How do we as therapists work most effectively with clients from different cultural backgrounds? Despite the rise in cross-cultural training, many clinicians are still mystified about how to actually integrate multicultural issues and interventions into their work with clients. In this conversation between Victor Yalom and Derald Wing Sue—the renowned psychologist who literally wrote the book on multicultural counseling—we learn about the origins of Sue’s research, the ways in which conventional practice has both neglected and harmed clients of color, and clinical practices and interventions that all therapists can use to become more culturally aware and competent.
Multicultural counseling, says Sue, is the development of cultural competence with minority groups—yet this seemingly simple idea has represented a complex, and controversial, paradigm shift in the field. In his experience first as a student and later as a new clinician, Sue discovered that not only were members of minority groups failing to take advantage of psychotherapy, but those who did didn’t last. He sought to find out why, and his answers became the foundation for the thought-provoking theories on race and clinical practice that have been cited for more than three decades.
Culture- and class-bound values, white privilege, and implicit bias are just a few of the factors Sue addresses here. Inappropriate at best and oppressive at worst, therapeutic interventions based on these factors serve to pathologize difference, alienate minority clients, and erode the therapeutic alliance. Sue describes these phenomena in detail, along with an overview of microagressions, developing multicultural competence, and his unique training program designed to immerse students in diverse cultures.
If you’re looking to deepen your knowledge of cross-cultural concepts or want to see them presented by their originator, watch this interview for eye-opening insights and tools you can start using right away.
