Foster Care Training

Training Summary: How can I ever become “competent” in a culture that is not my own? Cultural competency training was the focus of many providers who were serving an increasingly diverse population of systems-impacted youth and families, with the idea that if they could become more culturally sensitive or competent, that they could provide better care for their patients, clients, and youth. While the intention was a good one, the dynamic it often set up was that they were still the expert, the client was “the other,” and ultimately that the providers knew better than the clients and what the clients’ experience was, and needs were. Cultural humility is a process of self-reflection and discovery to understand oneself and then others in order to build honest and trustworthy relationships (Tervalon & Murray-Garcia, 1998). This training introduces participants to the practice of cultural humility, challenging oneself to suspend what you know, or what you think you know, about a person based on generalizations about their culture. Through a process of self-reflection, identifying our different locations of identity, which parts have been historically excluded and which parts of our identity have been historically included, participants will become critically conscious of their own cultural upbringing and perspective, which could lead to bias. With an objective of building honest and trustworthy relationships with clients, this training offers participants the opportunity to do self-reflective inquiry. Class Objectives: (what knowledge, ideas or skills will participants explore, learn, practice, etc during the training) 1. Critically analyze 3-5 ways in which personal identity has been shaped by our own cultural upbringing and perspective and how it has influenced our behaviors when working with clients and colleagues 2. Identify and be able to describe 3-4 examples of potential influence of power, privilege and oppression on relationships with clients and colleagues 3. Practice respectful and curious inquiry about individual and community points of view, values and life experiences, holding the stance of “listen as if the speaker is wise” Participants will be able to: 1. Articulate 2-3 differences between Cultural Competency and Cultural Humility and describe the movement from one towards the other 2. Practice the Cultural Humility principle of “client as expert” when serving individuals and communities
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