Importance of understanding the Treaty of Waitangi and its relevance to counselling in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Section 3.1 – The Treaty of Waitangi and counselling practice

It is very important to understand the wellbeing and health of Maori and the importance of the treaty of Waitangi due to its relation with the mental health for the purpose of addressing the cultural issues in practice. Negotiation was made in the form of treaty between Maori and the Crown in order to establish New Zealand as a British Colony. In today’s time, extension is given to the partnership for developing health strategies for Maori such that proper health services can be obtained for them. It further aims at protecting the concepts and values of Maori. The Maori communities are often encouraged for the purpose of engaging in the planning and development of health related strategies having the possibility of impacting them.

The cultural aspects such as emotional, physical, spiritual and intellectual should be taken into account by the counsellor in New Zealand. Furthermore, cultural identity is also required to be acknowledged by the therapists while working with the Maori communities. Emotional level support should be offered to Maori in the form of commitment to their identity. For this purpose, counsellors should make the use of approaches that perform the function of assisting the Maori in re- connecting with their communities after the interferences due to the importance placed by them on whanau. Whanau can be referred to as the related and extended families (Casemore, 2018).

There are a number of factors included in the treaty of Waitangi and is not limited to:

Tuakiri Tangata- this is associated with acknowledging the personality, identity and persona of Maori. It further considers principles such as emotional, physical, spiritual and intellectual.

Te Reo Maori- Te Reo Maori can be utilized for showing respect, being guardians of Maori Culture and holding onto identity.

Tikanga Maori- it comprises of the values from the past generations along with taking into account generational advancement. Underlying principles are expressed in the different manner but the roots remain the same.

Manaaki- the behavior of Maori should be such that it enhances the mana of other. In other words, it should be such that it provides service, generosity, respect and honor people.

Hauora Maori- it is related to the health and wellbeing. The framework and models with the help of which Maori health and wellbeing is underpinned is a holistic and inclusive worldview.

Therefore, it can be concluded that specific attention should be paid to multiculturalism by the counsellors as it has an impact on the relationships of the Maori people. Culture is a broader concept as compared to ethnicity and race and includes age ideology, gender, religion, socio- economic status, occupation, sexual orientation and lifestyle issues. Difference can also be found among the members of the cultural groups from the description of their group (Luke, 2017). As a counselor, it is very important to understand the diverse roles and responsibilities occupied by whanau. While working from a cultural framework, enculturation and acculturation is required to be considered. Enculturation stands for retention of indigenous culture and acculturation stands for adaption to dominant culture. The counsellor should perform the important role of recognizing the helping skills that are more effective for the clients within their cultural framework (Wilks, 2018).

Te Whare Tapa Wha bicultural model and its basic assumptions, view of development and identity, goals and concepts

Section 3.2 – Understanding a bicultural model

1. The Maori model applicable in this situation is Te Whare Tapa Wh? which is based on the assumption that the health of Maori is dependent on four sides, i.e. Taha tinana (physical health), Taha wairua (spiritual health), Taha wh?nau (family health), Taha hinengaro (mental health). The development of this model was by Mason Durie with the purpose of illustrating the four dimensions of Maori well- being. The goal of the theory is to maintain the overall health of the individual on the basis of these four factors (Sutherland & Judge, 2017).

Taha tinana (physical health) explains the development and physical growth capacity of an individual. Optimal development is possible only with the help of good physical health. The physical being of the individual supports the essence along with providing the shelter from the external environment. Physical dimension is that aspect of health in case of Maori which cannot be detached from the side of spirit, mind and family.

Taha wairua (spiritual health) defines the capacity for wider communication and faith. Unspoken and unseen energies play an important role in terms of health. The life force of a person is their physical essence (Rawson, 2016).

Taha whanau (family health) defines the capacity to share, to care and to belong where the individuals are considered to be a part of wider social systems. The strength of being who we are is provided by whanau. In other words, this is our connection with the present, past and future along with our ancestors.

Taha hinengaro (mental health) defines the capability to think, to communicate and to feel body and mind are inseparable. The body and soul have the important components i.e. feelings, thoughts and emotions (Hollands, Sutton, Wright-St Clair & Hall, 2015).

2. Te Whare Tapa Wh? model can be applied in the given situation for the purpose of initiating the counselling process. Due to Taha whanau (family health), the client’s physical, spiritual and mental health is getting affected severely. The complete process of counselling is therefore required to be followed (Taylor, Kotzé & Crocket, 2017).

