Cultural Competence

Over the past year or more I have been reflecting on what it means to actual be culturally competent. The Code of Ethics states that "Social workers should have a knowledge base of their clients' cultures and be able to demonstrate competence in the provision of services that are sensitive to clients' cultures and to difference among people and cultural groups". 

I'm not here to talk about the cultural competence vs. cultural humility, but for the record I appreciate the semantics of cultural humility. What I've been reflecting on is how do we "do" cultural competency? How do social workers shift their practice to provide services in a culturally competent way? 

I've been talking to other social workers about this. Now I have thoughts on this, but I am still trying to put those thoughts into words... so here are a few thoughts. 

1. Seeing a person as an expert of their own experience. 

2. Recognizing our own bias. 

3. Exploring values. 

This third bullet point really got me thinking recently. Exploring and clarifying values is a critical part of therapy, in my humble opinion. Values are often based in a client's cultural upbringing so helping a client to explore and clarify their values helps the social worker learn more about a client's culture. 

This could be very common knowledge, but it was light a lightbulb went off in my head. When we learn our client's values we get a look into their culture and what is meaningful to them. It also helps us to avoid approaching cultural competence as a cookie cutter method. Black/African American people are not a monolith; Latinx people come from a host of cultures. We can know about culture, but listening to a client, positioning them as the expert of their experience, and working with them to explore their values are strategies for competent practice. 

What Makes a Good Supervisor?

First of all, let me just say we are under a level 3 snow emergency here in Lucas County. I am working from home so although the office is closed I am still working. Although I am grateful that I do not have to go out in this snow today. Also, I do not have some clever way to relate this snow emergency or the picture to the topic of this post. I just wanted to show you the snow. 

----------------

In a supervision group I was facilitating recently, we got on the discussion of work supervisors. I am not the work supervisor for anyone in this group so I thought it would be interesting to hear there responses on what makes a good supervisor. I believe it is good to hear from social workers what they think makes a good supervisor. As I said to the group, one day you will all be supervisors at some level so it is important to start developing your skills now. 

What makes a good supervisor?

• Someone who listens and validates. 
• Someone with a serving attitude. 
• Supportive, empowering, and strengths based.
• They are a leader instead of a "boss".
• Collaborative.
• Approachable- they are open to feedback.
• They act as a coach, mentor, and guide. 

Without prompting, these social workers shared qualities that are inherent in social work. Does this me all social workers make good supervisors? No, being a supervisor isn't for everyone. However, social workers do possess many of the skills they need to be good supervisors. 

For me, the one critical thing missing from this list is technical skills. Now I wouldn't expect that this group of social workers would say that during our conversation, but I do feel like the supervisor does need to possess the skills of what they are supervising. Is that common sense? Maybe, but I felt that any list needs to explicitly say that a good supervisor has the technical skills of related to they are supervising. 

So what about you, what qualities do you feel are needed to make a good supervisor? Do you agree or disagree with this list? Is there something critical that is missing?