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From: Jo Kitchen
Date: 16 Oct 2010
Time: 18:19:28 -0500
Remote Name: 94.193.215.139
The area of 'cultural issues' is a varied and fascinating one!! I work in a UK city with a large biligual population, predominantly south asian. In my experience I have usually found that cultural differences have not had a negative effect on the therapeutic relationship. As noted in other posts above people come to us for help, usually coming to a shared understanding of what the problme is and what the client expects from the outset irons out any potential problems. I ahve encountered some challenges working with families where praise and/or play are not the norm. This means work with young children particulary indirect approaches may take more time. One of the other challenges in working with children can be different members of extended family bringing children to appointments each time. I have never encountered anyone who reported to only stammer in one language however I get varied reports of how this presents, for some it is the stronger language which is more dysfluent, for some the less proficient. Interestingly I have observed that there is often a cultural component here too with regard for the clients beliefs about the need to be fluent with certain groups (community elders, reading the holy book etc) so it is not the langauge skill per se but the situational factors affecting ability to be fluent. One more thing I've observed that I thought I'd share is that a number of my clients percieve that stammering is more acceptable in the 'majority culture' (I'm struggling for a more appropriate way to describe it) than in their own communities. This leads to more fluency pressure on self, more avoidance in community and a sense of less ability to manage the stammering in these situations. As I also have clients who do not have this belief and often have experiences to share that do not support this belief group therapy can be really helpful. I'd love to hear any other thoughts about this and experiences of working in a multicultural society.