Post #8

            When reviewing the Metacognition article, the Career Counseling and Assessment Models for Racial/Ethnic Minorities section jumped out at me. Primarily because I am currently taking Multicultural Counseling and the idea of cultural competence is salient. I particularly agree with the statement “career counselors need to understand their own experiences by being aware of the many cultural contexts in which they themselves live and how these have shaped their values and beliefs.” This construct is the axis in which cultural competence is built upon.  If a counselor does not understand him/herself or his/her experiences, extending a hand to help another or providing them with words of encouragement from a single, ignorant perspective is simply lip service, and is creating an injustice to the field, the client and is also keeping the wall in place between the different cultures.

            By incorporating life experiences, worldviews, and multiple identities the career counseling experience could be more effective. Bryars-Winston and Fouad bring about this concept that if the aforementioned experiences are brought into the dynamic of counseling, then overall the individual will glean more from the experience. The authors also point out that because the client’s career behavior does not evolve in a “vacuum” we must include the experiences in the process. This allows us (the counselor) to see the individual and his/her interactions with the social system in which the client is from. In turn, we are able to put the client’s experiences and background into perspective and possibly garner more information that would help us answer some questions we might have about the client’s culture.

            Also, the questions posed on page 191 in the article can also help us become more aware of our own biases and prejudices. By addressing your own cultural values, experiences, and worldviews you can begin to see what types of things someone else may hold closely. I think that a lot of our decisions are driven by the aforementioned experiences but we often never take time to contemplate where they came from, what they mean to us, and what it would be like if we didn’t have them or never experienced them. Using metacongnition, we would be more aware and attuned to our needs and thus more aware and attuned to the needs (career or otherwise) of our fellow man.

Reference:

Byars-Winston, A. M., & Fouad, N. A. (2006). Metacognition and Multicultural Competence: Expanding the Culturally Appropriate Career Counseling Model. The Career Development Quarterly, 54(3), 187-201.