Abstract
This chapter reflects on the author’s experiences working as a cultural consultant with immigrants, refugees, Aboriginal peoples and other marginalized individuals, groups and communities in varied settings, including community centres, churches, schools, homes, libraries, clinics, and the divan. The mental health consultant often meets clients during moments of acute vulnerability, where they may be least responsive to outside intervention preferring to rely on themselves even when only limited resources are available. The chapter underlines the importance of validating the client’s marginalized self and embodied cultural competence as an essential step in building an alliance. Clinical vignettes illustrate how healing and transformative experiences can be facilitated when individuals and groups see themselves treated with respect and without judgment. As an immigrant and female of African descent, the author’s identity is usually an asset in the clinical encounter with patients from marginalized groups. Shared affinities can allow clients to move past feelings of mistrust, building an effective alliance, helping clients to reconnect with problem-solving resources, and find solutions. The consultant’s most important role, however, is bearing witness with compassion and humility by simply listening respectfully as individuals and groups tell their stories in their own way at their own pace.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Allport, G. W. (1979). The Nature of Human Prejudice. Basic books. (Original work published 1954).
Axelson, J. A. (1999). Counseling and development in a multicultural society (3rd ed.). Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.
Bashi, V. (1997). Survival of the knitted: The social networks of West Indian immigrants. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI.
Bibeau, G. (1997). Cultural psychiatry in a creolizing world: Questions for a new research agenda. Transcultural Psychiatry, 34(1), 9–41.
Bourdieu, P. (1977). Cultural reproduction and social reproduction. In J. Karabel & A. H. Halsey (Eds.), Power and ideology in education (pp. 487–511). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Campbell, A. (1981). The sense of well-being in America. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Carter, P. L. (2003). “Black” cultural capital, status positioning, and schooling conflicts for low-income African American youth. Society for the Study of Social Problems, 50(1), 136–155.
DeGruy-Leary, J. (2005). Post traumatic slave syndrome; America’s legacy of enduring injury and healing. Portland, OR: Uptone Press.
Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95(3), 542–575.
Elliot, J. L., & Fleras, A. (1992). Unequal relations: An introduction to race and ethnic dynamics in Canada. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Prentice Hall.
Eyerman, R. (2004). Slavery and the formation of African American identity. In J. C. Alexander (Ed.), Cultural trauma and collective identity (pp. 61–111). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Fanon, F. (1967). Black skin, white masks. New York, NY: Grove Press.
Frankenberg, R. (1997). Local whiteness, localizing whiteness. In R. Frankenberg (Ed.), Displacing whiteness: Essays in social and cultural criticism (pp. 1–33). London, England: Duke University Press.
Freire, P. (1973). Education for critical consciousness. New York, NY: The Continuum Publishing Company.
Hughes, M., & Thomas, M. (1998). The continuing significance of race revisited: A study of race, class, and quality of life in America, 1972 to 1996. American Sociological Review, 63, 785–795.
Hunt, M. (1996). The individual, society, or both? A comparison of Black, Latino, and White beliefs about the causes of poverty. Social Forces, 75(1), 293–322.
Kareem, J., & Littlewood, R. (Eds.). (2000). Intercultural therapy (2nd ed.). London, England: Blackwell Science.
Kymlicka, W. (1998). Finding our way: Rethinking ethnocultural relations in Canada. Toronto: Oxford University Press.
Leccia, J. (2008). Culture as a clinical discriminant. Unpublished paper presented at the 42nd Annual Conference of the Medical Association of Psychiatrist of Quebec. Quebec, Canada: Gatineau.
Leonard, P. (1997). Postmodern welfare: Reconstructing an emancipatory project. London, England: Sage.
Lim, R. F. (Ed.). (2006). Clinical manual of cultural psychiatry. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing.
Measham, T., & Wint, S. (2007). Cultural capital: A protective factor. Afro Canadian Art Foundation Annual Art & Culture Review. Montreal, Canada. Lovell Litho & Publications Inc.
Merton, T. (1978). No man is an island. New York, NY: Harcourt Press.
Miranda, J., Green, B. L., Krupnick, J. L., Chung, J., Siddique, J., Belin, T., et al. (2006). One-year outcomes of a randomized clinical trial treating depression in low-income minority women. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74(1), 99–111.
Morrison, T. (1992). Black matters: Playing in the dark: Whiteness and the literary imagination. Cambridge, England: Harvard University Press.
Plaza, D. E. (1996). The strategies and strategizing of university educated black Caribbean-born men in Toronto: A study of occupation and income achievement. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Smith, H. Y. (1996a). Building on the strength of black families: Self-help and empowerment. In S. Logan (Ed.), The Black family: Strengths, self-help and positive change. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Smith, R. T. (1996b). The matrifocal family: Power, pluralism and politics. London, England: Routledge.
Steele, C. M. (2010). Whistling Vivaldi And other clues to how stereotypes affect us. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.
Sue, D. W., Capodilupo, C. M., Torino, G. C., Bucceri, J. M., Holder, A. M. B., Nadal, K. L., et al. (2007). Racial microaggressions in everyday life: Implications for clinical practice. American Psychologist, 62(4), 271–286.
Taylor, C. (1994). Multiculturalism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Thomas, L. (1999). Racism and psychotherapy: Working with racism in the consulting room: An analytical view. In J. Kareem & R. Littlewood (Eds.), Intercultural therapy (2nd ed., pp. 146–160). Oxford, England: Blackwell Science Ltd.
Thomas, M., & Holmes, B. (1992). Determinants of satisfaction for blacks and whites. The Sociological Quarterly, 33(3), 459–472.
Ton, H., & Lim, R. (2006). The assessment of culturally diverse individuals. In R. F. Lim (Ed.), Clinical manual of cultural psychiatry (pp. 5–31). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing.
Wein, B. (1992, March). The roots of racism. New Woman, 22, 89–96.
Whitley, R., Kirmayer, L. J., & Groleau, D. (2006a). Understanding immigrants’ reluctance to use mental health services: A qualitative study from Montreal. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 51(4), 205–209.
Whitley, R., Kirmayer, L. J., & Groleau, D. (2006b). Public pressure, private protest: Illness narratives of West Indian immigrants in Montreal with medically unexplained symptoms. Anthropology & Medicine, 13(3), 193–205.
Wint, S. (2000). Race and the subjective well-being of Black Canadians. Unpublished masters thesis, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wint, S. (2014). Community Consultation and Mediation with Racialized and Marginalized Minorities. In: Kirmayer, L., Guzder, J., Rousseau, C. (eds) Cultural Consultation. International and Cultural Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7615-3_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7615-3_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-7614-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7615-3
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)