Mohammad Ahmad Assad Skills needed in multicultural counselling - As viewed by multicultural counsellors Thesis Spring 2012 School of Health Care and Social Work Master of Social Services 1 SEINÄJOKI UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES Thesis Abstract Faculty: School of Health Care and Social Work Degree programme: Master’s Degree Programme in Social Services Author/s: Mohammad Ahmad Assad Title of thesis: Skills needed in multicultural counselling - As viewed by multicultural counsellors Supervisor/s: Dr. Minna Zechner Year: 2012 Pages: 71 Number of appendices: 4 Multicultural counselling refers to supporting and helping activities where the counsellor and client are different from each other in terms of ethnicity and culture. The purpose of the study is to explore and describe the skills needed in multicultural counselling as viewed by multicultural counsellors. The study method was qualitative research with phenomenological approach. Phenomenological approach seeks to explore, describe and analyze the meaning of individuals´ lives experience; how they perceive it, describe it, feel about it, make sense of it and talk about it with others. The data were collected through individual, face-to-face, semi structured interviews. The interviewees were nine multicultural counsellors working in different multicultural counselling centres in different cities, with at least three years of multicultural counselling experience. Interviewees were three native Finns and six Finns with immigrant backgrounds who have lived in Finland for a long time and have been long time in Finnish working life. The interviews were carried in Finnish language and the obtained data was then translated into English Qualitative inductive content analysis method was used to interpret the data. Three themes and several sub-categories relating to the study were drawn. These themes included cultural competences, cultural sensitivities, and developmental challenges. The findings showed various developmental challenges in multicultural counselling such as personal development, co-operation with other organizations, and usage of interpreters. The findings of the study have highlighted a number of important skills necessary in multicultural counselling. In order to further develop these skills, it is important to share, implement, and evaluate these findings. SEINÄJOEN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULU Keywords: Multicultural counselling, Immigrants, client-encounter 2 Opinnäytetyön tiivistelmä Koulutusyksikkö: Sosiaali- ja terveysalan yksikkö Koulutusohjelma: Sosiaalialan koulutusohjelma, ylempi ammattikorkeakoulututkinto Tekijä(t): Mohammad Ahmad Assad Työn nimi: Vaadittavat taidot monikulttuurisessa neuvontatyössä, monikulttuuristen neuvoajajien näkökulmasta Ohjaaja(t): YTT Minna Zechner Vuosi: 2012 Sivumäärä: 71 Liitteiden lukumäärä: 4 Käsitteellä monikulttuurinen neuvontatyö viitataan sellaiseen tukemisen ja auttamisen toimintoihin, joissa neuvoja ja asiakas eroavat toisistaan etnisyyden ja kulttuurin kannalta. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on kartoittaa ja kuvata vaadittavaa osaamista monikulttuurisessa neuvontatyössä, monikulttuurisen neuvonantajien näkökulmista. Tämä tutkimus perustuu laadulliseen fenomenologiseen tutkimustapaan. Fenomenologinen lähestymistapa pyrkii tutkimaan, kuvaamaan ja analysoimaan yksilöiden kokemusta; miten he ymmärtävät sen, kuvaavat sen, tuntevat sen, järkevät siitä, ja puhuvat siitä muiden kanssa. Aineistonkeruumenetelmänä oli puolistrukturoidut, kasvokkain tehdyt yksilöhaastattelut. Haastateltaviksi valittiin yhdeksän monikulttuurista neuvojaa, jotka työskentelevät ympäri Suomea erityyppisissä monikulttuurisissa neuvontapisteissä ja heillä on vähintään kolmen vuoden kokemus työstään. Haastateltavista kolme oli suomalaista ja kuusi oli ulkomaalaistaustasuomalaisia. jotka olivat asuneet pitkään Suomessa ja ovat olleet pitkään suomalaisessa työelämässä. Haastattelut suoritettiin pääosin suomen kielellä ja niistä saatu tieto on sitten käännetty englanniksi. Aineisto analysoitiin laadullista induktiivista sisällönanalyysimenetelmää käyttäen. Teoreettisena viitekehyksenä on monikulttuurinen neuvontatyö ja siihen liittyvä osaaminen. Tutkimuksessa nousi esille kolme pääteemaa sekä useita ala-kategorioita. Nämä pääteemat sisälsivät kulttuurista osaamista, kulttuurista sensitiivisyyttä ja kehittämishaasteita. Kehittämishaasteet monikulttuurisessa neuvontatyössä ovat oma ammatillinen kehittyminen, yhteistyö eri järjestöjen kanssa ja tulkin käyttö. Tutkimuksen tulokset ovat tuoneet esiin useita tärkeitä asioita, jotka ovat välttämättömiä monikulttuurisessa neuvontatyössä. Jotta voitaisiin edelleen kehittää näitä tarvittavia taitoja, on tärkeää jakaa, soveltaa käytäntöön ja arvioida niitä. Avainsanat: Monikulttuurinen neuvonta, maahanmuuttajat ja asiakas- kohtaaminen 3 Acknowledgement Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Dr. Minna Zechner for the continuous support of this research, for here patience, motivation, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge. Her guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis. Besides my advisor, I would like to thank the rest of my instructors: Dr. Timo Toikko, and Dr. Arja Hemminki. My sincere thanks also go to all students of group Ysosko10, who showed friendship and respect during the time I have spent with them. My thanks go to my employer Espoo city, who paid me the expenditures caused by the study. Last but not the least; I would like to thank my wife and my kids for the patience and support they have showed during the last two years. