Where are we heading

At APS we continue to recognise the journey we are on towards complete proficiency and that our competency and proficiency within different cultural areas will differ depending on the changing intake from the community.  It is important to reflect regularly on where individuals and teams feel they are within their cultural understandings: 

Cultural blindness

Discomfort in noting difference; beliefs / actions that assume world is fair and achievement is based on merit; we treat everyone the same: this approach ignores cultural strengths. The belief that methods used by the dominant culture are universally applicable can lead to implicit or explicit exclusion of ethnic minority communities

Cultural pre-competence

Delegate diversity work to others, e.g. cultural programs asked to be lead by those of that background; quick fix, packaged short-term programs; a false sense of accomplishment; inconsistent policies and practices; practitioners are sensitive to minority issues but these are not an organisational priority

Cultural competence

Advocacy: on-going education of self and others; support, modeling, and risk-taking behaviors; a vision that reflects multiculturalism, values diversity and views it as an asset: evidence of continuing attempts to accommodate cultural change; careful attention to the dynamics of difference, realising that equal access is not equal treatment.

Cultural proficiency

Interdependence; personal change and transformation; alliance for groups other than one’s own; adding to knowledge-base by conducting research; developing new therapeutic approaches based on cultural considerations; follow-through social responsibility to fight social discrimination and advocate for social diversity.