Firstly, the counsellor needs to identify the problem i.e. Taha whanau due to which the entire issue has taken place. Along with this, the counsellor is also required to analyze the forces as a result of which the behavior of the client is getting affected. The analysis will provide that the reason behind the changes in behavior is the death of the client’s mother. In the next step, the counsellor will need to organize counselling sessions along with determining the best time at which the session can be conducted. Then, the counsellor needs to make sure that the session is conducted with due sincerity, kindness and compassion, however, this does not mean that the counselor cannot be firm. Moreover, the counsellor needs to determine the factors as a result of which the behavior of the client has changed. Furthermore, the counsellor will try to maintain a sense of timing for the purpose of using the directive and non- directive counselling. After taking into consideration all the facts, a decision or action plan will be formulated in order to correct the problem (Cowie & Pecherek, 2017).

Application of the model in working with the client

For example, when the counselling sessions will be able to cure the health of the client affected due to death of her mother, the physical, mental, spiritual and family health will automatically improve. The counsellor just needs to understand the actual cause of the problem on timely basis (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2016).    

3. There are a number of ethical issues which can be faced by the counsellor during supervision such as confidentiality, dual relationships, due process and informed consent (Bryant-Jefferies, 2017).

Confidentiality is considered to be one of the ethical principles in the helping professions. Clients disclose their problems to the counsellors on their promise that such facts or problems will not be disclosed openly to other individuals. However, the enforcement of this principle is difficult in case of supervision process. Clients are required to be made aware of the fact that the content from the counsellor sessions will be shared with the supervisors as well. The interactions with the trainees should be made confidential by the trainers as well to the extent possible due to the existence of complex relationships.

Dual relationships are of the tricky nature due to the fact that there is more than one relationship of the counselling supervisor with the supervisee. Dual relationship is often described as unethical at the time when the relationship is impaired with the judgement of the supervisor. This, in turn, leads to the possibility of exploitation being faced by the client as the result of the relationship (Bond, 2015).

When the client is receiving counselling sessions, there is also a right to due process. due process can often be regarded as the legal concept. It provides a process which demands that a notice and hearing must be given before removing an important right. There are two kinds of processes namely procedural and substantive. Procedural due process is concerned with the rights that a client have in a training program. On the other hand, substantive due process provides for a consistent and fair application of the criteria that governs a training program.

Informed consent includes the relationship between the client and the counselor. The client should be aware of evaluative nature of the supervision process along with the criteria on the basis of which they will be judged. Disclosure statements are required to be clearly presented by the counsellor which, in turn, becomes an ethical issue. When the clients will be informed regarding this fact, they will get a chance of choosing more experienced therapist as per their needs (Tse, 2014).

Ethical issues counsellors may face and ways of resolving the issues

The client should be referred on by the counselor as the ethical issues can be resolved by way of taking some measures. The counsellors will need to undertake ethical decision making which plays an important role in counselling and supervision. For the purpose of increasing the capability of resolving and managing the dilemmas, the counsellor can consider the following:

The counsellor should develop an ability to recognize the dilemmas in order to successfully manage it. This will be possible when the counsellor will attend to the feelings of concern, confusion, fear and anxiety. Moreover, the counsellors further need to incorporate case analysis and experiential learning into their work. They should also include questions regarding potential ethical and legal issues as a part of discussion of their case. At the end, the counsellor should ensure that an ethical decision making model has been adopted and implemented (Wosket, 2016).

Section 3.3 – Multicultural considerations

1. Multicultural considerations can be defined as the broad range of identities and topics including religion, race, sexual orientation, culture, ethnicity and/ or disability. Customs, culture, products and beliefs of various people and institutions have the capability of influencing the way in which people interact and see one another both positively and negatively. Multi or cross cultural considerations in the counselling context provide that several competencies are needed for the purpose of achieving multicultural counselling (Yousef & Ener, 2014).

Two main parts are involved in multi-cultural counselling, i.e. an understanding of the worldview of the client and recognition of the own cultural bias and values by the counsellor. For the purpose of working progressively with diverse clients, recognition must be made by the counsellor of the previously held ideas that have established regarding the population on the basis of their race, nationality, ethnicity, etc. The above competencies will assist the counsellor in ensuring that the individuals belonging to diverse backgrounds receive the deserved quality of help (Lee, 2014).

For recognizing the multidimensionality of every client in an integrative and comprehensive way, the RESPECTFUL model can be used. It involves ten different factors through which the psychological development along with the sense of personal well- being is influenced.

The factors of the RESPECTFUL model are described below:

Religious- it defines the spiritual identity which further provides that some of the clients are affected as a result of the transcendental experiences of the religion and such experiences are beyond ordinary. On the other hand, others may fail to identify their religion.

Multicultural considerations and recommendations for cross-cultural or multicultural counselling

Economic- it defines the influence of roles and class standing on the development of the client. It further affects the identification of their strengths and creates problems in expressing problems throughout counselling.

