TPC-Journal-V6-Issue2

The Professional Counselor /Volume 6, Issue 2 157 In addition to didactic teaching, experiential exercises also are critical for meaningful learning to take place (Sue & Sue, 2015). Assignments that illustrate personal and systemic prejudice can help students reflect on their own potential biases as well as build awareness of systemic influences that may impact clients of color in ways counselors-in-training previously had not considered. Reading assignments that illustrate common biases among counselors can normalize the phenomenon in ways that facilitate student openness to learning and self-reflection. In addition, using diverse theories when discussing diagnosis and treatment planning can ensure multiple perspectives are acknowledged, including the perspective that diagnoses can be both helpful and harmful to clients. Counselor educators have a responsibility to ensure students graduate with an awareness of the need to constantly monitor their own biases and prejudices toward African American males, as well as knowing when to seek supervision and consultation. Finally, counselor educators can implement a multicultural competence approach to teaching clinical assessment and diagnosis. Guindon and Sobhany (2001) offered a conceptual framework that can be utilized in the classroom in order to achieve this goal: (a) obtain a specific and complete understanding of the client’s chief complaint, (b) be aware of discrepancies in counselor and client perceptions of clinical reality, (c) elicit clients’ clinical realities and explain counselor clinical models, (d) engage in active negotiation with the client as a therapeutic ally, (e) recognize the importance of renegotiation (of perception of presenting problem), and (f) use assessment instruments advisedly and with caution. The authors intended for this framework to be used by “counselors from any cultural background [to] assist those who are not like themselves” (Guindon & Sobhany, 2001, p. 279). Limitations of the Study The CQR model allowed the research team to independently and collaboratively analyze the data through a deliberate, thorough and comprehensive process over time to understand the meanings. Multiple perspectives and the relational dynamic within our team helped to check our own biases and to clearly grasp the view of our participants. The findings of this study represent an in-depth analysis of the perspectives of six licensed mental health professionals with experience diagnosing and working with clients who are diagnosed with ODD that may apply to some degree to working with similar populations and contexts. Life and professional experiences of the researchers and par- ticipants, however, naturally interact and influence our understandings of the meanings of the data. As such, different combinations of research team members, participants, or contexts could reveal similar, additional or different findings in a similar study. Finally, two graduate student members of the initial research team graduated before data analysis commenced; therefore, we had fewer coders than originally planned. Additional coders would have provided other perspectives on the data and may have further enhanced the meaning-making process. Conclusion and Future Research A mental health diagnosis such as ODD has destructive potential when not used properly. Profes- sional counselors, then, have social power in their capacity to diagnose a client with a mental disorder (APA, 2013; Prilleltensky, 2008). Such power requires that counselors cultivate awareness of personal and professional biases that may influence the diagnostic process. Factors driving the diagnostic process extend beyond the mental health needs of the client and can play a critical role in assessment. Contextual explanations, including historic and systemic contexts, must be considered before a diag- nosis is given. Attending to the role of counselor bias to prevent overdiagnosis is an ethical responsi- bility for which counselor educators and practicing counselors must hold themselves accountable.