Improving Counseling Services for People of Color: A Strategic Guide

For This or a Similar Paper Click Here To Order Now

1.) You have been asked by the board of directors of the “Generic Family Counseling Center” to help identify factors that would make their services more relevant to the needs of people of color. Apparently, their mental health services division has been under considerable pressure from groups of color in the community to make changes, amid charges of racism. The director of the division and several staff members report that they have tried to encourage people of color to come for counseling, but their efforts have not been successful. A recent study of the agency revealed that although the community’s ethnic composition is 27% African American, 25% Latino/a American, 10% Asian American, and 1% Native American, very few people of color come to the counseling center.
Your evaluation of services reveals the following:
Services are heavily insight-oriented and abstract, in nature and were primarily characterized by one-to-one sessions.
Less than 2% of the counseling staff speak a language other than English.
Service fees average $50 per session and very few types of insurance are accepted.
The center is only open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The center staff is almost entirely White.
Most of the clients of color who come to the center with physical ailments are immediately referred to outside agencies for medical care, without first being assessed for other concerns and needs (e.g., socioeconomic, emotional)
Most clients of color who come to the center terminate counseling after one session.
In light of these issues, what recommendations would you give to the Board of Directors on how to change their services to be more culturally responsive to people of color? What other information would you need to provide an informed set of recommendations to the Board of Directors? Provide your rationale for each.
2.) In this multipart activity, first you must search popular press and/or media (including social media) for examples of different communication styles among groups of people of color. Second, engage in a “cultural analysis” of the selected media. Did they notice a clashing of cultural values or communication styles between people? Was there a pathologizing of certain communication styles? What stereotypes/biases were being conveyed? Please also include a minimum of five specific recommendations to reduce intergroup miscommunications and misinterpretations. 3.) Please choose one of the racial identity models that fits your identity. Identify and discuss your current stage/status of cultural identity development. It is important that you are honest. Please identify key events from each stage that occurred, highlighting events that helped launch you into the next stage of identity development. Note the age you were during each stage, as well as any media, institutions, family etc. that may have contributed to you staying in that stage, or moving to the next. What can you do to continue growing into the next stage of development? You can also use this article as a guide: https://ready.web.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/16627/2019/01/SUMMARY-OF-RACIAL-AND-ETHNIC-IDENTITY-MODELS.pdf
APA Format Citations (at least 3 Citations) Please do NOT use AI.

Struggling with where to start this assignment? Follow this guide to tackle your assignment easily!

Step 1: Understand the Situation

First, you need to understand the situation you’re dealing with. The “Generic Family Counseling Center” has been struggling to attract people of color to its services. This is a big problem because the community has a diverse population, and the center needs to figure out why its services aren’t working for these groups.

What you should do:

Look at the issues presented in the question: The counseling center has services that seem to be mostly designed for a certain group of people, and these services aren’t attracting people of color.
Understand the demographics: The question mentions that the community is made up of 27% African American, 25% Latino/a American, 10% Asian American, and 1% Native American. These groups are important, and you need to think about what they might need from the counseling center.

Step 2: Think About the Problems

Now that you know what the question is about, take a look at the problems the center is facing:

Lack of diversity in the staff: The staff is mostly White, and fewer than 2% of them speak a language other than English.
Services are one-on-one and abstract: This might not fit the needs of all people.
Service fees and hours: The fees are $50 per session, and the center is open during regular working hours, which may not be convenient for everyone.

What you should do:

Identify why these problems might make people of color feel uncomfortable or left out.
Think about how these problems could be addressed to make the services more appealing.

Step 3: Provide Recommendations to the Board of Directors

The next part of the question asks you to provide recommendations to the Board of Directors to make the services more culturally responsive.

Here are some things you can recommend:

Hire diverse staff: Recommend that the counseling center hire staff members who are representative of the community’s diverse ethnic backgrounds. This will help build trust and make the services feel more welcoming.
Language support: Suggest that the center offer services in multiple languages or hire bilingual staff to help with communication.
Flexible hours and affordable fees: Suggest that the center expand its hours to include evenings and weekends. Additionally, they could lower fees or offer a sliding scale based on income to make services more accessible to everyone.
Address the whole person: Rather than referring clients to outside agencies for medical care, recommend that the center provide more holistic care, addressing emotional, social, and economic factors alongside physical health.
Provide cultural competence training: Recommend that the staff go through training to better understand cultural differences, and make counseling practices more inclusive.

What you should do:

For each recommendation, provide a reason why it would help improve the situation.
Be sure to explain why these changes are important and how they will make the center more responsive to people of color.

Step 4: Gather Information

You also need to think about what other information you might need to make your recommendations stronger. Consider:

Community feedback: If the center hasn’t asked the community directly for input, this could be a good idea. A survey or focus groups could provide useful insights.
Research: Look up studies and data on how counseling services can be made more culturally responsive. This will help you back up your recommendations with evidence.
Comparison with other centers: It might help to research what other successful counseling centers are doing to serve diverse populations.

What you should do:

Make sure your recommendations are supported by research. This will make your paper stronger and show that you’ve thought carefully about the issues.

Step 5: Address the Cultural Analysis

Now, let’s move on to the second part of the assignment. You are asked to search for examples of communication styles among groups of people of color. The goal is to understand if there’s a clash in communication styles and any potential biases or stereotypes.

What you should do:

Search for media: Look at social media, news articles, or TV shows that feature different cultural groups. Pay attention to how people from different backgrounds communicate with each other.
Cultural analysis: Once you’ve found some examples, think about whether there were misunderstandings or cultural clashes. Did people from different cultures communicate in a way that was misunderstood? Were certain communication styles pathologized or criticized?

What you should do next:

Analyze the stereotypes: Consider whether the media examples you found conveyed stereotypes or biases. Write about how these biases can lead to miscommunication and what can be done to reduce them.
Give five recommendations: Based on your analysis, provide five specific recommendations for reducing miscommunications. These could include things like improving cultural awareness, providing training on communication styles, or encouraging empathy between groups.

Step 6: Reflect on Your Own Racial Identity

In the third part of the assignment, you are asked to reflect on your own racial identity development. Think about the stages you’ve gone through and how your identity has evolved over time.

What you should do:

Choose a racial identity model: Find a model that fits your own experiences. The guide provided in the article you were given can help you understand the different stages.
Discuss your current stage: Identify where you are in the process of cultural identity development. Reflect on key events that influenced your journey.
What can you do next?: Think about how you can continue to grow and develop in terms of your cultural identity. Be honest and reflective.

Step 7: Use Proper APA Format

Finally, make sure your paper is written in APA format. This includes things like:

A title page with the title of your paper and your name.
In-text citations: Every time you mention a source or reference someone’s work, make sure you cite them properly in the text.
A reference page at the end of your paper listing all the sources you used.

What you should do:

Double-check your paper to make sure it follows the APA style guide.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you’ll be able to write a detailed and thoughtful paper on how to make counseling services more relevant to people of color. This involves not only understanding the problems but also offering actionable recommendations. Don’t forget to support your ideas with research and examples, and always stay organized and clear in your writing.

Good luck! You’ve got this!

For This or a Similar Paper Click Here To Order Now

WRITE MY ESSAY

blitz