TPC Journal-Vol 10- Issue 3-FULL ISSUE

The Professional Counselor | Volume 10, Issue 3 397 to engage in emotional disclosures in the language-switching conditions than the participants in the English-only settings (Ramos-Sánchez, 2007). The findings also suggested that ethnic and language differences or similarities between clients and counselors did not have a significant impact on the participants’ perceptions of counselor credibility and multicultural competency (Ramos-Sánchez, 2009). It is notable to mention that the Mexican American English-only speaking counselors were rated the highest among all counselors. Moreover, the European American bilingual counselors were rated higher than the Mexican American bilingual counselors. The findings support the idea that strong counseling relationships can be established despite ethnic differences between counselors and clients. Additionally, the findings may speak to the importance of training both Latinx and non-Latinx counselors on bilingual counseling in order to support Spanish–English-speaking clients (Ramos-Sánchez, 2007, 2009). The primary limitations among the aforementioned studies (Pérez Rojas et al., 2014; Ramos-Sánchez, 2007, 2009) include having a small sample size and using volunteer college students in a controlled laboratory setting as opposed to actual clients. Although the participant group in Rolland et al.’s (2017) study consisted of actual clients, the study relied on the participants’ recollections of their counseling experiences and did not include the perspectives of counselors. Counselor Perspectives Nine articles (Costa & Dewaele, 2014; Johal, 2017; Kokaliari et al., 2013; Mirza et al., 2017; Nguyen, 2014; Santiago-Rivera et al., 2009; Trepal et al., 2014; Vaquero &Williams, 2019; Verdinelli & Biever, 2009) offered counselors’ perspectives on bilingualism in the counseling process and its impact on therapeutic relationships. Of those articles, six studies (Kokaliari et al., 2013; Mirza et al., 2017; Santiago-Rivera et al., 2009; Trepal et al., 2014; Vaquero &Williams, 2019; Verdinelli & Biever, 2009) were conducted in the United States. In terms of counselor theoretical orientations, this present review found two articles (Kokaliari et al., 2013; Nguyen, 2014) with psychoanalytic/psychodynamic framework, whereas some studies included counselors from a wide range of theoretical orientations. For example, the participants in Costa and Dewaele’s study (2014) employed integrative approaches, cognitive behavior therapy, systemic approaches, and psychodynamic therapy. A qualitative study (Santiago-Rivera et al., 2009) with nine Spanish–English-speaking counselors reported using cognitive behavior, person-centered, family systems, psychodynamic, and/or psychoanalytic theory in their practice. Of these nine articles, six articles (Kokaliari et al., 2013; Mirza et al., 2017; Santiago-Rivera et al., 2009; Trepal et al., 2014; Vaquero & Williams, 2019; Verdinelli & Biever, 2009) explored bilingual counselors’ insights into working with linguistically diverse clients. Three articles in particular (Santiago-Rivera et al., 2009; Vaquero & Williams, 2019; Verdinelli & Biever, 2009) involved Spanish–English-speaking bilingual counselors, and four articles included bilingual and multilingual counselors with various language combinations. One article (Costa & Dewaele, 2014) included both monolingual and bilingual counselors, and one article (Mirza et al., 2017) focused on a monolingual counselor’s experience working with bilingual mediators to support clients whose primary language was not English. Perceived Challenges The existing studies suggested that utilization of more than one language within therapeutic relationships could become a source of anxiety for some counselors. The factors associated with their anxiety included speaking a different dominant language than clients, counseling clients in languages other than English despite receiving their training only in English, having an accent that is not familiar to clients, and being an entry-level counselor. Verdinelli and Biever (2009) indicated that some of the native Spanish-speaking bilingual counselors in their study perceived potential difficulty communicating with native English-speaking clients and were concerned about how their clients perceived their accents.