Graduate Counselling and Applied Psychology (GCAP) 633

Overview

This course examines the sociocultural influences on psychosocial and cultural identity development and management, with particular attention to the social determinants of health, the impact of cultural oppression on nondominant populations, and the importance applying a contextualized and systemic perspective to case conceptualization. Culture is defined broadly to emphasize diversity across ethnicity, Indigeneity, gender, gender identity, age, ability, sexual orientation, religion, spirituality, and social class. A multicultural and social justice lens is applied to understanding within- and between-group differences, dominant and nondominant sociocultural discourses, life and cross-cultural transitions, as well as cultural and worldview differences in perspectives on development, health, and healing. Students will enhance their competencies for culturally responsive and socially just counselling. Critical, feminist, multicultural, and constructivist metatheoretical lenses will be applied to analyses of the influences of cultural identities and social locations on the counsellor, the client(s), the therapeutic relationship, and the counselling process.

Outline

Domain I Ubiquitous Nature of Culture

• Week 1 Culturally Responsive and Socially Just (CRSJ) Counselling
• Week 2 Complexity of Cultural Identity and Relationality
• Week 3 Multiplicity and Subjectivity of Worldviews

Domain II Attending to Social Location

• Week 4 Social Injustice and Social Determinants of Health
• Week 5 An Uneven Playing Field: Privilege and Marginalization
• Week 6 Nondominant and Dominant Cultural Identity Development
• Week 7 Cross-Cultural Transitioning, Internalized Oppression, and Trauma

Domain III Professional Identity

• Week 8 Professional Identity: Anti-Oppression and Justice-Doing

Domain V Case Conceptualization

• Week 9 Responsive Case Conceptualization and Intervention Planning
• Week 10 Student-Lead Learning Activities

Domain VI Enacting Multilevel Change

• Weeks 11 and 12 Systems Level Change and Socially Just Practice

Domain III Professional Identity

• Week 13 Continuing Competency and Professional Identity Development

Course Evaluation

To receive credit for GCAP 633, students must submit all of the course assignments. The passing grade for the course is B- (70%). The weighting of assignments is as follows.