CNL525 Working With the Marginalized
An explanation of who the population is and why it is important for this group to receive career counseling
According to (Blustein, 2006), the marginalized are the vulnerable groups in the society. Marginalized groups are adversely affected by trauma experiences, psychological distress, perceived discrimination, and social injustices within the society. This paper focuses on minority groups as the marginalized population in the contemporary world. Minorities refer to the group of people in the society, who because of their cultural of physical appearance and traits, are discriminated from the others in the society in which they live for unequal and differential treatment, and who consider themselves are objects of collective prejudice, bias, and discrimination (Blustein, 2006). A good example of minorities group is the African Americans. This paper will concentrate on the plight of African Americans as a minority group.
As a minority group, Black Americans require career counseling. One characteristic of a counselor is multicultural competence, which helps counsel diverse groups in the society (Luona, Stamm, & Christidis, 2018). Minorities require career counseling for it provides them with meaningful, effective, and significant information to solve their career problems (Blustein, 2006). Also, career counseling assists minorities in improving their educational planning, objectives, and course curriculum in a manner that equip them with confidence to compete with the Whites. Again, career counseling helps minority students learn means of scrutinizing their career weaknesses, prejudices, and biases and the ways of overcoming them (Luona, Stamm, & Christidis, 2018). In addition, counseling the minorities, for example the Blacks, equips them with confidence that they can compete with the other people in the society.
Statistics of the group (e.g., how large, how many have employment problems, how many utilize career counseling
Studies done in 2018 by (Wilson, 2019) reveal that minority groups form 25 percent of the U.S. population. According to the U.S Census Bureau, African Americans amount to 12.3 percent of the U.S. entire population. However, the typical American estimates that the Blacks and Hispanics percentage in the country exceeds two times as high as the U.S. Census Bureau state they actually are. Thus, they state that 33 percent of U.S. population comprises of Black people. Again, most Americans believe that the percentage of the Blacks in the country stands no less than 30 percent.
According to (Wilson, 2019), African American unemployment in the U.S. is at least two times as high as that of the Whites. In 2018’s last quarter, Black American workers had the highest rate of unemployment nationally, standing at 6.5 percent while the Whites rate stood at only 3.1 percent (Wilson, 2019). Nationally, the U.S unemployment rate was 3.9 percent in 2018. Other minority group unemployment rates in the same year were Hispanics (4-5 percent), and Asian (3.2 percent). Most psychologists in the U.S. are Whites, comprising of 86 percent, and the Black psychologists amount to 4 percent (Luona, Stamm, & Christidis, 2018). However, more Blacks use career counseling than the whites despite it being expensive for them.
Discussion of career counseling theory to be used with the group
The Minnesota Theory of Work Adjustment is viable to work with minority groups, for example the Black Americans having unemployment issues. This theory provides a good approach of conceptualizing the fit between a client and a job/ organization (Dawis, 2005). Initially, this theory suited most into the job placement issues of the physically disabled, but today it perfectly works to any marginalized group in the society. In the Minnesota Theory of Work Adjustment, the structural and process model are highly used and considered. In this theory, vocational testing and counseling helps in re-evaluating one’s occupational, educational, and personal goals and strategies (Dawis, 2005). Thus, a counselor will effectively….
….Middle of Paper….
A basic plan for counseling utilizing chosen theory
Interview: Using Minnesota theory of work adjustment, the counselor can interview the minority group client to identify the specific issue or career problem with the client, assess the client for his/her unproductive thought and perception patterns, and the identification of negative thoughts that make the client demotivated or lose interest in searching for work (Luona, Stamm, & Christidis, 2018). In identifying the specific issue with the client, the counselor will seek to collect information about employment discrimination, difficulties in career choice, low payment or salaries, and other problems. These problems will form the basis for assessing the client’s unproductive thought patterns and negative thoughts.
Use of assessment tools: Identification of suitable counseling technique: In the context of this minority group and the career problems that they encounter, the counselor would consider various counseling techniques (Wilson, 2019). The most viable techniques to use in this group include cognitive restructuring and reframing, guided discovery, journaling and though records, behavior activation and activity scheduling, behavior experiments, role playing, and successive approximation.
