Essay Sample on Cultural Competence in Human Services Work

The contemporary world is becoming more diverse and globalized. Many organizations are hiring people from different cultures. A certain set of skills is needed to enhance interactions and communication and build healthy relationships in the culturally-diverse workplace. This set of skills is referred to as cultural competence, which encompasses principles and values that respect, recognize and aim at fostering optimal relations between someone and the different ethnicities and cultures that he may work together with ("Cultural Competency", 2018). With that in mind, this paper discusses what being a culturally competent professional entail, the role of human services professional and how to improve one's cultural competence.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Understanding Cultural Competence

Woodside and McClam (2019) argued that competence as professionals and duty to the person being served are important considerations for helpers before engaging with their clients. In a diverse nation such as the US, helpers and their clients are likely to hail from different backdrops. As such, human service bureaus have to address the impediments brought about by cultural diversity, based on the above considerations. Competence as a professional entails recognizing the principles of practice within the line of work whereas their duty is the commitment to help clients grow and protect them. Therefore, being culturally competent as a professional involves the ability to develop and apply cultural awareness, skills and knowledge to interact and work proficiently with people from different cultures (Conner & Walker, 2017).

The contextual model of cultural competence highlights organizational support, skills development and critical awareness as key dimensions of cultural competence (Woodside & McClam, 2019). Three characteristics that make one culturally competent can be drawn from this model. One of the characteristics is the awareness and understanding of the history, beliefs and religion of specific cultures relevant to the welfare of diverse clients. The second characteristic is the ability to utilize skills in cultivating trust and communicating with diverse clients. The third characteristic is the backing of culturally competent practices from an institution devoted to novelty and diversity for the well-being of diverse clients.

The Role of Human Services Professional

According to Woodside and McClam (2019), multicultural human services acknowledge the significance of the cultural diversity aspect when helping clients from varying backgrounds. In this regard, the helper tries to understand and respect his client's values. This understanding is crucial for the efficient delivery of multicultural services. As the helper continues working with the client, his understanding of the client's values grows. The helper also establishes how these values influence the client. As such, this understanding and knowledge of the client assist in informing all stages in the working process.

Professionals are governed by ethical codes. Keeping ethical codes current is a huge challenge for professional organizations. This is because, in a multicultural setting, the overarching principles of these ethical codes may not befit all cultural groups. For instance, European Americans value self-disclosure whereas Hispanic, Indian and Asian Americans consider it to reflect negatively on families and individuals (Woodside & McClam, 2019). Such differences create concerns about privacy, informed consent and confidentiality when dealing with clients. Nonetheless, some resources such as the Ethical Standards for Human Service professionals are available to guide the professionals' interactions with their clients, colleagues, bosses and society. The professionals read the ethical codes, assess them and mull over their meanings.

Improving your Cultural Competence

One of the strategies that I would employ to improve my cultural competence is to assess my identity and cultural self. Woodside and McClam (2019) stated that understanding one's identity, especially how it affects the relationships with others, is vital in enhancing cultural competence. During my upbringing, my father insisted that knowing how to build healthy relationships with others is one of the most important life skills. As such, he instilled values such as kindness, respect, thoughtfulness and active listening that have always guided my interactions with other people. Building upon these values would foster my ability to respect the clienteles who I work with and cultivate meaningful relationships with them.

Another strategy would be to seek supervision when interacting with clients from unfamiliar cultures. As a human services professional, I have always trusted my abilities even when undertaking tasks that I seemingly have a less chance of accomplishing. Such confidence has, at times, proved to be unsuccessful when handling issues that I am inexperienced in. It would also be ineffective in multicultural settings where I constantly meet new clients from diverse backgrounds. Therefore, in as much as confidence is key in handling life challenges, seeking assistance from people who are conversant with the cultures in context would significantly promote my interactions with people from different cultures and ultimately boost my cultural competence.

The above paragraphs have discussed what cultural competence entails, the role of human services professional and how to improve one's cultural competence. The research describes cultural competence as the ability to develop and apply cultural awareness, skills and knowledge to interact and work proficiently with people from different cultures. The main dimensions of cultural competence are organizational support, skills development and critical awareness. When working with diverse clients, multicultural human services are important in that the helper tries to understand and respect his client's values. This understanding is crucial for the efficient delivery of multicultural services and informing all stages in the working process. Lastly, to improve my cultural competence, I would assess and understand my identity as well as seek supervision when working with people from diverse cultures.

References

Conner, G., & Walker, W. (2017). The culturally competent counselor: Issues specific to four minority groups. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 5(03), 113-121. https://doi.org/10.4236/jss.2017.53010

Cultural Competency | Human Services Education. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.humanservicesedu.org/cultural-competency.html

Woodside, M. R., & McClam, T. (2019). An introduction to the human services (9th ed.). Cengage Learning.