This timely volume gives readers a robust framework and innovative tools for incorporating clients' unique cultural variables in counseling and therapy. Its chapters identify cultural, societal, and worldview-based contexts for understanding clients, from the relatively familiar (ethnicity, gender, age) to the less explored (migration status, social privilege, geographic environment). Diverse cases illustrate how cultural assessments contribute to building the therapeutic relationship and developing interventions that respect client individuality as well as group identity. In these pages, clinicians are offered effective strategies for conducting more relevant and meaningful therapy, resulting in better outcomes for client populations that have traditionally been marginalized and underserved. The appendices include the Scale to Assess Worldview© (Ibrahim & Kahn, 1984), The Acculturation Index© (Ibrahim, 2008), and the Cultural Identity Check List-Revised© (Ibrahim, 2007).
Among the topics covered:
- Cultural identity: components and assessment.
- Worldview: implications for culturally responsive and ethical practice.
- Understanding acculturation and its use in counseling and psychotherapy.
- Social justice variables critical for conducting counseling and psychotherapy.
- Immigrants: identity development and counseling issues.
- Designing interventions using the social justice and cultural responsiveness model.
Cultural and Social Justice Counseling is a profound source of knowledge for clinicians and students in mental health fields (counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, social workers) who are working with clients from diverse cultural backgrounds, including those working in international settings, with clients across cultures, and with sojourners to the US.
"Ibrahim and Heuer's edited book ? will help psychologists and other mental health professionals obtain this necessary understanding and skill. ? book assists with practical tips on how this can be achieved, further enabling the clinician to better meet the needs of his or her clients ? . It ushers our profession to a sense of responsibility, in an informative and insightful way, reminding us that we have a special responsibility to those who are oppressed because they are different." (Rehman Y. Abdulrehman, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 61 (36), September, 2016)
