In this discussion post we are asked to identify a challenge and a hope from Tang's article, and describe how it resonates personally.

The challenge that I find personally relevant is that which charges those exercising the role of vocational counselor to develop practice standards that satisfy professional expectations with regard to the area of diversity. Tang (2003) identifies one of the major issues facing emerging vocational counseling professionals as being a “lack of ecological consideration” (pg. 63) when applying its theoretical methods. This means they tend to neglect what social work has identified as the person-in-environment (PIE) perspective, which recognizes “contextual factors’ influence” on a person’s career development. Elements such as socio-economic background, gender, education, and even genetic propensity, combine as relevant factors in determining the individual’s ability to adapt to the demands of an ever-changing environment. Tang opines that integration of contextual factors into career intervention strategy has yet to be developed.

The hope identified is related to the idea that no matter how daunting the task, counseling professionals seem to possess both an innate fortitude and an unwavering capacity for adjusting to stumbling blocks that threaten to impede their work as they strive to advocate for change on behalf of individuals and communities. Tang (2003) states on one hand, “the lack of cohesiveness between practitioners and researchers presents a problem for the validity of both theory and practice” in vocational development, yet on the other hand, he celebrates its capacity for “impressive growth in its ability to advance theoretical concepts” (pg. 63), in spite of the disconnect between theory and practice.

Change is fundamental (Kelly, 1999), and as far as such is the case, mental health counselors are charged to face the challenges of adapting to the constant flux and flow of changes within the environment. In the article Postmodernism, constructivism, and multiculturalism: three forces reshaping and expanding our thoughts about counseling (2000, pg 5), author D’Andrea states “ethnocentric constructions of mental health and illness continue to dominate the counseling profession”. With regard to the relevance of the challenges and hopes to my own specific area of focus, it appears incumbent upon me as a general mental health counselor to develop strategies for connecting theory to practice by designing interventions that are culturally specific, yet pertinent to the needs of a variety of emerging population clusters.

One hundred years ago, population in the United States consisted mainly of homogeneous groups of individuals who were identified as belonging to a particular ethnic or racial heritage. Mental health for them was strongly related to how well they managed identity conflicts that sprang from dilemmas placing them at odds with fidelity to the values of their group. One’s ethnic ideals superseded the larger national sense of identity, and loyalty to the ethnic group was highly prized. Members of racial and ethnic groups were discouraged from intermingling. People married within their own religious denominations and ethic subgroups, and in this manner their values were contained and advanced generationally.

One hundred years later genetic loyalty became watered down through the process of urbanization, forcing subgroups to intermingle in the schools and in the workplace. As a result people developed larger community identities and the smaller differences mattered less. This process of cultural decolonization brought people together, enabling them to intermingle in ways that produced a new cultural synthesis.

Nowadays, we tend less to identify through ethnicity and racial differences, and look to similarities in shared interests as a basis of commonality in the communities we create with others. We have become a highly diverse group of people no longer separated primarily by cultural values, but rather we construct ourselves according to values and interests of those with whom we identify, and with whom we share interests. If culture is a ‘work in progress’, a moving target, a construct less embedded in a sense of identity related to a specific cultural genesis, then it is important as a mental health counselor in training to remain vigilant to the impact of cultural diversification, and be ever mindful of its power to shape the world and the mental health counseling profession.


References

D'Andrea, M. (2000). Postmodernism, constructivism, and multiculturalism: Three forces reshaping and expanding our thoughts about counseling. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 22(1), 1-16. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/198699817?accountid=27965

Kelly, K. R. (1999). Coda: A contextual perspective on the future of mental health counseling. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 21(3), 302-307. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/198780120?accountid=27965

Tang, M. (2003). Career counseling in the future: Constructing, collaborating, advocating. The Career Development Quarterly, 52(1), 61-69. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/219388419?accountid=27965