cultural competence -
1) i concur with yasmin, as i constantly have requests from professionals
who want knowledge as that is much easier to deal with than the "unconscious
" and uresolved issues that they may have about other communities. Good
practice stems from reflection ie knowing what you can do, knowing what
causes concerns / anxieties for you, your own prejudices etc.
Good practitioners do prepare but fundamentally they focus on 2 things - 1)
not assuming 2) not being afraid to ask what is important to that person /
family.
the more training i do especially with white professionals the more i'm
struck by the lack of reflection and seeming inability to transfer knowledge
and skills. What is it that makes them get so stuck on issues of ethnicity,
racism and culture ?
2 as for the other issues within communities - i have no doubt that they
need to be challenged and they are by a number of committed black people as
prof and volunteers. But all too often that is used by the majority
community a la Blunkett to detract from other issues which may be more
uncomfortable and untenable for (the white community) to respond to.
personally i'm happy to take issues forward but only so long as my white
colleagues also take responsibility for the work they are required to do.
To date few have
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