Improving Cultural Competence (10 CE)

Course Level: Advanced

Course By: Alden Hori, PhD

Dr. Hori earned a PhD in psychology from the University of California at Riverside. He was an Associate-In Professor and Research Assistant at the University of California at Riverside, where he supervised the completion of over 50 research projects in psychology. He is credited with three publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Content By: This publication was produced by The CDM Group, Inc., under the Knowledge Application Program (KAP) contract numbers 270-99-7072, 270-04-7049, and 270-09-0307 with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Andrea Kopstein, Ph.D., M.P.H., Karl D. White, Ed.D., and Christina Currier served as the Contracting Officer’s Representatives.

Course Delivery: Online, Self-Paced

Course Description:
The development of culturally responsive clinical skills is vital to the effectiveness of behavioral health services. This course uses Sue’s (2001) multidimensional model for developing cultural competence. Adapted to address cultural competence across behavioral health settings, this model serves as a framework for targeting three organizational levels of treatment: individual counselor and staff, clinical and programmatic, and organizational and administrative. This course targets specific racial, ethnic, and cultural considerations along with the core elements of cultural competence highlighted in the model. These core elements include cultural awareness, general cultural knowledge, cultural knowledge of behavioral health, and cultural skill development. The primary objective of this course is to assist professionals in understanding the role of culture in the delivery of behavioral health services (both generally and with reference to specific cultural groups).

Learning Objectives:

1. Define cultural competence, present a rationale for pursuing it, and describe the process of becoming culturally competent and responsive to client needs
2. Summarize the development of cultural awareness and core competencies for counselors and other clinical staff
3. Delineate guidelines for culturally responsive clinical services, including interviewing skills, assessment practices, and treatment planning
4. Evaluate organizational strategies to promote the development and implementation of culturally responsive practices from the top down, beginning with organizational self-assessment of current services and continuing through implementation and oversight of an organizational plan targeting initiatives to improve culturally responsive services
5. Evaluate a discussion of each major racial and ethnic group, providing specific cultural knowledge related to substance use patterns, beliefs and attitudes toward help-seeking behavior and treatment, and of research- and practice-based treatment approaches and interventions
6. Evaluate the concept of “drug culture”—the relationship between the drug culture and mainstream culture, the values and rituals of drug cultures, how people “benefit” from participation in drug cultures, and the role of the drug culture in substance abuse treatment

Course Outline:

1.       Introduction to Cultural Competence

a.       Core Assumptions

b.       What Is Cultural Competence

c.       Culture, race, Ethnicity, Cultural Identity

2.       Core Competencies for Counselors and Other Clinical Staff

3.       Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Treatment Planning

4.       Discovering Organizational Cultural Competence

a.       Planning

b.       Evaluation and Monitoring

c.       Workforce and Staff Development

5.       Behavioral health Treatment for Major Race and Ethnic Groups

6.       Drug Cultures and the Culture of Recovery

Course materials can be downloaded or read online. To receive a certificate of completion, you must complete an online multiple-choice post-test with a score of 75% or better and complete an online course evaluation. 

Approvals: