Multiculturalism from a cognitive perspective essay
The knowledge of human development is crucial for the adequate understanding of specific needs of clients by a clinical mental health counselor. Clinical mental health counselors should be aware of the human development and the impact of the specific stage of the cognitive development of clients on their mental health, physical health, and their current condition. At the same time, clinical mental health counselors should take into consideration individual peculiarities of each client, which may affect the current condition and mental health of each client since stages of cognitive development are not identical and may have certain variations depending on the individual peculiarities, personal traits of character, social environment and other factors.
- Why is knowledge of human development over the lifespan important for Clinical Mental Health Counselors to be aware of?
- Discuss how an understanding of human growth and development can assist the clinical mental health counselor, described, critiqued and support with cited references
The understanding of human growth and development can help the clinical mental health counselor to perform his/her professional functions effectively. In fact, the clinical mental health counselor can use the knowledge of human growth and development to determine specificities of the particular stage of the development of a client and develop the strategy of work with the client on the ground of this information (Gregas, 2006). For example, if a clinical mental health counselor deals with an adolescent client, he/she should be aware of the fact that adolescents are inclined to the unstable behavior because of consistent changes that occur at this stage of their cognitive and physiological development. In such a case, some ‘unusual’ behavior patterns may be explained by the use of drugs because the risk of drug abuse among adolescents is high. As a result, some mental health problems in adolescents may be explained by such issues as drug abuse, while older patients have lower risks of the development of such problems caused by the drug abuse. In fact, such nuances can be traced at different stages of the cognitive development of individuals and the transition to every new stage is accompanied by changes which may have certain impact on their mental health or psychological condition.
At the same time, the analysis of the mental health and psychological condition of patients along with the analysis of their specific stage of their cognitive development allows the clinical mental health counselor to identify disturbing issues in the development and growth of the client. For example, if psychological tests, analysis of the physiological and psychological development of the client reveal the fact that the current stage of the cognitive development does not match the age of the client, then this means that the client has problems in his/her cognitive development and probably mental health (Gregas, 2006). For example, if a client has reached adulthood physiologically being at the age of 22, but preserves models of behavior and manifests the level of the cognitive development that is normally attributed to adolescents, then the client may have considerable mental health problems, which clinical mental health counselors should come prepared to deal with the client, whose psychological development, the level of language development and the overall emotional and mental development do not match the actual age of the client and the cognitive stage the client had to reach by that age.
In such a way, the understanding of human growth and development facilitates the work of the clinical mental health counselor and complements basic approaches to counseling. At the same time, clinical mental health counselors should not rely entirely on human growth and cognitive development of individuals in the development of the treatment plan and delivery of counseling services to clients (Tummala-Narra, 2013). In this respect, they should take into consideration personal specificities of each client and develop the personalized approach to each customer, taking into consideration general understanding of human growth and development. The understanding of specificities of human growth and development complements the professional knowledge of clinical mental health counselors but do not replace it. Therefore, clinical mental health counselors should elaborate effective approaches to the work with each client. In this regard, clinical mental health counselors should combine their knowledge and understanding of mental health of their clients along with the general understanding of human growth and development to avoid pitfalls, when they may misinterpret some normal problems in the personal cognitive development that individuals may have and diagnose them as mental health issues.
- Discuss and indicated a basic understanding of why the knowledge of human development over the lifespan is important and applied information to the field of clinical mental health counseling and supported information with cited references.
In fact, the understanding of human growth and development is important because it expands the knowledge of clinical mental health counselors about their clients and their development. In such a way, the understanding of human growth and development contributes to the elaboration of the holistic approach to the development of the counseling plan for each particular client. The human growth and development affects the personal development of clients. For example, some psychological problems experienced by clients in the childhood may have a considerable impact on their adult life (Watts, 2003). As a result, mental health problems of clients of clinical mental health counselors may have roots in their poor cognitive development. In such a way, clinical mental health counselors can conduct the in-depth analysis of mental health and psychological problems of their clients and elaborate effective treatment. Therefore, clinical mental health counselor can develop effective strategies of the treatment which are impossible without understanding of the human growth and development.
Furthermore, the understanding of the human growth and development contributes to the enhancement of the counseling services delivered by the clinical mental health counselor to clients. In this respect, it is worth mentioning the fact that the understanding of the specific stage of the cognitive development of clients can help the clinical mental health counselor to identify current needs of clients, their problems and possible solutions to those problems (Lucke, 2014). In such a way, the understand of how clients grow and develop can help the clinical mental health counselor to identify effective ways to reach the actual level of the cognitive development as well as to find effective ways to reach positive trends in the cognitive development of clients along with the elaboration of positive behavioral patterns. Thus, the understanding of human growth and development can help the clinical mental health counselor to stimulate the development of positive behavioral patterns and tackle those mental health problems, which the clinical mental health counselor identifies in clients.
Multiculturalism from a cognitive perspective essay part 2
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