Culture-General and Culture-Specific Approaches to Counselling: Complementary Stances
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Culture-General and Culture-Specific Approaches to Counselling: Complementary Stances Birdie J. Bezanson & Susan James
Published online: 3 October 2007 # Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2007
Abstract For the past 40 years, the helping professions have attempted to address the uniqueness of therapeutic relationships that involve clients and counsellors of different cultures. Counselling psychology has been at the forefront in the cultural movement within the helping profession. Approaches utilized by multicultural counsellors can be classified into two basic stances: culture-general and culture-specific. This paper argues that an either/or perspective does not stand to benefit the profession; however, a framework that encompasses the best of both approaches provides the building blocks for a hermeneutic approach to multicultural counselling. The two stances are explained and each is critiqued. The false dichotomy that has evolved within the profession between these two stances is discussed and an argument for focusing research on multiethnic counselling relationships is given. Finally, an integrative approach that privileges hermeneutics is presented. Keywords Multicultural counselling . Cultural general . Cultural specific . Hermeneutic
Introduction Over the past 40 years, the helping profession has attempted to identify and explain the uniqueness of therapeutic relationships that involve clients and counsellors of different ethnic heritage. A special edition of the Journal of Counselling and Development (JCD) in the early 1990s cited multiculturalism as the fourth force in counselling (Pedersen 1991), and initiated an increase in the number of articles that focused on culturally sensitive counselling practice. A recent content analysis of the JCD stated there has been a change in “pathology-oriented” articles that rely on discrete categories of mental illness to more B. J. Bezanson (*) : S. James Faculty of Education, Counselling Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2125 Main Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada e-mail: [email protected] S. James e-mail: [email protected]
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Int J Adv Counselling (2007) 29:159–171
“exploratory and developmental” articles that emphasize a more personal experience of distress (Arrendondo et al. 2005, p. 155). Multicultural counselling has taken a leading role in the cultural movement within the different helping profession. To conceptualize different approaches utilized by multicultural counsellors, the authors argue that approaches can be classified into two basic stances: culture-general1 and culture-specific. We contend that an either/or perspective does not stand to benefit the profession and ignores the complex nature of the human condition. However, a model that incorporates the strength of both stances provides the building blocks for a hermeneutic approach to multicultural counselling. We begin this article with a discussion of culture-general approaches and a critique of this perspective. This is followed by a discussion and criti
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