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Eye contact in many Indian cultures is different from the dominant American culture. Respect is communicated to others by listening quietly and avoiding direct eye contact. This is especially true when the Indian person is wishing to communicate respect to an elder or someone of perceived higher status.

For some Indian clients, note taking during the initial interview may not be experienced as a listening behavior . It is wise to watch for nonverbal signals that taking notes is seen as rude , and stop taking notes if possible. If you must take a few notes, simply explain the function of your notes and try to compensate for the distraction they represent.

A case example of an initial interview and case formulation with an American Indian is provided in Putting It in Practice 13.2.

African American Cultures

I am Kikuyu. My people believe if you are close to the Earth, you are close to people.

What an African woman nurtures in the soil will eventually feed her family. Likewise, what she nurtures in her relations will ultimately nurture her community. It is a matter of living the circle.

-Wangari Waigwa Stone in Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, by Terry Tempest Williams 378 Interviewing Special PopulationsSimilar to the experience of American Indians, the relationship between African Americans and European settlers did not begin as a mutual, voluntary relationship.

Both American Indian and African American cultures experienced the decimation of family structure, severe illness, loss of property and custom, and loss of liberty because of their involuntary contact with Whites. Between the years 1518 and 1870, approximately 15 million Africans were captured and brought by force to serve as slaves in the New World . The resulting intergenerational trauma, role confusion, grief, and loss reverberate in the African American culture as it rebuilds itself. There are spectacular success stories and examples of healing, depth, and wisdom throughout African American culture, but the costs of these traumas are still evident.

Time

Many cultures view the passage of time in a much more relaxed, circular fashion than do dominant European and U.S. cultures. Arriving at the agreed on time for an appointment is a given for most persons of European descent. However, arriving on time is not always related to the clock for Indian people . “On time” can mean arriving at the time that things worked out to arrive. A corollary to this, often experienced by our interns who work at tribal college counseling services, is a reluctance on the part of some Indian people to schedule weekly meetings. Although noshowing for scheduled appointments is quite common, the walk in center receives brisk business. Indian people are more oriented to the here and now and less oriented to the future than Whites of European descent . When there is a felt need for counseling experienced in the present, it is sought. However, agreeing to an arrangement in the future may or may not work out, depending on what is happening when the future becomes the present.

Communication Styles

Many American Indians believe silence is a sign of respect. Listening carefully to another is a great compliment, and not listening is seen as very disrespectful. However, there are culturally appropriate ways to demonstrate attentive listening that are quite different from common White listening habits. The liberal use of questions is not a common sign of listening; in fact, asking too many questions can be seen as rude.

Therefore, the interviewer should keep questions brief and limited in number. In addition, you should not expect many questions from the Indian client. Strive for clarity and pause liberally when you ask if the Indian client has any questions. The client may want time to formulate one well worded question rather than ask many.

The Role of Family

Across most or all tribes, extended family is deeply important to Indian people. Kinship systems vary, but the roles of adopted and biological grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings are central and important. Funerals, weddings, births, and community and family celebrations are occasions of great import and often supersede other obligations. Sometimes, the family considers tribal elders and medicine people as family members; under some circumstances, these members may be appropriate to include in family based interventions or interviews.

Tribal customs for family roles vary, as do parenting practices. Given the importance of these areas, asking about differences can provide helpful information if your clients come from families with mixed tribal backgrounds .

The Role of Spirituality

It would be a gross overgeneralization to say that every Indian person is spiritually oriented. However, for many Indians, there are a number of spiritual, sacred connections: among tribal members-living, dead, and those yet to be born; between nature and humans; between Creator and created. These connections affect the way life is lived in the present and the way family and tribal society is viewed. In gatherings of American Indians, a prayer is usually offered. Respect toward spirituality is basic to establishing a strong therapeutic relationship.

Sharing and Material Goods

Traditionally, Indians accord great respect to those who give the most to other individuals and families, and then to the band, tribe, or community.

Multicultural and Diversity Issues 377Sharing among Indians is in stark contrast to our capitalistic culture in which giving takes a backseat to acquisition. This clash of values can be a source of confusion and distress for Indian young people who are trying to maintain cultural identity and lead successful lives as measured by dominant cultural standards.

Consider Chief Sitting Bull’s response to the American policy of assimilation in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: I am a red man. If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man, he would have made me so in the ?rst place. He put in your heart certain wishes and plans, in my heart he put other and different desires. Each man is good in His sight. It is not necessary for eagles to be crows.

