Cultural Competency Training Essay

Appleby, G A., & Anastas, J.W. (1998). Not just a passing phase: Social work with gay, lesbian and bisexual people (pp. 3–43, 44-75). New York: Columbia University Press.

Department of Health and Human Service (2003), stating that cultural competency is “the ability to provide services to clients that honor different cultural beliefs, interpersonal styles, attitudes and behaviors and the use of multi-cultural staff in the policy development, administration and provision of those services.” According to the National Associations of Social Workers’ (2008) code of ethics, competency is important for understanding clients and their needs. Cultural competence differs from cultural humility in that it solely provides educational information regarding diverse populations in attempts to provide quality services. Culturally humility is a philosophy that includes components of cultural competence, but also involves analyzing ones self-awareness and biases. It includes life long learning surrounding issues of cultural diversity. Cultural humility is what is strived for but for the purpose of this analysis it will focus on cultural competence as a means of educating individuals on LGBT issues in later

Cultural competence as it pertains to counseling is a vital skill to possess in today’s ever-changing society. Counseling is a high demand profession which involves interaction with person from all walks of life and all types of backgrounds. As we become more sensitive to cultural diversity around us, we must make an effort to understand those who are different from us. The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender or LGBT community has come to the forefront of our social consciousness with much media attention given to the issue of marriage equality in many states.

In the field of human services, “cultural competency” has become a common buzz meant to address in part the . The intention being, that workers are able to achieve some level of knowledge and training that prepares them to work with

The progress I have made on building cultural competence is I met this guy while I was at work, and he was telling about how his insurance won’t be able to cover for his visit to campus health. I suggested to him that maybe he change health care providers to someone who can possibly help cover more things than the one he has now. Also in one of my public health classes one of my teachers is having a luncheon with people who have HIV and I know if I go to the event I can get a better insight on what they are dealing with and find out ways to help them, since the luncheon is ran by an organization that helps people who live with HIV, or I could just give them support

"Cultural competence is defined as a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among professionals and enables that system, agency, or those professionals to work effectively in cross cultural situations (Cross et al., 1989; Issacs & Benjamin, 1991). Operationally defined, cultural competence is the integration and transformation of knowledge about individuals and groups of people into specific standard, policies, practices, and attitudes, used in appropriate cultural settings to increase the

Both articles were very informative and provided information about how agencies need to change in order to become culturally competent. The agency I intern with this year is the Toms River Regional School District, specifically High School East, in that respect, my agency is very different than those in the two articles reviewed. Some of the core issues are the same when it comes to needed to learn cultural competency in terms of race and sexual orientation specifically. I have seen a similar issue in my agency needing to address cultural competency. Toms River School District is not very culturally diverse, in the sense that the staff and students lack ethnic diversity, but there are students and staff who are part of the LGBT community. Slowly,

The researchers explained that LGBT community faces stress because of the negative experience they receive to obtain services such as day care, homecare and care giving services. Researchers found that “long-term-care residents and staff, 89 percent of respondents believed that staff would discriminate against an LGBT resident and 53 percent believed that staff would abuse or neglect a resident because the resident identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender” (Moone, Croghan, and Olson, 2016). The researchers found that key factors to work with the LBGT population specifically the elder population are to become more welcoming to the population. Also the practitioner must become knowledgeable about the LGBT culture. Moone, Croghan and Olson states, “Building knowledge is an important first step in understanding the unique needs of LGBT older adults in order to provide person-centered and culturally competent care and services. Training allows the practitioner an opportunity to explore basic experiences of and beliefs held in the LGBT community, as well as to trace historical precedents that led to LGBT older adults’ fears of mistreatment by service providers”(2016, p74). The researcher suggests that providers should acknowledge the LGBT elders in paper work and policies. Moone, Croghan and Olson states, “Include LGBT topics or clients in newsletters, Offer LGBT-related resources to clients or families, Update assessment forms to include LGBT welcoming language, Post non-discrimination policies that specifically include sexual orientation and gender identity, Provide sensitivity training on LGBT aging to staff, volunteers, and leadership, Advertise in LGBT periodicals or publications ,Include LGBT people in marketing material, Develop LGBT-specific materials from your

