Dec 03, 2024  
2024-2025 Official General Catalog 
    
2024-2025 Official General Catalog

ASA 245 - Cultural Competency in Counseling


This course is designed to provide an overview of topics related to special and diverse populations of clients encountered in human services fields.  This course will provide historical and social context as well as cultural awareness and encourage development of skills necessary to understand and effectively counsel individuals with diverse racial, ethnic, minority/protected status, legal status, age, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds.  Various gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation issues will also be discussed.  Content specific to veterans, trauma survivors, criminal justice-involved, domestic violence, physical/cognitive abilities, co-existing psychiatric disorders, compulsive behavior disorders or other disabilities will be included.  Specific substance use, prevention and treatment needs of special populations will be infused throughout the course.

Prerequisite- Corequisite
Prerequisites:  SOC 110 Introduction to Sociology

Credits: 3
Cross-listed
HMS 245
Hours
3 Laboratory Hours
Course Profile
Learning Outcomes of the Course:

Upon successful completion of this course the student will be able to:

  1. Define culture and cultural worldview, and describe how worldviews inform and affect both clients and providers in counseling and substance use disorder treatment.
  2. Describe the ethical imperative to approach clients’ issues in a culturally and socially competent manner.
  3. Identify the dimensions of culturally competent counseling, the treatment needs of special and diverse populations and recognize the need for specialized treatment responses given the unique cultural and social experiences of diverse populations of clients.
  4. Analyze systems of oppression in American society, and the ways that systems of oppression serve the privileged within existing social structures.
  5. Identify their own cognitive biases and/or prejudices, and analyze how this may impact their own counseling practice, behavior and responses to socially or culturally diverse clients.
  6. Identify current public policy issues of concern to the field of counseling and substance use disorder treatment and formulate potential avenues for advocacy.