Expression

My last semester confirmed my concerns from two posts ago; my cultural diversity was quite a disappointment. The book was, in my opinion and those of some of my classmates, inflamatory and more upsetting than helpful. When I mentioned this to my professor, he allowed me to borrow another book from him, which I read throughout the semester to supplement the required readings for our class. I skipped around and happened to end with Asian Americans. Toward the end of the last chapter I read, I came across this:

Although these findings provide some insights into what might comprise effective counseling strategies when mental health professionals treat Asian American clients, none of the studies, except for Merta et al. (1992), employed actual clients who were engaged in a realistic counseling situation... As a result, it can be questioned whether the findings have external validity to actual counseling sessions.

So, as of 2004, the author of this chapter knew of only one study of Asian American clients in realistic counseling situations. Great conclusion to my introduction to multicultural counseling. My cultural diversity class and the additional reading I did this semester have left me wondering why I'm in a field that makes me feel entirely invalidated. How can I do something that makes me so mad, that makes me feel so insignificant? How do I keep caring about something that doesn't seem to care about people like me? I am still fairly convinced that this is what I'm supposed to be doing and where I'm supposed to be for the time being, but I'm not sure what my place in the field will be or what the future will look like for me.

:: redeemed4hisglory @ 8:06 PM ::