Fostering Cultural Humility and Respect in Counseling for Chinese Clients

This page includes a worksheet resource for counselors working with Chinese and Chinese American clients. This resource can help counselors challenge their preexisting biases and underlying assumptions surrounding Chinese people and culture. This resource acknowledges that culture is not static, and received wisdom about cultural attitudes and practices is neither universally applicable nor contextually relevant. This resource addresses the dichotomy of collectivism and individualism that influences discussion of Chinese psychology and culture, and how this dichotomy may represent a simplistic understanding of diaspora contexts. In addition to promoting cultural humility in the counseling space, this resource also provides suggested questions ask Chinese and Chinese American clients that acknowledge the realities of diaspora living.

This resource was inspired by the discussion of perceptions of Chinese American attitudes towards emotional disclosure in the counseling space, and how much of those attitudes can be attributed to broader cultural values, in the article “Emotion focused therapy and Chinese American clients: An exploration using the cultural lens approach.”, first published in the International Journal of Systemic Therapy in July 2023.

Steven Wu

3/13/26

REFERENCE

Franz, D., Caffery, C., Cheng, Y., Hua, E., Capron, C. G., Allmendinger, A., & Chronister, K. (2023). Emotion Focused Therapy and Chinese American Clients: An Exploration Using the Cultural Lens Approach. International Journal of Systemic Therapy., 34(3), 141–164. https://doi.org/10.1080/2692398X.2023.2183018