Chapters 4&5, Metacognition Article

An obvious overarching theme of these three readings was multicultural counseling and the strategies and ethics behind it. Brown (2012) lists seven ethical principles referring to the American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics (2005). I felt that most of these principles were pretty straightforward, however, the one that applies to me the most and I believe is of utmost importance (without disapproving the others), especially in school counseling, is principle number seven: advocating for clients in need. Brown (2012) notes that the ASCA National Model for School Counseling Programs places extreme importance on advocacy. That being said, advocacy as it pertains to multicultural counseling is important because of the limitations or struggles due to the common dilemmas suffered by minorities in our culture today.

What I want to stress is the importance of advocacy for ALL clients, despite of cultural, ethical, religious, or various other differences. The counselor-client relationship is not successful unless true advocacy really exists. Brown (2012) contends that the “ultimate aim of advocacy is the empowerment of the group or individual being represented in a matter that will allow them to represent their own interests in the future” (p. 85). It is asserted by Brown (2012) in both Chapters 4 and 5 that advocacy involves some degree of risk taking. Brown (2012) also contends that professionals in the field must become allies outside of the office. This was an idea that I wish was further developed.

In Chapter 5, Brown (2012) gives an outline of the values-based approach to career counseling. Step 8 of this approach is advocacy. This is where Brown (2012) develops his idea further with specific “levels” of advocacy. This begins with identifying barriers that might come in between the client and their career development process because of their cultural diversity. At this point Brown (2012) again mentions the importance of risk taking, which I think will be a hard part of advocacy for me as a future counselor.  I don’t like to take a lot of risks, I like things to be done in a way that I know they will work, so I know I will have to work on this.

Finally, I have noticed from other classes and this one the importance of metacognition in counseling, not just for the client, but also for the counselor. Byas-Winston & Fouad (2006) expanded the Culturally Appropriate Career Counseling Model (CACCM) with many metacognitive process questions. I appreciated and think their process questions will be extremely beneficial when dealing with multiculturalism in the counseling situation. I’ve also learned from a previous class, in which I wrote a paper about my personal cultural constructs, the importance of this knowledge as well. This was also asserted in the article, as well as the idea of the overconfidence effect, one that I’ve never thought about but certainly agreed with.

There are so many other things I could say about all three of these readings, but to stop myself from rambling, I’ll save those comments for class! 

Brown, D. (2012).  Career information, career counseling, and career development (10th ed.).  New York: Pearson Education Inc.

Byars-Winston, A. M., and Fouad, N. A. (2006). Metacognition and Multicultural Competence: Expanding the Culturally Appropriate Career Counseling Model. The Career Development Quarterly, 54, 187-201.