Multicultural Competencies in Counselling

How MCCs can be applied to more effectively supporting Autistic people

Overcoming barriers to culturally competent practice 

As I’ve mentioned previously, I am currently studying cultural competencies in counselling.

As I’ve been reading, I’ve seen more and more parallels between the barriers to culturally competent counselling and the challenges which arise in providing effective and appropriate support for Autistics in the helping professions.

Having identified some of these in my previous articles, and described the relationships between these two issues, I will now outline how we can apply the Multicultural Counselling Competencies (MCCs) to professionals who provide support to Autistics.

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The Multicultural Counselling Competencies address five main requirements:

1. Awareness of one’s own and of clients’ cultural heritage and the influence of culture on attitudes, beliefs and experiences

2. Willingness to learn from clients and their families

3. Knowledge about different cultures and cultural perspectives

4. Awareness of systemic barriers faced by neurodivergent (ND) clients and families

5. Skills to utilize culturally appropriate approaches

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First, to clarify some terms and concepts

Cultural competence is defined as the awareness, knowledge, and skills that allow you to work individually and systemically in an effective way that is culturally congruent with the populations which one is serving.

Culturally congruent practice is the provision of evidence-based supports which are in agreement with—and respectful of—the cultural values, beliefs, worldview, and practices of the individual one is supporting.

One definition of culture is the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people. A definition of shared cultural experience is shared language, values, norms, traditions, pastimes, customs, beliefs, and conventions which allow people to identify with one another.

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Steps for Overcoming Barriers to Culturally Competent Practice 

The textbook from which I am studying outlines four steps to overcoming barriers to culturally competent practice. These align very well with the MCCs listed above. They are:

1. Controlling the tendency to stereotype;

2. Respecting diversity and individual differences;

3. Learning from clients; and

4. Practitioner self-awareness

I will discuss the first two here, and the second two in my next piece.

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