Humanities Homework Help

Chapter 3 of the text illustrates the Respectful Counseling Framework, and includes four counseling approaches with a social justice orientation (p. 73).

For this discussion:

• Briefly describe the Respectful Counseling Framework
• Discuss two of the approaches with a social justice orientation
• Indicate some of the characteristics that the two approaches you selected have in common (300 words minimum)

Please reply to the following posts (200 words minimum each reply)

Post 1

The RESPECTFUL approach lays the groundwork for an approach to assessment and counseling that is based on a broad and deep appreciation for multiculturalism, diversity and social context. The RESPECTFUL counseling framework recognizes the multidimensional nature of human development and addresses the need for a comprehensive model of human diversity that has practical utility for the work of mental health professionals. The RESPECTFUL model of assessment and counseling embraces a broad and inclusive definition of the term cultural diversity. The framework consists of 10 factors. These 10 factors are religious/ spiritual identity, economic class background, sexual identity, level of psychological maturity, ethnic/racial identity, chronological/ developmental challenges, various forms of trauma and other threats to one’s sense of well-being, family background and history, unique physica characteristics and location of residence and language differences.

Ratts emphasizes the social justice counselor’s role of advocacy and social activism, stating that ” a socila justice counseling approach uses socual advocacy and activism as a means to address inequitable social, political and economic conditions that impede on the academic, career and personal/social development of individuals, families and communities. A social justice orientation would lead a counselor toward approaching each client with an understanding of the situation in the broadest possible context, helping the client gain this understanding as well and working from a strengths-based perspective. There are four different approaches to this orientation. These approaches are empowerment focused counseling, ecological counseling, feminist counseling and relational-cultural counseling. I will focus on the first two. Empowerment focused counseling is when clients can be more empowered if they learn to recognize the ways they are affected by their environmental contexts. Empowerment involves, first, recognizing that these problems do not stem from a defect within the individual but are instead violations of his/her selfhood. Ecological counseling is ” contextualized help-giving that is dependent on the meaning clients derive from their envrionmental interactions, yielding an improved ecological concordance. Each individual is part of an ecosystem that is the ” sum total of interacting influences operating in a person’s life, including such diverse factors as biological makeup, interpersonal relationships, the physical enviornment and the broader socio-cultural context. The concept of ecological concordance involves a mutually beneficial interaction between person and envrionment.

The two approaches have in common that the individual is taught by their counselors that there are outside factors that is causing them to be less empowering. With the knowledge of these factors, the client will gain empowerment and improve their lives.

Post 2

The Respectful Counseling Framework takes into account cultural diversity and recognizes the multidimensional nature of human development. This framework is made up of 10 factors which includes biological, psychological and environmental characteristics. The Respectful Counseling Framework is addressing cultural distinctions that distinguish people from the same culture based on other characteristics taken into account. This framework helps counselors when working with diverse backgrounds and groups. The framework also emphasizes how important it is for counselors to use various approaches to help in their clients psychological and personal well-being.

One approach with the social justice orientation is the empowerment-focused counseling approach which has the belief that the causes of problems and the solutions are within the client to find. With this approach clients are asked to see the environmental factors that have affected their well-being. The empowerment-focused counseling approach uses a competency-building activity called “empowerment versus disempowerment which emphasizes how clients should see oppression instead of self-blame or mutual support instead of isolation. The approach encourages clients to recognize that their problems do not come from personal deficits but from “violations of selfhood.” The advocacy-oriented counselor competencies highlight the empowerment-focused approach and how to helps clients be effective self-advocates.

The second approach with the social justice orientation I chose is the feminist counseling and therapy approach. The approach takes into account systemic oppression on women. Social and political factors played a key role in initiating this type of oppression which caused women to blame themselves as the problem. The oppression was addressed by consciousness raising groups where women expressed and compared their stories. The feminist counseling and therapy model emphasized how previous approaches developed by empowered White men didn’t take into account social expectations, cultural norms and political structures in women’s lives. A feminist counselor has to also take into consideration competing oppressions and the reality of multiple oppressions.

The two approaches I chose have common themes in that they both emphasize the importance in examining external factors that have affected their well-being such as oppression, racism and sexism. The approaches view the problem as being in the environment and not attributed to the client’s personal characteristics.