Objectives

Addiction and mental health professionals will improve their understanding of:

• American Indian and Alaska Native behavioral health.
• The importance of cultural awareness, cultural identity, and culture-specific knowledge when working with clients from diverse American Indian and Alaska Native communities.
• The role of native culture in health beliefs, help-seeking behavior, and healing practices.
• Prevention and treatment interventions based on culturally adapted, evidence-based best practices.
• Methods for achieving program-level cultural responsiveness, such as incorporating American Indian and Alaska Native beliefs and heritage in program design, environment, and staff development.

• Define social justice
• Explore the goals of social justice education to include
  • Identity
  • Diversity
  • Justice
  • Action

Objectives:

• Explore issues related to the counseling relationships with people who are culturally different
• Identify approaches to use with culturally diverse clients

• Explain why it is important to understand various sexual practices including kink, polyamory and asexuality
  Define different types of sexual practices that clinicians may encounter
  Explain the DSM V’s stance on kink and other practices
  Describe the mental health impact of kink on participants
  
• Define Kink
  Learn about the breadth of kink including but not limited to BDSM activities
  Learn about the prevalence of kink
  Identify ways that a kink-aware therapist can modify assessment paperwork to be more inclusive
  Learn about the PLISST model for treatment
  Explore the application of the Johari window
  Review the “Kink Aware Pledge”
• Review the benefits of BDSM
  Explore the prevalence of BDSM
  Learn about BDSM relationship structures
  Identify possible areas of physical and psychological injury that therapists need to be aware of
  Dispel some common BDSM myths
  Identify danger signs of abuse in BDSM
  Explore the concept of consent and the impact of mental illness on the ability to consent
• Explore different structures of Dom/sub relationships including:
  Master/slave (TPE)
  Daddy (Mommy)/little
  Female Led Relationships
  Identify reasons for engaging in this type of relationship
  Review signs of abuse
• Explore the difference between polyamory and open relationships
  Learn some of the reasons people may choose polyamory
  Explore the prevalence of polyamory
  Explore some of the many polyamorous relationship structures
  

Objectives:

• Review the literature related to diverse sexual practices and perception of pathology (including the DSM V)
• Explore the prevalence of sexual diversity
• Review issues experienced by people who are sexually diverse in public and with medical, spiritual and mental health practitioners
• Highlight why embracing diversity is imperative to providing trauma informed, culturally responsive care.
• Define kink in general
• Learn about the 5 stages of kink identity development
• Identify benefits of kink (empowerment, communication, self-exploration)
• The importance of consent
• Review the differences between abuse and kink
• Learn about bondage, discipline, sadistic and masochistic practices in general
• Personality traits of BDSM practitioners
• Understanding subspace
• The importance of aftercare
  
• Types of Dominant/submissive relationships dominant/submissive, master/slave, owner/pet, Daddy/little, Female Led Relationships
• Bedroom vs. Lifestyle relationships
  
• Define asexuality, polyamory and open relationships
• Learn about the prevalence of each
• Explore the research related to effects of the practice of each on mental health

Based in part on the Counselor Toolbox Podcast Series on Human Sexuality, Kink and Polyamory

Improving Cultural Competence Tip 59

Course Hours: 15

Instructor: Dawn-Elise Snipes PhD

Based in Part on Counselor Toolbox Episodes 142-144

Text: Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series, No. 59
Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (US).Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US); 2014.

Objectives:

• Introduction to Cultural Competence
• Core Competencies for Counselors and Other Clinical Staff
• Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Treatment Planning
• Pursuing Organizational Cultural Competence
• Behavioral Health Treatment for Major Racial and Ethnic Groups
• Drug Cultures and the Culture of Recovery

• Learn about the reasons for adopting a multicultural perspective.
• Identify cultural differences in coping skills and the expression of mental health issues.
• Identify the ways cultural influences impact mental illness.
• Identify unique issues for American Indians
• Identify unique issues for Black and African Americans

Objectives

• Review the 20 guidelines set forth by the American Psychological Association for practice with gay, lesbian and bisexual clients
• Review the VISTAS report on the RESPECTFUL model of multicultural counseling and how to apply it to working with multicultural populations
  

• Explore multicultural and pluralistic trends; social or cultural issues affecting individuals, couples and families
• Examine the influence of culture and society on mental health
• Discuss issues in mental health care for African Americans, American Indians, Alaskan Natives, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Hispanic Americans
• Explore Ethics Codes in Multicultural Counseling
• Examine Cultural Values and Assumptions in Therapy
• Discuss matching Client and Counselor
• Understanding the competencies needed to work with special populations.

Objectives

• Identify treatment needs unique to women
• Discuss individual, structural and systemic barriers to treatment engagement and retention
• Explore medical conditions more commonly diagnosed in women, and their relationship to mental health and addictive disorders.