Multicultural Competencies in Counselling
How MCCs can be applied to effectively supporting Autistics
Overcoming barriers to culturally competent practice
As I’ve mentioned previously, I am currently studying cultural competencies in counselling.
As I’ve been reading, I’ve seen more and more parallels between the barriers to culturally competent counselling and the challenges which arise in providing effective and appropriate support for Autistics in the helping professions.
Having identified some of these in my previous articles, and described the relationships between these two issues, I will now outline how we can apply the Multicultural Counselling Competencies (MCCs) to professionals who provide support to Autistics.
The Multicultural Counselling Competencies address five main requirements:
- Awareness of one’s own and of clients’ cultural heritage and the influence of culture on attitudes, beliefs and experiences
- Willingness to learn from clients and their families
- Knowledge about different cultures and cultural perspectives
- Awareness of systemic barriers faced by neurodivergent (ND) clients and families
- Skills to utilize culturally appropriate approaches
First, to clarify some terms and concepts
Cultural competence is defined as the awareness, knowledge, and skills that allow you to work individually and systemically in an effective way that is culturally congruent with the populations which one is serving.
Culturally congruent practice is the provision of evidence-based supports which are in agreement with — and respectful of — the cultural values, beliefs, worldview, and practices of the individual one is supporting.
One definition of culture is the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people. A definition of shared cultural experience is shared language, values, norms, traditions, pastimes, customs, beliefs, and conventions which allow people to identify with one another.
Steps for Overcoming Barriers to Culturally Competent Practice
The textbook from which I am studying outlines four steps to overcoming barriers to culturally competent practice. These align very well with the MCCs listed above. They are:
- Controlling the tendency to stereotype;
- Respecting diversity and individual differences;
- Learning from clients; and
- Practitioner self-awareness
I will discuss the first two here, and the second two in my next piece.
Controlling the tendency to stereotype
While it’s generally considered unacceptable for a professional to perpetuate cultural and racial stereotypes in practice, it of course, still happens. Sometimes we are unaware of long-held ideas about a group of people and apply these over-generalizations without much thought.
In our training, clinicians and other helping professionals are instructed to call up these biases and beliefs so we may identify, challenge, and dismantle them.
While this may now be part of training for supporting Autistic clients, it certainly was not 15–20 years ago when I was in University, and it most definitely has not made its way into common use.
Very often I encounter institutions and professionals who continue to perpetuate out-dated stereotypes about Autistic people.
How many people from marginalized genders (i.e. women, trans and non-binary folks) are told they “can’t” be Autistic because they have “too much” empathy, can make eye-contact, and/or have successful relationships (as determined by neurotypical standards)?
I have heard from several so far this month, and the month is only half over.
Respecting diversity and individual differences
Shebib (2023) writes,
“Respect for diversity challenges practitioners to modify their approaches to fit the needs and expectations of their clients.”
In theory, I think almost any helping professional would agree with this statement. It’s our responsibility to learn about and respect the client’s values, beliefs, and worldviews rather than imposing our own.
While this would be incredibly worthwhile and effective when supporting Autistic clients, this philosophy does not easily enter the conversation, nor is it usually applied in practice.
Shebib warns us against viewing differences as “something to be treated or changed” because we use our own “standards and majority norms as a measure of normal behaviour”.
When supporting Autistic folks, those standards are usually neurotypical (NT) or neuronormative standards. Rather than applying this respectful concept, we often pathologize behaviours simply for being outside the norm, even when they are not distressing to the client or harmful to anyone.
Stimming is a prime example. Many Autistic children are taught to “quiet” their hands if they flap, and to stop stimming in ways that appear unusual to others. If a self-stimulatory — and self-regulating — behaviours are not harmful, why are we so insistent on extinguishing (to use the language of behaviourists) them?
Following the principles of culturally competent care would significantly reduce the harm being done to Autistic clients who are being pushed to suppress aspects of their authentic selves in order to make others more comfortable.
This is the fourth in a series of articles about applying the principles of multicultural competencies to more effectively supporting Autistics in the helping professions.
Stay tuned for number five!
© Jillian Enright, Neurodiversity MB
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References
Cohen, J. A., Kassan, A., Wada, K., Arthur, N., & Goopy, S. (2022). Enhancing multicultural and social justice competencies in Canadian counselling psychology training. Canadian Psychology / Psychologie canadienne, 63(3), 298–312. https://doi.org/10.1037/cap0000287
Schim, S.M., & Doorenbos, A.Z. (2010). A three-dimensional model of cultural congruence: framework for intervention. Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care, 6(3–4), 256–70. https://doi.org/10.1080/15524256.2010.529023
Shebib, B. (2023). Choices: Interviewing and counselling skills for Canadians (8th ed.). Pearson Canada.
Sue, S., Zane N., Nagayama, Hall G.C., Berger, L.K. (2009). The case for cultural competency in psychotherapeutic interventions. Annual Reviews of Psychology, 60, 525–48. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163651