Cultural decimation and assimilation still have direct counseling rami?cations, especially if the counselor represents White European culture. While genocidal policies in the 376 Interviewing Special PopulationsUnited States are now mainly historical, contemporary struggles regarding land use and impingement on tribal sovereignty are relics of the same policies. White European counselors bear little responsibility for past events. However, they can still be perceived as representative of a dominant culture encroaching on the rights of Indian people. From a relationship building perspective, establishing trust may require extra sensitivity.

The danger of overgeneralization notwithstanding, here are a few speci?c cultural variables that can be used to help orient an interviewer working with Indian clients.

Tribal Identity

Asking an Indian client about his or her tribe is an important component of an initial interview. The client may choose not to tell you very much, but nearly all Indian people identify themselves as belonging to a tribe, band, or clan . Although it may reveal your unfamiliarity with the tribe named, interviewers should not be shy about asking for the correct pronunciation and spelling. Even Indian counselors do not know the names and practices of every existing tribe . No matter how much or how little tribal identity exists in a given individual, it is an important component of Indian culture . Asking about tribal af?liation and identity begins an important process between the counselor and the Indian client. After clients identify their tribes, an easy follow up question is: “Tell me the things you value most about being Assiniboine.” When non Indian interviewers pretend to know too much about Indian life or tribal issues, they risk damaging rapport with Indian clients. Respectful questioning about tribal af?liation is more appropriate and much less presumptive.

American Indian Cultures

Oona was only ?ve years old but she was already trained in many of the ways of a good Ojibway. She knew almost all that she could not do and all that she must learn to do.

She went to her grandparents and stood before them with eyes cast down, knowing she could not speak the many questions she wished to ask, for they who are wise must speak ?rst. Always, the ?rst words spoken should be from the older people.

-Ignatia Broker, Ojibway elder and storyteller, Growing up Native American, ed. by Pat Riley According to the 2000 census, there are approximately 500 tribes represented in the United States; not surprisingly, each tribe has distinct values, customs, and histories.

Historically, Berkhoffer points out, more than 2,000 cultures were represented on the North American continent when Europeans ?rst arrived in the late ?fteenth century. These cultures had diverse languages, practices, and friendly or warlike interrelationships. They did not think of themselves as a single people. It is a mistake to assume more commonality among American Indians than exists. On the other hand, there are aspects of past and current Indian life that allow American Indians from different tribes to ?nd much common ground.

One such area of common ground is that American Indians experienced genocidal practices at the hands of European settlers for more than two centuries . The trauma and intergenerational grief and despair associated with these experiences are still readily in evidence in most tribal cultures and still take a toll in many tragic ways. Although American Indians come to counseling for all the reasons anyone in the dominant culture might come to counseling, we must remember that, as a people, their cultures were systematically decimated.

Being a multiculturally oriented clinical interviewer involves an orientation toward diversity that is open, af?rming, and appropriately curious. The following information on cultural groups provides barely enough information to whet the appetite and acknowledge basic potential cultural differences among clients. The old adage “The map is not the territory” is especially pertinent here, as these descriptions are meant to simply orient the interviewer. The actual cultural landscape will be unique to the individual and will most likely look quite different from the following map.

THE BIG FOUR In the introduction to Growing up Latino , Ilan Stavans writes: Today, at the center of the con?ict is the Hispanic, the man, woman, or child who speaks Castilian Spanish as his or her mother tongue, or whose ancestors did so. We in the United States often perceive Hispanics as a monolithic or amorphous group. They have divided loyalties, we say, and live between two cultures and two languages. But this is a narrow definition, a ?gment that Americans have created to ?ll our need to make these diverse peoples into a single one that we can then understand.

Multicultural and Diversity Issues 375Stavans was writing about Hispanics, but he could have inserted any of the larger or smaller minority groups in the United States and been equally accurate. Our groupings are huge, with an astonishing amount of diversity within each one. The same can be said for what is often referred to as White culture, or the dominant culture. We would be hard pressed to de?ne White . Would we include Italian Americans? Would we include Jewish Americans? Does the word Anglo communicate more accurately than White? Even if we said “persons of Western European descent,” it would not be clear as to who would be in and who would be out. In what century must the descendence begin to ?t this category? With apologies for these obvious gross generalizations, we make divisions to compare and contrast very broad differences between cultures. For example, we use the word White to refer to the dominant Caucasian culture in the United States. However, we readily acknowledge that our generalities are so broad as to be of limited usefulness. We hope this section stimulates your desire to develop your 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.