Sexual- personal development is influenced by the sexual identity specifically for people who have been oppressed due to the reason of their sexuality which, in turn, reduces the sense of worth of an individual.

Psychological Maturity- this kind of maturity involves the individual’s ability to respond to their environment or situation in an apt manner on the basis of their psychological needs and strengths.

Ethnic- Racial- Cultural Identity-“within- group” differences are experienced by a number of clients due to which their psychological development is influenced.

Chronological Developmental Challenges- Cognition, physical and psychological skill development affects the manner in which the experiences of the individual challenges at various points in life.

Trauma- risk is created for individuals in stressful situations which make them unable to cope with such situations.  

Family- the sense of ambition and prejudice of a person is affected by the role played by the family.

Unique Physical Characteristics- those who possess such characteristics often experience stress due to dissatisfaction. Counselor is required to reflect on the internalized negative news of stereotypes (Cornish, Wade, Tucker & Post, 2014).

Location- geological terrain and climate patterns form the basis of strengths and interests of the individual.

During the course of counselling relationship, consideration should be given to the above factors which will assist in the durability of the counselor- client relationship. ability is provided to the counselors with the help of this model to  progress appropriately, holistically and ethically through each counselling succession (Nelson & Malone, 2018).

2. Following recommendations can be made for cross- cultural or multicultural counselling:

Awareness of Counselor regarding Own Cultural Values and Biases- the limits of their practice must be recognized by the counsellor along with their own cultural values and biases. For the purpose of expanding their skills, own cultural and racial heritage must be acknowledged by the counsellors along with the effects of stereotyping, racism, oppressions, etc. Additional learning opportunities should also be approached by the counsellors for improving the understanding of different cultural populations.

Counselor Awareness of Client Worldview- the worldview of the client must be recognized by the counselor that it is different from their own. For this, they should gain understanding of the emotional reactions to other ethnic and racial groups and familiarize themselves with research that is culturally appropriate (Casas, Suzuki, Alexander & Jackson, 2016).

Culturally Appropriate Intervention Strategies- Cultural competence must be possessed by a counselor in order to respect the beliefs, values, religious views, languages and indigenous practices of the clients. The characteristics of the therapy must be understood by the counsellor along with its impact on the cultural groups. Knowledge regarding the hierarchy, family dynamics, bias in assessments and discriminatory practices should also be maintained by the counsellors as they can impact the clients (Casas, Suzuki, Alexander & Jackson, 2016).

Know the Challenges- language barrier is considered to be the biggest challenge between counsellors and ethnic clients. The allegations of abuse or mistreatment could be left unexplored due to communication problem. Therefore, it is recommended that the counselling sessions should be documented and the steps taken for the purpose of understanding and adjusting the individual culture of the client should also be duly noted (Nystul, 2015).

Openness and honesty are key- honest and open dialogue should be invited by the culturally component counsellors regarding ethnicity and race in their therapeutic sessions. Moreover, the use of professional activities and resources are required to be made for the purpose of developing the counselling skills with ethnically and racially diverse clients.

References:

Bond, T. (2015). Standards and ethics for counselling in action. Sage.

Bryant-Jefferies, R. (2017). Person-centred counselling supervision: personal and professional. CRC Press.

Capuzzi, D., & Stauffer, M. D. (2016). Counseling and psychotherapy: Theories and interventions. John Wiley & Sons.

Casas, J. M., Suzuki, L. A., Alexander, C. M., & Jackson, M. A. (Eds.). (2016). Handbook of multicultural counseling. SAGE Publications.

Casas, J. M., Suzuki, L. A., Alexander, C. M., & Jackson, M. A. (Eds.). (2016). Handbook of multicultural counseling. SAGE Publications.

Casemore, R. (2018). It is all in the relationship: Exploring the differences between supervision training and counselling training. In Supervisor Training (pp. 15-25). Routledge.

Cornish, M. A., Wade, N. G., Tucker, J. R., & Post, B. C. (2014). When religion enters the counseling group: Multiculturalism, group processes, and social justice. The Counseling Psychologist, 42(5), 578-600.

Cowie, H., & Pecherek, A. (2017). Counselling: approaches and issues in education. Routledge.

Hollands, T., Sutton, D., Wright-St Clair, V., & Hall, R. (2015). Maori mental health consumers’ sensory experience of Kapa Haka and its utility to occupational therapy practice. New Zealand Journal of Occupational Therapy, 62(1), 3.

Lee, C. C. (Ed.). (2014). Multicultural issues in counseling: New approaches to diversity. John Wiley & Sons.

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