Culturally Responsive Therapy – Bridging the Gap in Mental Health Care
Ensuring mental health care is high-quality and accessible is very important! A big part of this is Culturally Responsive Care. Cultural background, identity, and lived experiences have a huge impact on individuals and ensuring care aligns with this is key. You’ve probably heard this term over the last few years and might wonder what exactly this means? Well, keep reading to learn more about culture’s impact, what it is, why it is important, and more!
Understanding Culture and Mental Health
Cultural background plays a large role in mental health and influences values and beliefs. Culture also is a part of one’s identity and shapes individuals. As a result, this can influence how individuals seek out support, the types of services they look for, and the types of modalities and training they look for in a practitioner (e.g., mindfulness in Eastern cultures, spiritually grounded in Indigenous healing). Certain cultures may also have stigmas around mental health, creating barriers that quality mental health care can work towards reducing.
Some key ways in which culture affects mental health include:
Expression of Emotions: some cultures encourage emotional openness, while others value emotional restraint.
Help-Seeking Behaviors: individuals from certain backgrounds may prioritize professional therapy, while others seek guidance from religious or community leaders.
Stigma and Perception of Mental Health: in some cultures, mental health issues may be highly stigmatized, discouraging individuals from seeking care.
Coping Strategies: cultural norms influence whether people rely on family, community, or personal resilience to navigate challenges.
What is Culturally Responsive Care?
This care centers around being culturally responsive, meaning, respecting an individuals culture and incorporating this into health care services. Rather than using a one-size-fits-all model, this approach integrates a client’s identity into treatment, ensuring that therapy acknowledges their values, beliefs, and lived experiences. Culturally responsive care doesn’t just mean focusing on someone’s race or ethnicity - it intends to acknowledge other aspects of identity, like gender, sexuality, religion, socioeconomic status, etc. For instance, recognizing how racism, discrimination, poverty and historical trauma impact mental health and well-being. While this is important for all clients, this is particularly important for the BIPOC community. This also includes cultural competence which is the understanding of how race, ethnicity, language, religion, traditions, and historical experiences shape an individual’s worldview, coping mechanisms, and willingness to engage in mental health care. By incorporating cultural awareness and responsiveness, therapists can provide more effective and inclusive support tailored to diverse populations.
The core principles include:
Cultural sensitivity – the understanding that there are differences between cultures and not assigning or assuming the value of those.
Cultural awareness – keeping an open mind to changing cultural attitudes.
Cultural humility – a willingness to learn as a practitioner through self-evaluation, clients’ experiences, and acknowledging privilege.
Cultural competence – the action practitioners take in different cultural contexts.
Therapist Self-Awareness – practitioners actively work to understand how their own background influences their clinical approach.
Diverse Mental Health Strategies – treatment plans are adapted to align with a client’s cultural beliefs and preferences.
Cross-Cultural Therapy Techniques – therapists use inclusive mental health practices that acknowledge the role of systemic oppression, discrimination, and historical trauma.
Why Is Culturally Responsive Care So Important?
In the mental heath field, client care and support are at the center of this work. Culturally responsive care helps reduce barriers and is important in so many ways. Below are some examples of the importance and benefits:
Ensures that clients feel respected, heard, and safe while opening up which establishes greater trust and therapeutic alliance.
Explores culture’s influences, allowing clients to better understand the role of family, spirituality, and community play. This can help a client learn how to navigate these life experiences. For example, setting boundaries with family can look different across cultures.
As a practitioner, it allows you to cater services toward the client and create more inclusivity.
Explores cultural differences and allows for open conversations and dialogue to take place.
Creates an environment that is free from stigma, bias, discrimination, and racism.
Promotes diversity in the mental health workspace.
Encourages clients to keep showing up in the therapeutic space and helps with motivation.
Helps recognize the stressors associated with immigration and culture, helping clients adjust to a new country while staying true to their authentic selves.
It leads to improved treatment outcomes as clients are more likely to engage in therapy when they feel understood and respected.
How Can Practitioners Implement Culturally Responsive Care?
If you are wanting to ensure you, as a practitioner, are culturally responsive, it is important to consider the following:
Training – seek out external training in this area. This could look like completing training on different anti-oppressive practices, different populations, cultures, social justice, privilege, and more.
Collaboration – be willing to have collaborative conversations both in session and in peer consultations.
Education – continually be willing to learn and explore new and emerging research and training opportunities.
Awareness – be aware of your culture, bias, values, etc. And consider how this affects your practice.
Active Listening – ensure you take the time to listen to clients. This will help to also build trust, creating a safe environment.
Addressing Systemic Barriers– acknowledging the impact of historical and social factors on mental health outcomes.
Conclusion
Culturally responsive care is a critical component of mental health services. This therapy helps to ensure clients receive high-quality care and takes into consideration how one’s cultural background impacts the therapeutic process. This can help to build trust, motivation, and understanding, creating a safe space. Additionally, this is essential for ensuring that mental health care is accessible, inclusive, and effective for individuals from all backgrounds.
As a practitioner, it is critical to be aware of what culturally responsive care is, why it is important, and how this can be implemented into your practice. Continually breaking down these barriers helps ensure all communities are receiving the support they need!
At The Cognitive Corner, we offer culturally responsive therapy services to individuals and couples in Canada. We recognize that it can be challenging to know where to start, so we offer free 15-minute consultations with our therapists to help give you the opportunity to ask questions and start your therapeutic journey.
Resources:
Cottonham Mason, D. (Ed.). (n.d.). Culturally responsive care in mental health. Lyra Health. https://www.lyrahealth.com/resources/culturally-responsive-care/
Agency for Clinical Innovation. (n.d.). Culturally responsive practice. https://aci.health.nsw.gov.au/projects/consumer-enablement/how-to-support/culturally-responsive-practice#:~:text=It%20means%20being%20respectful%20of,to%20manage%20their%20own%20health.
Saskatchewan Health Authority. (2022). Cultural responsiveness, humility, and safety in engagement. SaskHealthAuthority. https://www.saskhealthauthority.ca/our-organization/our-direction/engagement/sha-engagement-framework/cultural-responsiveness-humility-and-safety-engagement
CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE STRENGTHS-BASED THERAPY CHAPTER OBJECTIVES. (2019). https://us.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-assets/96641_book_item_96641.pdf
Miller, L. H. (2023, June 30). What are Culturally Responsive Therapies? Ellie Mental Health, PLLP. https://elliementalhealth.com/what-are-culturally-responsive-therapies/
National Library of Medicine. (2021). Culture Counts: The Influence of Culture and Society on Mental Health. National Library of Medicine; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK44249/
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2014). Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Treatment Planning. Nih.gov; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK248423