Post 8- Metacognition and Multicultural Counseling

I think that this week’s discussion on multicultural career counseling is an important topic to cover.  Not only is it important; but it is a topic that will most likely be up and coming in the years to come.  The United States is constantly changing and there are many people here who are from multicultural backgrounds.  So does one practice of career counseling work for each individual?  This answer to this question is quite simple; most likely not.  Career counselors cannot make assumptions that one practice will work for every individual regardless of their background.  I feel that this could hold true in all facets of life and in every type of counseling situation.  Byars-Winston and Fouad state that, “our minimal knowledge base of how cultural processes shape career counseling reflects that assumptions, which undergird many approaches to career counseling” (Byars-Winston & Fouad, 2006, pg. 168).  So is seems that not only are career counselors focusing on cultural processes; but they also have a lack of knowledge on the subject entirely.  This could present a major problem for those people who have different cultural contexts than the counselor.  It is important for counselors to discuss all opportunities and barriers that may occur for their clients; especially if these opportunities and barriers look different for multicultural clients.   I  feel the article made a good point in saying that counselors also need to understand their own cultural contexts before trying to understand everyone else’s, “thus, career counselor’s multicultural competence and insight are not solely a by-product of deliberate avoidance of cultural assumptions but instead are a result of addressing their own culture-specific assumptions” (Byars-Winston & Fouad, 2006, pg. 189).

With that being said, career counseling needs to change to respond to the changing needs and demographics in the United States.  I thought the article did a nice job of explaining the necessary changes that need to happen.  The CACCM is a good model that purposes culture as an important factor in every aspect of the career counseling process.  The CACCM offers seven steps as sort of guidelines for the counselor to follow.  Some of these steps include; identifying the career issues, assessment of certain cultural issues that surrounds the career issues, appropriate goal setting, and implementation of those goals with a follow up.   Once the counselor formulates a plan of action, it is much easier to implement with clients who have a different cultural background than the counselor.  Most importantly, the counselor should explore their previous knowledge of the group they will be working with, “career practitioners should explore their prior knowledge relative to racial and ethnic minority clients, identifying gaps in their knowledge” (Byars-Winston & Fouad, 2006, pg. 194).

Overall, metacognitive strategies will greatly help career counselors when working with clients who have a different background or ethnicity than the majority.  It is important for counselors to have an understanding of their own cultural contexts, as well as background knowledge of the clients they are trying to help.

Byars-Winston, A. M., & Fouad, N. A. (2006). Metacognition and multicultural competence: Expanding the culturally appropriate career counseling model. The career development quarterly, 54, 187-201.