Dual Perspectives When Working With The Client Essay

When working with culturally different clients it is important to remember that their culture shapes their identity, and their cultural reality could be very different from the clinicians (Garthwait, 2016). Their culture may have taught them to think differently, socialize differently, and both unconsciously and consciously view the world differently (Garthwait, 2016). The clinician should be aware of this, and be careful to show understanding, not judgment, during the session (Garthwait, 2016). It is also helpful if the clinician develops a dual perspective with the client; to focus on both the client’s attitudes, values, etc. while also focusing on society’s values and attitudes (Garthwait, 2016). A dual perspective will help the clinician understand how the client and their environment are interacting (Garthwait, 2016).
According to Diller (2007), the first task to working with culturally different clients is to make them feel comfortable. This means taking care not to assume that you know a client’s cultural views or place them into stereotypical molds (Diller, 2007). The clinician should ask the client if they would mind teaching the clinician

Simply showing the client empathy towards his situation could make him feel more comfortable with me (Hepworth et al., 2016). Letting the client know that I understand how difficult it must be to watch his father struggle, how defensive the client might feel about telling his father that his condition is terminal, and how sorrowful it is to say goodbye could strengthen our helping relationship. I can use a strengths based perspective and help the client see how resilient and kind he is for caring for his ailing father, and use motivational interviewing to further explore the his strengths (Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda,