Cross-cultural work

Cross-cultural work cannot be avoided in the field of Human Services. With the growing population of culturally diverse groups, the Human Services Professional will deliver services to culturally different clients. Think about how you are going to prepare to work with clients whose culture or ethnicity you are unfamiliar with. Perhaps you have no knowledge of a specific culturally diverse group or you focus too much on how different the group is from your own resulting in stereotypes of the group. Post your initial response to the following questions:

• Cross-cultural helping is described as “experiential, freewheeling, and bilateral.” Explain what these terms mean in relation to preparing you for cross-cultural work.
• On page 40 of Chapter 3 in your textbook Cultural Diversity: A Primer for the Human Services, Hay’s Addressing Framework is presented. Discuss how each of the identity dimensions of the framework can impact your cross-cultural work with clients.
• In your cross-cultural work with South Asian Americans, what are some demographic and cultural issues you should consider?
• What factors influence how South Asian Americans seek help and common problems brought into the helping relationship?

Answer Preview

Experiential in preparation for working with people from different cultures refers to learning about cultural differences through observation of how the people behave. This gives one an experience of how to handle different situations and cultural diverse people. Freewheeling refers to interacting with the people diverse cultures freely without placing cultural barriers. There are no rules or guidelines considered when engaging with different…