Explanation of theory: The counselor will explain the usefulness of the Minnesota theory of work adjustment in accomplishing the set counseling goals in this career therapy (Luona, Stamm, & Christidis, 2018). The counselor will explain that the main goal is to seek individual achievement and satisfaction in job choice, employment, and maintenance of better paying works.
Environmental/personal barriers that may prevent the client from finding work
There are environmental and personal barriers that may prevent the minority people from finding job, work, or employment in America. Ethnic and racial minorities, for example, the Blacks face higher risks of unemployment in the job market (Wilson, 2019). The environmental barriers that may prevent the minority people from finding work include geographic background, transportation, and limited access to computer. In recruitment, certain employers prefer the Whites over the Blacks. In America, states like Virgin Islands, Mississippi, District of Columbia, and Louisiana are known to have many Blacks. People coming from these geographic receive less consideration for job positions in other States like Minnesota and West Virginia where most population is composed of the Whites.
According to (Wilson, 2019), Black people experience transportation problems from their states to other states due to poverty when looking for jobs. There are also personal barriers that hinder the Black minorities from finding work, and these include skin color, disability, history of substance use, and felony. People of color are more unemployed in America in comparison to the Whites. Also, there are Black Americans with disabilities, and these people find it difficult to be considered in employment in the presence of physically fit persons. Again, Blacks having history of substance use tend to receive extreme prejudice, bias, and discrimination to an extent that sustaining jobs is very hard (Wilson, 2019). In most times, these people get sacked and become jobless. Last is the issue of felony, whereby the minority person is accused of murder, robbery, assault, larceny, and manslaughter.
Local resources available to help the client obtain work
Job center: The job centers available for minorities include InsightIntoDiversity.com, DiversityJobs.com, and HireDiversity.com. These job centers targets recent college graduates and other experienced job seekers and offer equal and fair opportunities for obtaining work to people regardless of their gender, race, and ethnicity (Blustein, 2006). For example, DiversityJobs.com helps connect Black Americans, Natives, Asian, and Hispanics to employment opportunities that suit them.
Training programs: There is training, internship, seminars, and attachment programs set to equip minority groups acquire the necessary skills, knowledge, abilities, and competence for work (Luona, Stamm, & Christidis, 2018). When minority groups have the right skills for work, this means that they match the required levels of experience by employers and thus would have higher chances of securing employment than those lacking the required job skills.
Support groups: Support groups seek to counsel, guide, and advice, motivate, and instill confidence and change of attitude to work amongst minority groups (Wilson, 2019). For example, the Ticket for Work and Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies in America, that help minority populations find, secure, and retain employment.
Provide some recommendations with regard to your plan to include your opinion on whether this plan is tenable and if you think it can work
The counseling plan when working with this minority group of people involves interviews, use of assessment tools, and explanation of theory. I believe that this plan is tenable and would help the minority Blacks maintain, cope, and tolerate the existing prejudice, bias, and discrimination in the workplace (Wilson, 2019). Also, this plan would improve the minorities’ confidence and boost their abilities, skills, and capacity to compete with the other people in the society despite their vulnerable state in the society.
However, I recommend that counselors ensure that self-awareness, self-efficacy, and openness get instilled to the clients so that they will be free to communicate their problems for help to the counselors. Also, counselors must recognize the ongoing psychological mistreatment of ethnic minority populations, particularly the African Americans, in the workplace and raise these concerns to the both state and local governments for action. Last, counselors should adopt other proactive techniques such as role playing, guided discovery, cognitive restricting, cognitive reframing, and activity scheduling to instill career growth initiatives and insights among the minority populations.
References
- Blustein, D. L. (2006). The psychology of work: A new perspective for career development, counseling and public policy. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
- Dawis, R. V. (2005). The Minnesota theory of work adjustment. Career Development and Counseling, 3-23.
- Luona, L., Stamm, K., & Christidis, P. (2018). How diverse is the psychology workforce? Monitor of Pyschology, 49(2), 19.
- Wilson, V. (2019, April 4). Black unemployment is at least twice as high as white unemployment at the national level and in 14 states and the District of Columbia. Economic Policy, 1-9.