Cultural competency in a global society is well established as a valued skills for school counselors and school psychologists. Often, schools define their need for cultural competency on the basis of the ethnic diversity of their student population, when in fact diversity is defined by a variety of factors (ethnicity, gender, sexual preference, SES, etc.). To that end, it is critical for supervisors to model cultural competency in their work with practicum students/interns. The following guidelines for culturally competent supervision come from the following citation:
Butler, K.S. (2003). Multicultural sensitivity and competence in the clinical supervision of school counselors and school psychologists: A context for providing competent services in a multicultural society. The Clinical Supervisor, 22(1), 125-140.
In their work with students and professional colleagues, culturally competent clinical supervisors actively display the possession of several qualities:
1. Culturally competent supervisors are flexible.
They have the ability to work with a wide range of supervisees and give each of them the culturally specific tools they need in order to succeed. Cultural flexibility may truly enhance the expertness of service, the attractiveness of the profession, and the trustworthiness of helping professionals, mainly because these practitioners are able to re-conceptualize the helping relationship in culturally relevant terms (Sue et al., 1998). Due to the fact supervisors perform a variety of functions throughout the supervisory process, they must continue to sustain flexibility and model this to supervisees. On any given day, supervisors are in the position to be instructors, mentors, supporters, and/or evaluators of their supervisees: a position that differs markedly from that of a therapist and the counseling relationship he or she cultivates with a client (Baird, 1999).
2. Culturally competent supervisors are critical thinkers.
They have the ability to understand and put into perspective the worldviews of their diverse supervisees. They are able to create a positive environment during supervision where there is an opportunity for supervisees to address and discuss these pertinent issues in an open and explicit manner (D'Andrea & Daniels, 1997).
3. Culturally competent supervisors have the ability to work across cultures.
They have developed a viable working knowledge of the historical backgrounds, cultural heritages, and life experiences of their supervisees. A culturally competent supervisor also possesses a considerable grasp of the supervisory process as it pertains to the needs of their supervisees. In supervision, educators have the ability to train their supervisees in many of the following areas. Supervisors train supervisees to be ethical at all times, they teach them how to explore delicate interracial issues, they investigate with them ways to maintain language competency when in the act of communicating or when trying to understand the diverse communication styles of their clients, they share with them techniques to employ when working with interpreters, they implore them to always utilize valid and reliable assessment tools, and supervisors share with them ways to incorporate cross-cultural conflict resolution techniques into counseling and supervisory relationships (Gopaul-McNicol, 2001; Paniagua, 1998). Above is not an all-inclusive list; the list only represents a few of many content areas supervisors must be competent in when supervising and preparing multiculturally competent practitioners.
4. Culturally competent supervisors are capable of managing their anxiety; they attack the fear of the unknown head-on.
Knowing that certain situations make them uncomfortable, they challenge themselves and overcome these possible obstructions to the counseling relationship (Constantine et al., 2001). Because of this knowledge, they are sensitive to these same issues as they develop in their supervisees.
5. Culturally competent supervisors have a well-established sense of identity (Leong & Bhagwat, 2001) and are not prone to ego-tripping.
They do not have an air of superiority towards their supervisees. They are sincere in wanting to develop the best colleagues they can. There is no room for big egos when it comes to the helping professions.
6. Culturally competent supervisors are effective in their use of humor, humility, and patience in practice.
Humility allows the practitioners to avoid viewing differences as inferiorities (Hays, 2001). When all is said and done, culturally competent supervisors are lifelong learners who continuously strive to better themselves while increasing their understanding of the world.