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Thesis Abstract.................................................................................... 1 Opinnäytetyön tiivistelmä ..................................................................... 2 Acknowledgement ............................................................................... 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................... 4 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 6 2 IMMIGRANTS IN FINLAND ............................................................ 9 2.1 Immigrants in Finland .................................................................................. 9 2.2 Culture and ethnicity ................................................................................. 12 2.3 Multiculturalism ......................................................................................... 13 2.4 Integration policy in Finland ...................................................................... 15 3 MULTICULTURAL COUNSELLING .............................................. 19 3.1 Definition of multicultural counselling ........................................................ 19 3.2 History of multicultural counselling ............................................................ 20 3.3 Theoretical background of multicultural counselling .................................. 21 3.4 Multicultural counselling competence ........................................................ 22 3.5 Multicultural counselling versus therapy .................................................... 26 3.6 Multicultural counselling in Europe ............................................................ 27 3.7 Multicultural counselling in Finland ............................................................ 27 4 DESIGN AND CONDUCT OF THE STUDY .................................. 30 4.1 Purpose of the study and research questions ........................................... 30 4.2 Methodology ............................................................................................. 30 4.3 Sampling procedure .................................................................................. 32 4.4 Interviewees and interviews ...................................................................... 33 4.5 Data analysis............................................................................................. 35 5 ETHICALITY AND TRUSTWORTHINESS .................................... 38 5.1 Ethical considerations ............................................................................... 38 5.2 Trustworthiness ......................................................................................... 39 6 FINDINGS ..................................................................................... 42 6.1 Cultural competences ............................................................................... 43 6.1.1 Cultural Skills .................................................................................. 43 5 6.1.2 Multicultural counsellor´s self awareness ........................................ 43 6.1.3 Intercultural communication ............................................................ 45 6.2 Cultural sensitivities .................................................................................. 46 6.2.1 Relationship .................................................................................... 46 6.2.2 Trust ................................................................................................ 48 6.2.3 Respect ........................................................................................... 48 6.2.4 Acceptance and empathy................................................................ 49 6.3 Developmental issues ............................................................................... 50 6.3.1 Personal development .................................................................... 50 6.3.2 Co-operation with other professionals ............................................. 51 6.3.3 Usage of interpreters ...................................................................... 51 7 DISCUSSIONS ............................................................................. 53 7.1 Discussion of the findings ......................................................................... 53 7.2 Recommendations .................................................................................... 59 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................ 61 FIGURES AND TABLES ................................................................... 65 APPENDICES ................................................................................... 66 6 1 INTRODUCTION Finland was known during history as a country of immigration, there are estimated 1, 3 million Finns living abroad in 2011. In the 1980s, Finland has started receiving migrants and Finnish returnees (Trux 2000, 150). Relative rapid immigrant population growth has led to the fact that in any practice, such as social care, health care and education one may face immigrant clients. Dealing with immigrant clients requires a greater understanding of and sensitivity to norms and values not necessary prevalent in professionals´ own culture. Multicultural counsellors typically focus on issues such as residence permits, citizenship, Finnish social security, health services, housing, Finnish language, professional teaching, work and hobby opportunities. In addition, they mediate between the client and the system and give authorities info about immigrants and immigration. Previous researches have shown that culturally competent counsellors are required to have knowledge of minority clients’ life styles, coping