For the traditional Hopi, when a person in a family, or close to a family, dies, it is best not to talk about him or her because it increases the likelihood that the person’s spirit will visit them in the night. Imagine the trauma that might be induced if, according to standard operating procedure, the counselor encouraged this boy to talk openly and freely about his brother. Not only does scienti?c mindedness require counselors to explore all reasonable explanations for behavior, but also it requires treatment techniques that are compatible with cultural practices and beliefs.

Dynamic sizing is the second cultural competency characteristic described by S. Sue . This concept requires the interviewer to know when generalizations based on group membership are appropriate and when they are not. You need to know the general characteristics of the client’s culture of origin, yet at the same time, allow for differential internalization and/or expression of those characteristics.

For example, the concept of machismo is often discussed in relation to Hispanic men.

However, it is na?ve to assume that all Hispanic men express machismo; doing so can in?uence your expectations of client behavior. On the other hand, you would be remiss if you were ignorant of machismo and the possibility that it in?uences Hispanic male behaviors. When dynamic sizing is used appropriately, the pitfalls of stereotyping clients are avoided, while at the same time, the interviewer remains open to signi?cant cultural in?uences.

Another facet of dynamic sizing involves therapists’ knowing when to generalize their own experiences. S. Sue states, “A person who has experienced discrimination and prejudice as a member of one group may be able to understand the plight of those in another group who encounter the same experiences” . However, hav374 Interviewing Special Populationsing similar experiences does not guarantee accurate empathy. Dynamic sizing requires the interviewer to both know and understand and not know and not understand at the same time. This elegant combination of deep understanding and openness is a crucial component of culturally competent interviewing.

Putting It in Practice 13.1clients. While there may be universal human experiences, you cannot assume every client’s needs are the same. It is important for interviewers to move beyond the myth of sameness when working with clients of diverse culture and ethnicity .

CASE EXAMPLE A 14 year old Hopi Indian student was referred for counseling at his school because his teachers reported increasing social withdrawal and failing grades. The school counselor, on reviewing the past year’s records, discovered that the boy’s academic and social behavior had declined after a younger brother had died in a drowning accident approximately nine months before. During their ?rst session, the boy reluctantly admitted to witnessing his brother’s death and indicated that he had not spoken about the incident to anyone.

In this particular case, it would be quite natural for a school counselor to attribute the boy’s school and social troubles to unresolved grief and to design a treatment plan to help the student express his feelings associated with his loss and trauma. Although this is a plausible explanation, there might be others to consider, and, regardless, the treatment plan would be a serious mistake.

Scienti?c mindedness requires the interviewer to search for alternative explanations for the boy’s silence, his withdrawal, and his failure in school. Without exploring less commonly known and understood explanations, the school counselor might never know that the boy’s silence was because of traditional Hopi belief about death.

Without engaging in scienti?c mindedness, the counselor might inappropriately push the boy to talk about his brother’s death.

Cultural Competence

Self awareness is only the beginning of multicultural awareness and competence. Many variables are included in cultural competence. Speci?cally, three critical characteristics have been identi?ed as essential for cultural competence: scienti?c mindedness, skills in dynamic sizing, and pro?ciency with a particular cultural group .

Scienti?c mindedness requires forming and testing hypotheses, rather than making faulty assumptions and/or conclusions about the status of ethnoculturally different Multicultural and Diversity Issues

Counselor as a Cultural Being

Being aware of yourself as a cultural being has been described as a prerequisite for competent multicultural counseling. In fact, the ?rst multicultural competency discussed by D. W. Sue, Arredondo, and McDavis states, “Culturally skilled examiners have moved from being culturally unaware to being aware and sensitive to their own cultural heritage and to valuing and respecting differences” .

For this activity, you should work with a partner.

A. Describe yourself as a cultural being to your partner. What is your ethnic/cultural heritage? How did you come to know your heritage? How is your heritage manifested in your life today? What parts of your heritage are you especially proud of ? Is there anything about your heritage that you are not proud of ? Why? B. What do you think constitutes a “mentally healthy” individual? Can you think of times when there are exceptions to your understanding of this? C. Has there ever been a time in your life when you experienced racism or discrimination? Describe this experience to your partner. What were your thoughts and feelings related to this experience? D. Can you relate a time when your own thoughts about people who are different from you affected how you treated them? Would you do anything differently now? E. How would you describe the “American culture”? What parts of this culture do you embrace? What parts do you reject? How does your internalization of American culture impact what you think constitutes a “mentally healthy individual”? At the conclusion of the activity, take time to re?ect and possibly make a few journal entries about anything you may have learned about your cultural identity.