Implement culturally-informed strategies with diverse populations

In planning for an activity for Black History Month, I decided to consult with a resident who is often a harsh critic of everything. Being a white woman, I wanted to assure any activity that I did was culturally sensitive and respectful to the black community. I used my active listening skills and consulted with her to brainstorm ideas for Black History Month activities, I could gain perspectives and experiences present within the client population, and therefore respectably celebrate this month.

I consulted with my Black friends to ensure that my selection process of individuals and events was culturally informed and did extensive research to make sure that I properly represented these individuals’ and events and their historical significance in the Black community.  The social work values that I used were competence (cultural) and social justice due to this activity honoring the achievements of these Black individuals.   I had the trivia and had a few residents came and participated, and I gave them each a fact sheet on the people that I selected to take home with them.  I particularly used the cognitive processes of evaluating and understanding because one reason I ended up doing this project was to try and make amends for the other caseworker leaving MLK Day and Black History Month off of the newsletter calendar.  I planned on doing something anyway for the month, but that just motivated me to truly do something meaningful.  I also used the affective process of characterization. And my over all theoretical framework in this endeavor was Cultural Competence. The items that I created can be found here.