Cultural Identity Development Question

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