behaviours, and family interaction (Cayleff 1986, 345), to have a knowledge of different cultures, beliefs, attitudes, values and behaviours (Ponterotto 2001, Sodowsky et al 1994), to be aware of their own prejudices and biases (Arthur, 1998), to be able to recognise and recover from cultural mistakes (Sodowsky, Kuo- Jackson & Loya 1997), to understand the family roles within various cultures (Fitzgerald, Mullavey- O’Brien & Clemson 1997), to be able to communicate with other cultures (Sue, Arredondo & McDavis 1992) and to be aware of the cultural limitations of testing instruments (Prediger 1994). Multicultural counsellors are usually immigrants who have lived long enough in Finland and have thus gained a lot of knowledge about the Finnish society and the system. Those counsellors often have many language skills and they have received general training related to various authorities and social practices. The aim of the study is to find out the skills needed in in multicultural counselling as viewed by multicultural counsellors working in Finland. The study method is qualitative research with phenomenological approach. The data were collected through individual, face-to-face, semi structured interviews. The participants were nine multicultural counsellors working in different multicultural counselling centres 7 in different cities, with at least three years of multicultural counselling experience. Qualitative inductive content analysis method was used to interpret the data. The findings of the study have highlighted a number of important skills necessary in multicultural counselling. These skills include cultural competences and cultural sensitivities The importances of addressing multicultural issues in counselling are highlighted in the multicultural counselling competencies (Sue, Arredondo, & McDavis 1992). The multicultural counselling competencies stress the need for professional counsellors to seek awareness of their own assumptions and biases, to understand the worldviews of culturally different clients, and to develop appropriate intervention strategies for working with culturally diverse clients. Multicultural counselling is considered as an important tool in supporting the integration of immigrants in Finland and it reflects the traditional Finnish values and culture by which services are adapted to respond to cultural differences in such a way that people from other cultures can feel that they are noted and respected as people of their own culture of origin. This has been recognized in the 1990s, when developing multicultural counselling aspects was started. Multicultural counselling´s basic starting point is taking into account the differences and stands between both the client and the counsellor (Launikari & Puukari 2005, 27). According to Geertz (1983), becoming a multicultural counsellor does not only mean gaining more knowledge of other cultures, but even more it means understanding the complex processes through which people become members of communities and societies and construct their worldviews, basic attitudes, values, norms, etc. I have been working for Espoo city for the last 11 years, mainly counselling people moving to Espoo from abroad on issues such as residence permits, citizenship and Finnish social security. In addition, typical counselling issues include health services, housing, Finnish language and other professional teaching, work and hobby opportunities. A personal interest in the research topic has arisen from my own work experience. Research interest is of great significance, related to my professional development. 8 The growth of immigrant population has brought with it new kinds of challenges such as housing, schooling, language barriers, and ways to find suitable jobs. As a counsellor, I can say that, we counsellors have to deal with the new challenges and ought to find solutions for them. Often, there there are uncertainties and difficulties, which are certainly, due to the fact that multicultural counselling is a challenging task and requires sufficient skills to satisfy multicultural encounters. I had discussed with many counsellors in various multicultural centres and workshops topics associated with immigrant clients. Discussions included issues such as how to make an immigrant client understands the way the Finnish system works, how to cope with cultural differences, and how to build openness and trust between counsellor and immigrant client. 9 2 IMMIGRANTS IN FINLAND 2.1 Immigrants in Finland Finland used to be a country of emigration. From 1800 until the end of 1970, over a million people have moved from Finland to foreign countries mainly to, the United States, Canada and Sweden. In the 1980s, Finland has started receiving greater numbers of immigrants. The majority of immigrants who have moved to Finland are migrants and returnees from its neighbouring countries Sweden, Russia and Estonia. Some immigrants come to Finland because of work or studying. There are also a growing numbers of international adoptions and marriages between Finns and foreigners. Asylum seekers and refugees from distant countries have been the minority immigration groups in Finland. At the end of 2011, the number of Finnish citizens permanently resident in Finland was 5,218,134, of whom 101,306 had been born abroad. Foreign citizens resident in Finland numbered 183,133, or 3.4 per cent of the population. There are now 31 different foreign-language groups with at least 1,000 speakers in Finland (Population Structure 2011, Statistics Finland). Figure 1. Number Country of birth, citizenship and mother tongue of the population 31.12.2011 (Population Structure 2011, Statistics Finland)