Links and Documents

Diversity, culture and counselling: A Canadian perspective

Resources from a course designed for those who desire to work with culturally diverse people either in a counselling or teaching capacity.

This course is taught at the University of Victoria, British Columbia.

Course Rationale

The rationale for exploring multicultural communication and counselling is the growing multicultural factor in everyday life. The variety of ethnic backgrounds sometimes brings clashes and culture is the most notable and probably the most troublesome difference that society must cope with. In a world where most of the world's people are not Westerners, Caucasian, or Christian and in a world grown smaller through communication and transportation, a world view is not only enriching, but protective.

This trend can already be seen in Canada's urban areas like Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto where half the households are not native-born. In addition, the Northern areas of Canada are populated by native people who are in the majority. The multicultural reality is evident in North American schools where large numbers of students are visible minorities. I believe that conflict has its genesis in society's disrespect for people who are different. People not only have to learn how to control their genocidal responses, but learn how to live in harmony with others and the environment. Today as in the past, the different are often discriminated against, ostracized, and threatened. Society has come a long way in being more accepting of different people, yet it has a long way to go in creating a society that respects diversity. Many cultural conflicts of the past have occurred because different people were pitted against each other. The aim of the course is to provide you with skills of intercultural communication, counselling and teaching.

Readings include:

Readings for Unit I: Foundations

• Chapter 1: Counselling Across cultures: Identity, race & communication
• Chapter 2: Exploring Worldview
• Chapter 3: Developing multicultural counselling skills

Materials and links that might interest you from the instructor's notes:

• First Nations Philosophers
• Sub-projects - Activities Working Party
• White Privilege Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack
• stereotypes
• Simulation Games
• Perspectives-on-racism Canada
• Challenging your assumptions

Readings for Unit II: Gay, Lesbian & ethnic Canadians

• Chapter 18: Ethnic Canadians
• Chapter 17: Gay & Lesbian
• Chapter 19: MCT Theory

Materials and links that might interest you from the instructor's notes:

• Gender and Language Activity
• appreciating diversity
• CHECK OUT: Special Issue on Multicultural Counseling with Gay, Lesbian & Bisecual clients in the Journal of Multicultural Counseling & Development, Vol. 31(2), April 2003

Readings for Unit III: African-Canadians

• Chapter 12: Counselling African-Canadians...
• Chapter 25: Cognitive Behavioural

Readings for Unit IV: Islamic-Canadians

• Chapter 13: Islamic identity
• Chapter 22: . Sufism

Readings for Unit V: First Nations

• Chapter 4: Counselling within the First Nations Community
• Chapter 5: The impact of Cultural Misconstruction on Education
• Chapter 20: The "Red Road": Culture, spirituality and the sacred hoop
• Chapter 21: Precontact education and the role of storytelling

Readings for Unit VI: Asian-Canadians

• Chapter 6:Counselling Issues with Asian Youth
• Chapter 7: Counselling Asian Canadians: Implications
• Chapter 8: Indo-Canadian Women

Readings for Unit VII: Immigrants, Refugees, & International Students

• Chapter 9: Acculturation And Adaptation: Providing Counselling For Immigrants And Refugees
• Chapter 10: Allowing, adjusting, and achieving: Helping immigrant children deal with acculturation in the school system
• Chapter 16: Upon Arrival: Ordeals and challenges in working with international students

Readings for Unit VIII: Hispanics

• Chapter 11: Counselling Hispanics: A multicultural approach
• Chapter 27: Towards an integrated Perspective: Restorative Justice, Cross-cultural Counselling and School Based Programming

Readings for Unit IX: Biracial-Canadians

• Chapter 14: Biracial Identity development
• Chapter 15: Reflections

Materials and links that might interest you from the instructor's notes:

• Theories of Black - White Marriages

Readings for Unit X: Approaches

• Chapter 24: Multicultural Counselling Theory
• Chapter 23: Naikan
• Chapter 26: Transpersonal