Cultural Understanding in Marriage Counseling
Maria and Carlos had done a substantial amount of research prior to entering couples counseling. Both were of Mexican descent and were strict Catholics. They wanted a therapist who understood their culture and religion. They found someone who fit their description well and proceeded to work through issues successfully with her.
How does a counselor integrate cultural or religious backgrounds into therapy? It depends on the counselor obviously but one way is by looking at some of the couple’s issues through the context of a social lens. In this case, the counselor could see that Maria and Carlos had very little social network outside of their church. Maria had no female friends to speak of and Carlos had one he saw only occasionally.
Both were encouraged to connect more with their community outside of church. Maria joined an art class and Carlos began playing baseball locally. Soon, he also began coaching a local little league, which he really enjoyed.
After some time exploring their community and new social avenues, their marital issues became less “charged” according to the counselor, as they learned the importance of a social network. Maria explained that since her move from Mexico, she was afraid to seek out friends. She didn’t think she would be accepted and feared social rejection. Carlos felt similarly.
But both had no problems assimilating into their community and because of this, the counseling work ran more smoothly. The counselor used social aspects to approach their problem as well as possessing a deeper cultural understanding of the couple, all of which contributed to its success.
