When it comes to finding the right counselor for your age group, it's important to take the time to consider what you're looking for. From young children to teenagers, adults and older people, each age group has its own unique needs and benefits. It's best to find a therapist with experience working with clients like you, so that you can get the most out of your therapy sessions. To start your search, ask your doctor or individual psychologist (if you have one) for suggestions.
You can also check with local hospitals and medical centers, which often sponsor a variety of groups. When choosing a therapist, make sure they have expertise and experience working with teens. Teens are unique and require special attention when it comes to their problems and how they deal with them. It's also important to make sure that counselors are aware of prejudice and discrimination in self-exploration, evaluation, and counseling processes.
Sue's multidimensional model (200) is a great way to develop cultural competence and focus on the counselor's need to participate and develop cultural awareness. The case study on page 41 uses steps from the two models in Figure 2-1 to show the interactive process of developing racial and cultural identity in the context of treatment. Clinical staff members should ask themselves how their perspectives are perpetuated in client-counselor interactions, treatment decisions, planning, and selected counseling approaches are perpetuated and how they influence them. Counselors should spend time understanding their clients' norms and interpretations of contact, helping clients negotiate and defend their cultural norms, and helping clients understand the context and cultural norms that are likely to prevail in support and treatment groups.
Models of racial identity can help people become aware of their identity in relation to race and ethnicity in the context of their families, communities, societies, and cultural histories. In some contexts, counselors may be seen as professionals who know everything, but in others, they may be seen as representing an unjust system. Feller says that older adults should know that they are not alone in their experience, that other people have gone through this transition and have regained the meaning of their lives. Interns are allowed to provide therapy while in school, and agencies can hire provisionally licensed therapists to work as therapists under supervision. In an ideal situation, the treatment counselor would have experience working with people with similar backgrounds and beliefs, and the treatment program would be structured to change Gil's behavior and attitudes in a way that was consistent with his culture and community.
Others might expect counselors to connect with their communities by participating in community events, working with traditional healers, or building collaborative relationships with other community agencies. Counselors and clients should collaboratively review treatment problems and obstacles to participating in behavioral health treatment and maintain recovery. They should also discuss how cultural groups and cultural identities can guide treatment planning. In becoming aware of their cultures, attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions through self-examination, training, and clinical supervision, counselors should consider the factors described in the Multicultural Counseling Association guidelines. In counseling, racial, ethnic, and cultural identities can be fundamental to the treatment process in relationships not only between the counselor and the client but also between all people involved in providing behavioral health services for the client (p. Therefore, it is important for counselors to be aware of these factors when providing services so that they can better understand their clients' needs.