Cultural Competence is a complicated assimilation of education, beliefs, and experiences which would strengthen communication and efficient interaction cross-culturally. However, culture is defined as one way of life. It is not defined by race, language, food, religion, and ethics. With a job that involves constant involvement or entanglement with different culture, it is important for cultural competence. To be cultural competent is the ability to know one difference but still understands, respect, and safeguard the individual right to self-confidence, self- interpretation and status. Nevertheless, working with people of different cultural diversity might be difficult especially it differs from our own core culture. Therefore to prevent bias

Sexual and social stigmas largely affect the health of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) population. While many reports from the Institute of Medicine, Healthy People 2020 and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality recognize a need to improve the quality of health care, barriers still remain. LGBT patients face legal discrimination, especially with insurance, a lack of social programs, and limited access to providers competent in LGBT health care. Although the Affordable Care Act increased access to care for LGBT patients, unless these patients feel understood by providers and develop trust in the system, they are not likely to utilize care. Healthcare providers need to recognize how these vulnerabilities, as well as persistent racism and stigma linked to sexual orientation and gender identity, make the healthcare needs of LGBT patients more challenging than the general population. Healthcare providers also need to promote cultural competence within this population and broaden their clinical lens to include health promotion, in addition to addressing concerns mentioned above within the population. Additionally, medical and nursing schools need to ensure that future providers are adequately educated by including information about this population in the curriculum.

Today’s management in the workforce is composed of all types of people verses thirty years ago when white males held a majority of upper-management positions in companies. These positions are now held by a mixture of ethnic back grounds and women who hold just as many if not more management positions then men. Just by looking at the changes in management demographics shows how important it is for people to understand cultural competency in the workplace. Dr. Roosevelt Thomas Jr. (1999) stated, “Diversity is the collective mixture of whomever we have in our workforce characterized by their differences and similarities” (p.11). Managers and supervisors must understand the characteristics of a diversity mature individual; they also need to be

Aging carefully and contentedly is an absolutely big priority for seniors. Numberless of seniors seek a long-term care (LTC) facility, where they can grow old and be taken good care of. Seniors require a place where they can feel comfortable and feel like they are at home. However, what happens when at least half of the seniors in the United States who are seeking for a LTC facility are LGBT? There are barely LTC facilities where LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) seniors are accepted or supported. Almost all LTC facilities do not feel comfortable having LGBT seniors as residents in their facilities. Most LGBT seniors do not really have family members that could take care of them or accept them. As years and years pass and the LGBT community keep growing, there is a higher need for safe and friendly LTC facilities that accept LGBT seniors in the United States.

Nurses becoming more socially aware of LGBT elderly individuals can greatly affect the quality of life of the entire LGBT population. When discussing about LGBT individual, most people don’t consider the elderly population. A lot will focus on LGBT youth and not a lot on the older individuals who have paved the road for LGBT youth to experience a better quality of life than they did. It’s unfortunate that the elderly population is forgotten about in general and in LGBT circles. According to the article “Adding silver to the rainbow: the development of the nurses ' health education about LGBT elders (HEALE) cultural competency curriculum” found that: “One of the most common medical risks for LGBTQ persons is the avoidance of routine health

Throughout the assessment of multiple options for LGBTQI+ programs, a range of protective factors in terms of Indigenous LGBTQI+ emotional and psychological wellbeing were discovered. These protective factors nurture positive social and emotional wellbeing and promote positive mental health amongst those who identify as Indigenous LGBTQI+ (See figure four).

This paper relates to many of the core competencies of this course. One core competency is “2.1.4 Engage diversity and difference in practice”. This paper will look at LGBT individual’s life experiences and how their intersections of identities such as how being LGBT and an older adult can be oppressing and marginalizing. Other core competencies that this paper relates to include “2.1.5 Advance human rights and social and economic justice”, “2.1.7 Apply knowledge of human behavior and the social