Mentoring Beyond Homophobia: Reauthoring for Cultural Competence

Abstract

Using the narrative paradigm for teaching about cultural competence in the context of prejudice, this paper presents a conceptual framework for helping students reach beyond homophobia and heterosexist bias to integrate the ethics of the profession into their practices with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender populations. Drawing from the theoretical writings of Michael White's narrative approach to therapeutic practice, the model organizes around the constructs of mentorship, story deconstruction, and "reauthoring." Designed to reach out to undergraduate students through examining prejudice (homophobia) and the concept of privilege as a derivative of power (heterosexism), this pedagogical approach uses the structures of dialogue in the form of a reauthoring journal and parallel self-examination as the tools for mentorship.