COUN504 - Social and Cultural Foundations in Counseling

This course focuses on the contribution of ethnic background to family makeup and functioning. Major ethnic groups are studied along with the counseling, social justice, and advocacy approaches appropriate to each. In a similar fashion, the overarching cultural context of relationships, including factors such as age, gender, sexual orientation, religious & spiritual values, mental and physical characteristics, education, family values, socioeconomic status, and within group as well as between group cultural differences are examined. Theories of multicultural counseling, identity development, pluralistic trends, and systems-oriented intervention strategies (couple, family, group, and community) are considered. Counselor cultural self-awareness and the role of counseling in eliminating biases, prejudice, oppression, and discrimination are emphasized.