Integration in Multicultural Competence and Diversity Training: Engaging Difference and Grace

Abstract

Multicultural competence and attention to diversity in clinical practice are professional ethical mandates and a natural expression of the Christian ethics of hospitality, compassion, and justice. The course Clinical Interventions: Diversity, is embedded in an integrative understanding of psychotherapy and psychology. Our teaching philosophy is that creating a cultural lens for viewing ourselves and our clients allows us to be both authentically present to the work that God wants to do in psychotherapy and counseling, as well as attentive to the person who God intends us to become. Three sets of topics are foundational to the task of teaching integration within multicultural competence and diversity training: (1) self and other, (2) power and justice, and (3) grace and reconciliation. We highlight key Biblical and theological constructs that undergird the journey of developing multicultural competence and suggest teaching strategies to engage students in this potentially challenging but formative process.