Human Services Reflection

In the field of Human Services it is important to become comfortable when you are working with clients that are culturally different than yourself. The agency I am working at IDEA there clientele base provides a wide range of diversity. Although I am mainly at the Brighton location, once a month I do hours in the Denver office. The majority of client’s I deal with at the agency are Mexican American; African American and European (White), Asian and a few clients that represent the LGBT community. My experience so far has been positive; the majority of clients are polite and receptive about receiving treatment. The clients I am working with are court ordered so occasionally we do have the disgruntled and not so receptive ones. Although I do not speak Spanish fluently I do know some basic words which are helpful at times. Another thing that is helpful is the agency has staff members that are bilingual. Most of the face to face contact that I have with the clients is when I am co-facilitating groups. The groups that I am in are English but the client’s race varies but they all speak English. There are a couple Spanish speaking groups on Fridays in which I do not currently sit in on but the therapist has welcomed me to attend them. One of the things that I have noticed with some of the younger Mexican American clients that attend the groups I co-facilitate are rather quite. I think it more of an age issue that a culture issue because I notice this mostly in the clients that are in their early to mid-twenties. The older Mexican American clients are engaged in conversation and participate in the group. All of the bilingual Mexican American clients are asked during the intake process if they prefer a Spanish speaking group or English so they have their choice of which group they are assigned. The interaction that I am having with the client’s at the agency regardless of our cultural differences has been positive. Now and then if Jose takes a break prior to me being in a group or if I am in between groups I will cover for him by monitoring UA’s if I am needed. This is when I notice the most hesitances with clients, not that they refuse to do their UA but the Mexican American clients would ask what happened to the other guy (Jose). I think I have been there long enough now that all of the clients whether they are in the groups I co-facilitate or not are becoming comfortable with me being there. The more interaction I am having with clients regardless of our cultures the trust and therapeutic relationship between the clients and me is building. The clients are becoming more comfortable with me asking for my assistance and suggestions becoming more of a therapeutic relationship than just being looked at as an intern. It is a good feeling when clients trust and respect my suggestions, seeing that I am there to be of assistance to them in the best way that I can. At certain times everyone needs a little assistance in our lives so …show more content…
All of the therapists at the agency have welcomed me into their groups and are supportive of my participation and interaction with the clients. Whenever I have questions all the therapists are happy to give me suggestions and feedback on how I can improve on the techniques we use. All of the staff at the agency regardless of our differences whether it is our culture, age, or our experience in the field we all treat each other with the utmost respect and professionalism. There is only 1 therapist that I do a group with that does not already have Master’s degree, Doctorate, or a CAC III and they are still seeking training in other areas in this field. This show me that no matter what our level of education or the certifications we hold, in this field there is always room to expand our skills. At IDEA the demographics of all the therapist and staff are well covered. There is a good mixture of representation of male and female therapist as well. Therefore if there are clients that are not a good fit with one therapist culturally or do to their sexual makeup there is another therapist that is sure to suite them