Cultural Groups, Cultural Competency

The third characteristic of cultural competency is culture speci?c expertise. Culturespeci?c expertise involves the continuous acquisition of information about cultural groups, including sociopolitical dynamics, as well as effective interventions and techniques geared toward speci?c cultural groups. It has been argued that mental health professionals cannot know every nuance of every culture on the face of the earth. Of course, this is true. However, this fact does not excuse cultural ignorance. Learning about the life experiences and belief systems of other humans never ends. Competent mental health professionals seize every opportunity to increase their understanding of the diversity of life around them. Therefore, in some ways, multiculturalism is an attitude or philosophy as much as it is an applied ?eld.

The next section of this chapter contains basic, noncomprehensive coverage of concerns speci?c to groups of people identi?ed by race and/or cultural background. In addition, brief sections addressing persons with different sexual orientations, persons with handicapping conditions, and persons with deep religious convictions are included. An argument could be made for including women, the elderly, and other groups who have experienced oppression or do not ?t the mold of young, White, and male . There are many ways people ?nd themselves grouped together and many ways these groupings affect identity formation, functioning in the world, and quality of life in the dominant culture. As D. W.

Sue et al. state: Each client has multiple cultural identities which most likely do not progress or expand at the same rate. For example, a man may be quite aware of his identity as a Navaho but less aware of himself as a heterosexual or Vietnam veteran. As such, comprehensive multicultural therapy may focus on helping him and others like him become ever more aware of the impact of cultural issues on their being.