Broaching the Subjects of Race, Ethnicity, and Culture During the Counseling Process

• Published in: Journal of counseling and development Vol. 85; no. 4; pp. 401 - 409
• Main Authors: Day-Vines, Norma L., Wood, Susannah M., Grothaus, Tim, Craigen, Laurie, Holman, Angela, Dotson-Blake, Kylie, Douglass, Marcy J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 22.09.2007; American Counseling Association; John Wiley & Sons, Inc
• Subjects: Analysis; Behavior; Bias; Counseling; Counseling services; Counselling; Counselor Client Relationship; Counselors; Credibility; Cross cultural counseling; Cross cultural counselling; Cultural Differences; Cultural Influences; Cultural Pluralism; Culture; Demographic aspects; Demographics; Empowerment; Ethics; Ethnicity; Health services; Influence; Meaning; Mental health; Mental health care; Mental Health Programs; Minority & ethnic groups; Minority Groups; Outcomes of Treatment; Practice; R&D; Race; Racial Bias; Racial Factors; Racial Identification; Racial identity; Racial profiling; Racism; Research & development; Social aspects; Society; Sociopolitical factors; Therapeutic alliances; United States
• ISSN: 0748-9633; 1556-6676
• DOI: 10.1002/j.1556-6678.2007.tb00608.x

The authors define broaching as the counselor's ability to consider how sociopolitical factors such as race influence the client's counseling concerns. The counselor must learn to recognize the cultural meaning clients attach to phenomena and to subsequently translate that cultural knowledge into meaningful practice that facilitates client empowerment, strengthens the therapeutic alliance, and enhances counseling outcomes. A continuum of broaching behavior is described, and parallels are drawn between the progression of broaching behavior and the counselor's level of racial identity functioning.