific” counseling and “universal approaches.”

1. The therapeutic relationship – a positive trusting and healing relationship between the counselor and clientis supported by Western integrationists and transcultural literature
2. A shared worldview- a common framework from which counselor and client conduct their work together
3. Client expectations – based on a shared worldview that increases the client’s positive expectations that counseling will be helpful
4. Rituals and interventions – effective techniques are believed by both the client and counselor to be appropriate for positive outcomes

Kincade and Evans (1996) looked more closely at the process of selecting appropriate counseling interventions in a multicultural counseling context.  One must consider a)boundaries (physical and emotional) b) kinship terms c)client’s hierarchy of needs d) trust.

Guidelines advocated:

• Make no assumptions-gather information and reevaluate your biases often
• Learn about clients’ culture from sources other than the client; i.e., the libraryh, tapes, brochures, novels, poems, other literature
• Admit your ignorance about the client’s culture-be willing to ask questions and learn
• Look for similarities I order to connect-find common ground to share
• Be sensitive to client expectations and needs-together define what counseling is and is not.