Teaching culture-specific counseling using microtraining technology

Abstract

Counseling theory tends to be White, Western and male in origin and orientation. Culture-specific counseling is proposed as an alternative to cross-cultural and multicultural approaches. In the culture-specific approach, we start with the culture and its peoples and search out natural helping styles. Rather than transforming Western theory to ‘fit’ a new culture, the effort is to focus on the specifics and needs of that culture. This preliminary study applies anthropological constructs and the methods of microtraining seeking to discover a more culturally sensitive approach to conceptualization of counseling theory, training in counseling skills and knowledge, and in the use of evaluative research techniques. This paper presents the concepts of culture-specific counseling with a case example from the African-Igbo culture.