Eight Steps to Cultural Awareness for Helping Professionals

Cultural perceptions build a portrait of the elephant

When we work with people who come from different backgrounds from our own, it's important to keep several things in mind. This can sometimes be very difficult, as our own human response to difference is often discomfort, and when we're uncomfortable, it is harder to provide good services.

It is never simple to step outside your own comfort zone to reach out to others, but here are some ways to make it a little easier:

• Learn to value cultural differences as ways that can build on your own understanding of the world. As the Buddhist parable of the blind men and the elephant tells us, there are many ways of seeing the world, and none of them are the complete picture.  "The way it has always been done" is not necessarily the best way.
• Never assume. Just because you saw an HBO movie about a certain group, or have a friend or two who belong to that group, don't assume the person in front of you shares the same issues. Regardless of culture, people are individuals, and have individual needs.
• If you don't know, ask. If I know very little about the Sikh religion, for instance, I might ask the person I'm helping to tell me what her religious requirements are that might affect our helping relationship.
• Use 'person centered' language to refer to people: A person with a disability, not a disabled person, or a person with mental illness, not a mentally ill person. This practice serves to remind both you and the person in front of you that you see them as human first, and as someone with a problem second, not the other way around.
• Use a person's preferred manner of address. When introduced, use the person's last name and honorific (Mr. or Ms. Smith, for instance), and ask what they prefer to be called. At that point, use the person's preferred name or nickname ('Ms. Judy', or 'Judith', or even 'Sunshine Judy').
• Refer to the person's group identity by that person's preferred term for the group. Names for cultural groups and other group designations are constantly changing. Try to keep up with the most current designations, and use them once you know them. When I started in mental health, the preferred term for people receiving mental health services was “client”. However, a few years ago, NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) voted, and the result is that the people with mental illnesses and their families stated they preferred the term “consumer”. As a result, most mental health agencies now refer to those who seek services as “consumers” rather than “clients”.
• When a cultural difference is confusing or uncomfortable for you, do your research. It is best if you research on your own before asking the person you are helping for in-depth information, if possible. It is not the person you are helping's job to educate you about her cultural differences.
• If you find a cultural difference so uncomfortable that you can not effectively help someone, give the person a referral, and help transition him to the new provider. Never 'dump' a person you can't work with on another provider. Always help with the transition by connecting the person you are referring directly to the new provider, and communicating directly with the new provider yourself.
• If you make a mistake, apologize. Make it a real apology – “I'm sorry that I offended you. I won't do that again”, not a conditional apology – I'm sorry if I offended you, but (insert excuse here)”.

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