“What to Look for in a Culturally Competent Clinician”
by Toriann Clarke, MA, LPC, NCC
Though brave, the act of seeking out counseling as a cultural minority can be a challenging experience to navigate. There can be many aspects to consider when trying to find a clinician: location, availability, sex/gender, or area of specialty. When you belong to a minority group, there may be more considerations when looking for a clinician. Will they have experience working with someone from my faith? Should I find someone who shares my racial or ethnic background? Can I safely share with someone who is of a different sexual orientation?
There are two important questions new clients should be considering for a culturally competent clinician: (1) Can they empathize with my unique experience, and (2) If they are uninformed on a certain demographic, are they willing to listen and learn? There is something to be said about having a clinician who has had very similar, lived experiences. It takes a lot of the guesswork out of navigating the challenging topics that may arise due to cultural differences and the ability to potentially explain less and be understood. Perhaps in an ideal world, a client can easily find a clinician who has a similar family dynamic, communication style, racial/ethnic background, religious background, socioeconomic status, gender identity, sexual orientation, political beliefs, level of education, and physical ability. However, it is unlikely that the clinician assigned to you will be able to check all of the boxes in your criteria. It is also possible to have a clinician who appears to have had very similar, lived experiences, only to find that they may differ in other ways.
When you first meet with your new clinician, it might be helpful (if you feel comfortable enough to do so) to address some of the major topics that are of concern due to potential differences. It can go like this: “There have been a few experiences in my past that I think have really shaped who I am regarding ___________. At some point in time, I would hope for this to be a safe space for me to share about these things and how they relate to my overall life experiences”. Or something along the lines of: “I identify as _______________ and this is going to be a theme that is ever present in our work together”.
The way that empathy works is that it does not require the person listening to have had the same lived experiences, but to be able to understand the overall themes and resonate with those feelings the client is sharing. When you bring up areas of your culture from the first to the fifteenth session, how did your clinician respond? Did it come from a place of empathy? Were they willing to ask questions and understand anything that may have been foreign to them? What’s most important is that you are comfortable with the way in which they responded.
The goal of finding a culturally competent clinician is to feel seen, to feel heard, and to be validated about your experiences, and a culturally competent clinician (regardless of their background) can do all those things.
