ASSIGNMENT: JOURNAL ENTRY (3-4 PAGES)
Use the Multicultural Awareness Journal Template to create your journal entry. In your journal entry, include the following:
- Summaries and reactions to the self-assessment results and reflection process
- Summarize the results of your Multicultural Self-Assessment.
- Identify which Harvard Implicit Bias self-assessments you took and summarize the results
- Explain how your results might make sense in light of the cultural influences in your life and/or your life experiences.
- Reflections on being “other
- Based on the media for this week, briefly tell the story of the first time you realized you were “other.”
- Discuss your reactions to your realization of being “other.”
- Explain how your developmental stage impacted your experience of “otherness.”
- Implications for personal development and professional practice
- Describe perceived gaps in cultural competency and actions you plan to take as a result of the self-assessment and reflection process.
- Explain the importance of multicultural awareness and cultural competency to the practice of clinical mental health counseling.
While this journal is reflective in nature, you should use the template provided in order to ensure appropriate APA structure and formatting. You are expected to support your work with reference to additional Learning Resources and to use appropriate APA format for in-text citations. It is highly recommended that you specifically cite the Petrone assessment in-text, since it will be used in the preparation of your paper.
TO PREPARE:
- Review Chapters 10 and 11 in the Erford course text and focus on the importance of human development and multicultural awareness.
- Review the media program found in the Learning Resources for this week and think about the first time you realized you were “other.” Reflect on how this self-awareness impacted your cultural beliefs.
- Note: “Otherness” is a broad concept. It can be intense, such as experiencing racial prejudice, or more subtle, such as feeling uncomfortable in unfamiliar social situations. Otherness is a universal human experience and can look and feel many different ways.
- Take the Multicultural Self-Assessment (Petrone, 2004) in the Learning Resources and save your results. Please note: the assessment is a self-reflection tool. It does not yield a numerical score; your interpretation of the process and results is the outcome.
- Take two Harvard Implicit Bias self-assessments of your choice from https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/selectatest.htmlLinks to an external site.
- Reflect on your personal attitudes, cultural beliefs, biases, behavior, and world view and how these factors might impact your delivery of counseling techniques.
- Reflect on your level of self-awareness, the importance of cultural awareness to the practice of clinical mental health counseling, and any changes you plan to implement as a result of the self-assessments.
