A SELF ASSESSMENT OF MULTICULTURAL AWARENESS, KNOWLEDGE, AND SKILL Objective: To audit your own abilities to demonstrate multicultural awareness,

knowledge, and skill. Description: This inventory of questions allows the student to self-assess the extent to which multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skill have been achieved. Some participants will over-estimate the degree of competence and others will under-estimate their competence. This list of questions resembles a test in which the student will grade their own answers if and when they were to take the time required to answer the questions. Each student will assign themselves a grade based on their own self-assessment. Time required: bout an hour Risk/expertise level: !ow Participants needed: ny number of participants plus one facilitator. Procedure: ". The instructor will ask each student to #read the following items and indicate how well you think you would be able to answer the item $using your own criteria% if you were to write out an answer.& '. The instructor will then say, #(f you think you would provide an excellent answer give yourself an ) *, if you think your answer would be generally good give yourself a )+*, if you think your answer would be acceptable but not as good as you would like give yourself a ),*, and if you feel unable to answer the question give yourself an )-*.

.. t the end of this self-assessment you will be encourage to compute your #grade point average/ with an counting for . points, a + for ' points, a , for " point, and an - for 0 points. 1. 2ivide the number of points you awarded yourself by the number of items to get your 34 . Debriefing: fter each student has given themselves a #grade& from their self-assessment of their own multicultural competencies, the instructor will lead a general group discussion. Some discussion questions include/ ". (s it possible to earn an # & grade in the multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skill competencies5 '. 2id you under-estimate your level of competence before taking this test5 .. 2id you over-estimate your level of competence before taking this test5 1. 6hat are the consequences of not having multicultural competence5 7. 8ow do you plan to increase your level of multicultural competence5 Insig t: 6e have a long way to go in developing multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skill competencies.

!x ibit: / 6 9E:ESS ;<EST(=:S ". ,an you construct a genogram of your family for the last three generations on your mother*s and father*s side5 '. 6hat is your #cultural heritage&5 .. 8ow well do you value and respect and model cultural differences in your life5

1. 6ho are the significant people in your lifetime who have influenced your attitudes, values, and biases5 7. 6hat are the cultures you least understand and why5 >. 6hat do you do to recruit clients who are different from you in race, ethnicity, culture, and beliefs5 ?. 6hat culturally learned assumptions do you have which are different from those of other counselors5 @. (n what ways do issues of oppression, racism, discrimination, and stereotyping influence how you do counseling5 A. To what extent would you consider yourself as having #racist attitudes, beliefs, and feelings&5 "0. 8ave you had any social impact in your career as a counselor5 "". ,an you do counseling in a variety of different communication styles5 "'. 2o you know how your culturally different clients feel about your natural communication style5 ".. (n what specific ways have you trained yourself to work with culturally different clients5 "1. (n what specific ways do you evaluate your counseling work with culturally different clients5 "7. 6hen do you refer you culturally different clients to others better trained to work with them5 ">. 6hen have you sought consultation from more qualified resource persons when working with culturally different clients5

"?. 8ow well do you understand yourself and your own cultural identity5 "@. 8ow well are you able to present a nonracist identity as a counselor to culturally different clients5 "A. 2o you have a plan for increasing your multicultural awareness in the future5 '0. 2o you consider yourself to have achieved multicultural awareness5 +/ B:=6!E23E ". ,an you describe the social, political, and economic history of negative emotional reactions toward specific racial and ethnic groups5 '. 8ow well can you do counseling with clients whose beliefs and attitudes are profoundly different from your own5 .. ,an you be nonCudgmental toward clients whose beliefs are profoundly different from your own5 1. re you aware of stereotypes and preconceived notions in your counseling practice5

7. 2o you provide counseling to clients without knowing about their cultural attitudes, values, and backgrounds5 >. re you aware of the life experiences, cultural heritages, and historical backgrounds of your culturally different clients5 ?. @. re you aware of the similarities and differences between yourself and your clients5 re you able to explain how your client*s cultural background affects/

A. personality formation5

"0. vocational choices5 "". manifestation of psychological disorders5 "'. help-seeking behavior5 ".. appropriate counseling approaches5 "1. ,an you intelligently discuss sociopolitical issues that influence the quality of life of your clients5 "7. ,an you discuss immigration issues that influence the quality of life of your clients5 ">. poverty5 "?. racism5 "@. stereotyping5 "A. powerlessness5 '0. (n the last month, have you read books andDor articles regarding culture and mental health issues of clients within your client population5 '". (n the last month have you participated in training to increase your knowledge and understanding of cultural contexts where counseling occurs5 ''. (n the last month have you been actively involved with cultural minority groups outside your role as a counselor5 '.. community events5 '1. social functions5 '7. political functions5

'>. celebrations5 '?. friendships5 '@. neighborhood gatherings5 ,/ SB(!!S ". 2o you refer in counseling to your client*s religious andDor spiritual beliefs and values5 '. attributions5 .. taboos5 1. world views5 7. 2o you understand how these beliefs and attitudes affect psychosocial functioning and expressions of distress5 >. ,an you talk with your clients about their indigenous helping practices and respect indigenous help-giving networks5 ?. re you able to defend the positive value of bilingualism or multilingualism5

@. 2o you understand the generic characteristics of counseling and therapy5 A. culture-bound features5 "0. class-bound features5 "". linguistic features5 "'. ,an you explain why clients from a minority group might be reluctant to seek out counseling5

".. ,an you identify ways that your own cultural background might cause conflict with your minority clients from a different background5 "1. 2o you compensate for the cultural bias in tests developed in and for one cultural context when those tests are used with a culturally different population5 "7. 2o you interpret your assessment data differently to culturally different clients who come from significantly different backgrounds5 ">. 2o you incorporate information about your client*s indigenous family structure into your counseling interviews5 "?. hierarchies5 "@. values5 "A. beliefs5 '0. community resources5 '". re you able to change relevant discriminatory practices in the community that affect the psychological welfare of your clients5 ''. 2o you have a large repertoire of verbal and nonverbal skills to match with the cultural contexts of your different clients5 '.. (s the verbal message your client receives the same as the message sent and intended5 '1. (s the nonverbal message your client receives the same as the message sent and intended5 '7. re you skilled in a variety of different helping roles, methods, or approaches5

'>. 6hen your helping style is limited or inappropriate will you know enough to change5

'?.

re you able to intervene with and change the social institutions in your client*s cultural context5

'@.

re you able to tell when a client*s problem relates to cultural bias by others from when the problem might be personal to the client5

'A. 2o you consult with traditional healers from your client*s cultural context5 .0. religious leaders5 .". spiritual leaders5 .'. other practitioners5 ... re you fluent in the first language of your clients5

.1. 2o you use a translator when working with clients whose language you do not understand5 .7. 2o you incorporate traditional assessment and testing instruments from your client*s cultural context into your counseling with them5 .>. 2o you always have the necessary technical skills in the tests or measures you use with your culturally different clients5 .?. 2o you work actively to eliminate biases, preCudices, and discriminatory practices in your community5 .@. 2o you take responsibility for educating your clients about your own culturally learned orientation to psychological intervention, outcome goals, expectations, and legal rights5