Diverse Populations

Directions Assignment 10: Diverse Populations 

Choose one of the populations in chapter 13 of the text (women, men, ethnic minorities, aged, lesbian/gay, physically challenged, strong spiritual values). Imagine that you are a new counselor in a community service Your boss has asked you to write a 400 – 800 word memo (single spaced) explaining how you will work with the client within this population. You will need to justify the approach you plan. Your boss has also asked you to critique stereotypes and biases you might encounter in working with this client. You are to identify strategies to develop cultural sensitivity when working with this client. A minimum of two sources including the textbook is required.

This presentation must:

• have a thesis statement (statement of purpose/intent), must indicate the topics to be covered
• use ONLY professional, objective language. Use objective, formal, not conversational tone/style
• use APA style
• use direct quotes sparingly – work on paraphrasing and appropriate citations for the paraphrased information

Assignment 9: Change Group 

Please review Chapter 16, and then locate a change group in your area to visit and analyze. Here is a link to MySupportJax and a link toJacksonville.com which lists various types of support groups that you might contact for purposes of this assignment. Most groups have no objection to people watching, so long as they do not violate the group’s norms regarding anonymity and turn taking. You should take notes after the meeting, but not during it. Also, respect the members’ right to privacy—do not provide any identifying information at all, including descriptions of individuals, in your notes and account.

All answers should be in short essay format, and should incorporate elements of the prompt in the response. For example; I attended a Suicide Survivors session on day, year, and time. The meeting was held at (location) and lasted for (number of hours). I observed 7 people in the audience, and one facilitator. I noticed that 5 of the audience members were women and 2 were men. All the women were white, while the two men were African American. . . “

1. Arrive a few minutes early and watch as people come to the meeting. What is the composition of the group, in terms of number of people, ages, sex, ethnicity, apparent social class and so on? [Please note that social class can be very difficult to assess—but clothing, speech, jewelry, etc. can be clues). You may be able to infer some characteristics from the nature of the group topic.
2. Describe the beginning of the group’s meeting. Does it recite a prayer, state its goals, and so on? What happened in the middle of the meeting? How did the meeting end?
3. Describe the advice provided to group members—what kind of information is it? Does the group provide expert testimony, or is it personal anecdote? Does the group provide members with advice and information on how to deal with their problems?
4. Describe how the group provides motivational and emotional support to its members. Do group members encourage each other? Do members provide positive examples? Did you observe any negative comments? Were there patterns in the way that attendees sought help?
5. From your observation, does the group take advantage of any of the therapeutic factors identified in Table 15-3? If so, please identify, discuss and analyze.
6. Give your overall analysis of the group’s effectiveness.