A course in cross-cultural counselling for central and northern British Columbia

Abstract

The purpose of this masters ' project is to present a rationale for cross-cultural counselling education in Central and Northern British Columbia and to provide a graduatelevel 13-unit course in cross-cultural counselling. I begin by reviewing the findings ofthe American Psychological Association Division 17 Position Paper (1982) along with subsequent studies investigating the effectiveness of cross-cultural education in helping counsellors work successfully with clients from other cultures. The three dimensions of awareness, knowledge, and skills suggested the framework for the development of the course and informed the learning objectives for each major topic. Learning outcomes for counselling students include the development of cultural self-awareness, recognising bias and racism, improving knowledge about cross-cultural issues, and developing cross-cultural counselling skills appropriate for working with specific populations prevalent in Central and Northern British Columbia.

Counselling Aboriginal peoples: A thematic study of counselling experiences.

“…(Turner, 2005, p. 86) Cross-cultural counselling is a counselling situation in which the counsellor and client are from different cultures, and possibly of a different race, religion, lifestyle, age, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, and background (Gamer-Pakenham, 2007).…”