Cultural Competence In Clinical Psychology

Regardless of the population that a clinical psychologist work with. It is imperative that they have cultural competence. Cultural competence, therefore, is an acknowledgement and incorporation of, on the part of clinicians and healthcare systems, the importance of culture, the assessment of cross-cultural relations, vigilance towards the dynamics that result from cultural differences, the expansion of cultural knowledge, and the adaptation of services to meet culturally unique needs (Kodjo,2009). During a clinical psychologist career they will interact with probably thousands of clients. For a clinical psychologist to deliver the best service possible they have to be able to understand the client’s culture in order to specify a treatment
The psychologist could have noticed that the client isn’t making eye contact with him during the intake process. So if the psychologist goes off of that it could be a misdiagnosis, simply because the clients culture doesn’t allow her to make eye contact with another man. Human behavior is impacted by the culture that they participate in. One-way that clinical psychologist can implement cultural competence is when they first interact with their client. Hopefully the psychologist has already read the client’s intake form and has an idea of what to expect. If the client is part of the Asian cultural he could bow to the client upon greeting them, if thats their culture of course. That small gesture will make the client feel comfortable or at least know that he is tying to be respectful of his or her culture. Cultural competency practices have been widely adopted in the mental health field because of the disparities in the quality of services delivered to ethnic minority groups (Sue, Zane, Nagayama & Berger, 2009). The lack of cultural competence from the providers can heavily impact the client’s
Often time the client is not going to say that they don’t understand what you’re talking about. They will probably shake their head, but after that point he psychologist has lost them and he doesn’t even know it. psychologist are suppose to come the clients level not make the client come to theirs. One way for psychologist to address unknown issues like this is to allow the client to k now that it is ok to stop and ask questions or to object to anything. This should be a very general term so that the client knows that they can be honest if they feel offended. In the past cultural issues were not taught in training, however they are required now through the APA. Which means that psychologist should have the proper training to address cultural issues to the best of their ability. In order to provide the best service possible to their