Psychology Commons^™

Small Steps And Long Strides: Personal Reflections And Insights On Becoming Multiculturally Competent, Sharon D. Lockaby

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

With a history of attention being paid to multicultural counseling competencies as important attributes for a counselor to have to work with diverse clients, new counselors are challenged to prepare for working with these clients. Lee (2006) found that multiculturally competent professionals possess the awareness, knowledge, and skills to work with diverse communities. New counselors need to develop the knowledge, skills and awareness to competently work with diverse clients. There are multiple training methods suggested to support the development of these counseling competencies including Contact Hypothesis, cross-cultural interaction and cultural immersion. This article focuses on one graduate student’s background and …