Bridging the Cultural Gap
Malgorzata G. Booth - 3/13/11
The Caravel Institute helps human service professionals develop cultural competence.
Like the Portuguese explorers who used caravel sailing ships in the 15th century for voyages of discovery, the Caravel Institute was established two years ago to help human services professionals discover ways to work more effectively within diverse communities.
In fact, the primary objective of the institute — started by Multicultural Human Services, a program in the Northern Virginia Family Service, a nonprofit, need-based family services provider headquartered in Falls Church, Va. — is to provide resources to social service providers, mental health professionals, school guidance counselors, law enforcement officials and family service providers based on the principles of cultural competence.
Providers serving diverse populations can access culturally sensitive training material and resources via an interactive knowledge center and use it to enhance their ability to connect with and serve the needs of patients from multicultural communities. Further, customized training and technical assistance allows these professionals to develop the organization-specific training interventions needed to address language barriers, develop greater cultural sensitivity and help avoid common pitfalls when working across cultural boundaries.
In addition to cultivating culturally sensitive relationships between participants and the diverse populations they serve, the institute’s instructors also challenge participants to become culture mentors by providing a forum for them to assess their own attitudes, knowledge and skills when working with foreign-born clients. The underlying objective is to maintain awareness of their own values and beliefs — and how these may impact their work behaviors — while being open and sensitive to cultural differences.
Navigating Cultural Divides
The face of communities in the U.S. has evolved quite dramatically over the past few decades. Further, more than half of immigrants and refugees come from countries with cultures almost entirely different from that of America. While their reasons for coming to the U.S. may vary — some are fleeing war and civil disruption; others are trying to escape poverty; and many of these individuals have experienced brutality, deprivation and separation from family — the common denominator is their desire to create a new life for themselves and their families.
The American way of life, however, is unfamiliar and can be overwhelming. For the inexperienced, systems and processes can be hard to navigate. Factors such as the demands of life in the U.S., the frequent inability to obtain credentials to work in an accustomed profession, the lack of support from extended family, and the psychological scars of the journey may affect their mental health, ability to assimilate and prospects for self-sufficiency.
Failure of acculturation can lead to marginalization from the workplace and even from society at large. This, in turn, negatively impacts the psyche of the individual and the family unit and can have repercussions for the overall community. Unlike American clients, in most cases involving foreign-born clients, new arrivals oftentimes don’t know how to use the human service system and may only have a basic notion of the roles that mental health and social services professionals can play in their care. For this reason, human service professionals, psychologists, social workers, school guidance counselors, law enforcement professionals and military family service providers who deal with immigrants and refugees are often unable to bridge the culture gap that exists between themselves and their clients.
In many cases, these professionals lack the cultural wherewithal to establish meaningful rapport with their diverse clientele. In fact, they may misunderstand the nature of their clients’ issues and concerns altogether. In order to be successful at what they do, human service professionals need to gain adequate insight into the refugee and immigrant experience.
The Caravel Institute equips these professionals with tools to help them move outside their comfort zones and use different approaches to connect with and serve multicultural populations, thereby bridging the cultural divides that may exist between themselves and their clients.
By using a robust training curriculum and a repository of online resources — as well as offering practical suggestions that can be implemented immediately — the institute seeks to provide insight into the respective psyches of multicultural populations. The curriculum, course work and resources offered by the Caravel Institute draw upon the experiences and actions of Northern Virginia Family Service as a community service resource dedicated to helping individuals and families find new paths to self-reliance. The goal is to create a more responsive system on a larger scale by building knowledge, awareness and skills at the individual level.
Through resources such as case studies, cultural self-awareness exercises and sharing real-life solutions, instructors try to augment the human service providers’ core skills with a cultural competency component.
The success of the institute’s training and resources is determined through pre- and post-training evaluations that assess expected outcomes, training effectiveness and mastery of the subject matter. Participants have reported gaining a deeper understanding of the discrimination faced by their clients from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds as well as the socioeconomic, religious and other factors that contribute to adjustment difficulties.
Seeking Suitable Solutions
The following solutions counter complex problems such as cultural barriers, language deficiencies and acculturation difficulties in multicultural service delivery in health, mental health and other human services settings.
E-learning: The Caravel Institute uses synchronous and asynchronous training methodologies. Classes are taught in an interactive webinar format in which participants from private practice, nonprofit agencies, school settings, health and mental health organizations and law enforcement agencies from all over the United States can discuss issues, ask questions and gain takeaways. Participants can attend various workshops and obtain tips sheets and guides to further assist them with the learning process.
Past classes are posted online and are available for purchase for those who may have missed the live event. Pre-recorded lessons and self-study materials also are made available so human services professionals have the option of studying when and where it’s most convenient for them.
In addition to the regular class schedule, the institute hosts Cultural Fridays, which offer a free introduction to its curriculum as well as all the materials provided on its website.
Online knowledge center: In addition to webinars and course work, educational vehicles include an online knowledge center to help human service professionals understand the issues and address the needs of multicultural populations. They are granted access to information on a range of culture-related concepts, including detailed information on specific ethnic communities, advice regarding interpreters, the reality of traumatic events and torture, and psychological traits. Learning materials are posted and updated on the website regularly.
Tip sheets: Quick reference guides or downloadable tip sheets authored by experts in the appropriate field of study are also available. These tip sheets are intended to serve as guides for those working with cultural minority populations and address specific diversity topics.
Message board: The ability to exchange experiences and unique knowledge is essential for human service professionals to stay current in their field of work. With this in mind, the Caravel Institute is establishing an online community message board where members will be able to share their knowledge and experiences garnered from dealing with minority cultures.
The impetus behind the message board is to complement the institute’s training curriculum with practical techniques, lessons learned and real-life experiences — with the idea that theoretical and academic exercises may not fully equip human service professionals with the knowledge and tools they need to be effective in their positions.
Instructors: Caravel Institute instructors are handpicked for their professional experience dealing with issues of cultural competency in academia as well as real-life counseling. Their areas of expertise include diversity issues, multiculturalism, acculturation, identity development, trauma, adjustment difficulties, child development and alternative therapy modalities.
Continuing education (CE) credit: CE credit is a sought-after feature for professionals looking to maintain their licenses and certifications, and the Caravel Institute intends to offer CE credit for training this year. A diversified portfolio of classes will be made available to individuals seeking continuing education credit, as well as tailored training programs for individual groups, organizations, agencies and companies.
Ultimately, the Caravel Institute’s educational programs and knowledge center were created to empower these professionals, and the agencies they represent, to reach beyond cultural and language barriers and acquire the tools to help minority clients deal with problems better.
Malgorzata G. Booth is the training development specialist for the Caravel Institute, a program affiliated with the Northern Virginia Family Service. She can be reached at editor@diversity-executive.com.
