EXPLORING COUNSELLORS’ UNDERSTANDING AND PRACTICE OF MULTICULTURAL COUNSELLING IN MALAYSIA

Authors

  • Rafidah Aga Mohd Jaladin Department of Educational Psychology and Counselling, Faculty of Education, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3124-9736
  • Janette Graetz Simmonds Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton, Australia
  • Philip Greenway Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton, Australia
  • Tasos Barkatsas RMIT University, School of Education, Melbourne, Australia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol6iss1pp323-350

Abstract

Background and Purpose: In order to make counselling meaningful and culturally relevant, it is essential for counsellors to have a practical counselling model that is context-specific and matches the needs and values of the population of that specific culture. Hence, the present research aims to explore professional counsellors’ understanding and practice of multicultural counselling in Malaysia.

 

Methodology: This study adopted a complementarity mixed-method research design using both qualitative and quantitative approaches to gauge the different features of multicultural counselling competency.

 

Findings: Malaysian professional counsellors, as a group, perceived themselves to be multiculturally competent. The most challenging cases encountered by Malaysian counsellors were (a) counselling culturally challenging clients (i.e., culturally different clients), (b) counselling culturally challenging issues/problems (culturally sensitive and complicated issues/problems in Malaysia), and (c) managing personal challenges (dealing with personal cultural and social issues in counselling). Thematic analysis also revealed three emergent themes to describe how Malaysian counsellors engage with culture and diversity in counselling and these themes broadly resembled the three stages of the general counselling process: pre-counselling, during counselling and post-counselling.

 

Contributions: This research adds to the multicultural counselling literature by generating knowledge regarding the understanding and practice of multicultural counselling in the local socio-political context. Education and training organizations should recognize the critical importance of infusing multicultural counselling education into all subjects and training programs in counsellor education programs and training of novice counsellors in order for it to be seamlessly incorporated into counselling practice.

 

Keywords: Culture and diversity, Malaysian counselling, multicultural counselling competency, multicultural counselling practice, multicultural counselling understanding.

 

Cite as: Mohd Jaladin, R. A., Simmonds, J. G., Greenway, P., & Barkatsas, T. (2021). Exploring counsellors’ understanding and practice of multicultural counselling in Malaysia.  Journal of Nusantara Studies, 6(1), 323-350. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol6iss1pp323-350

Author Biographies

  • Rafidah Aga Mohd Jaladin, Department of Educational Psychology and Counselling, Faculty of Education, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Dr Rafidah Aga Mohd Jaladin is a counselling psychologist and a senior lecturer at the University of Malaya. She is also a Director of University of Malaya Family Research and Development Centre (UMFRDC). She has more than 20 years experience as a professional practitioner-cum-educator in psychology and counselling at various work settings. Her research areas include multicultural counselling, counsellor education, supervision and training; and mental health literacy and counselling.

  • Janette Graetz Simmonds, Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton, Australia

    Janette is a counseling psychology senior lecturer at Monash University. She is a clinical and counselling psychologist with specialist qualifications and extensive experience in individual, relationship and group psychotherapies, psychoanalytic psychotherapy and group analysis. Her research interest includes spirituality, meaning making, mindfulness, meditation, coping, growth, psychotherapeutic space, psychotherapeutic practice, etc.

  • Philip Greenway, Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton, Australia

    Philip Greenway is an academic psychologist. He spent many years at Monash University teaching clinical psychological assessment and experiential counselling techniques. He has also been engaged in private practice for the last twenty years.  He values a continual learning approach to the latest developments in clinical psychology, psychotherapy and neuroscience.

  • Tasos Barkatsas, RMIT University, School of Education, Melbourne, Australia

    Dr Tasos Barkatsas is a Senior Lecturer in Mathematics, Statistics and STEM Education and a Quantitative Data Analyst at the School of Education, RMIT University, Australia. Dr Barkatsas is a Professorial Research Fellow of the Hellenic Society of Educational Evaluation and he is the Chief Series Editor of the Brill/Sense Book Series: ‘Global Education in the 21st Century’. Dr Barkatsas has published more than 130 journal articles, books, and refereed conference research papers and serves in the editorial boards of a number of research journals.

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Published

2021-01-28

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1: Journal of Nusantara Studies (JONUS)

Section

Articles

How to Cite

EXPLORING COUNSELLORS’ UNDERSTANDING AND PRACTICE OF MULTICULTURAL COUNSELLING IN MALAYSIA. (2021). Journal of Nusantara Studies (JONUS), 6(1), 323-350. https://doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol6iss1pp323-350