Effective cultural competence requires us to be aware of our own biases and how our approach may negatively impact a client. For instance, many commonly used therapeutic interventions (developed within an individualistic culture) may be considered culturally insensitive by clients coming from a collectivist culture.
Cultural competence goes deeper than having an awareness of different cultures. It requires us to actively engage in learning and applying culturally appropriate interventions to understand, respect, and effectively work with peoples from diverse backgrounds.
Without our own awareness through self-reflection and seeking learning opportunities, we risk imposing our own values onto clients.
One specific area that we need to be aware of is cultural mistrust, which can be defined as a hesitancy among people from oppressed and marginalized communities to trust a white therapist in a therapeutic setting. This mistrust may be mislabeled by the therapist as resistance. Or even as signs of paranoia.
Cultural mistrust, however, can be (and should be) viewed as an adaptive psychological response to oppression.
Handling cultural mistrust in counseling requires us to approach clients with cultural humility. This requires acknowledging the client's historical and personal experiences shaping mistrust, building a strong therapeutic alliance through active listening, avoiding assumptions, validating the client's perspective, and collaborating on culturally sensitive goals and interventions. To build our own cultural humility, we need to be able to recognize and address our own internal biases and to become comfortable with openly discussing cultural topics.
In situations where cultural mistrust prevents a strong therapeutic alliance to be formed, it is appropriate to refer clients to a provider they feel comfortable and culturally attuned with.