Preface

For over four decades, Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice (CCD) has been considered the “gold standard” in culturally competent mental health care. Its cutting‐edge presentation of multicultural counseling and therapy (MCT) is used in an overwhelming majority of graduate training programs in counseling and clinical psychology, and it has produced generations of culturally sensitive mental health practitioners. It now forms the multicultural knowledge base of licensing and certification exams at both the masters and the doctoral levels in psychology. In 2021, Social Science Space identified the book as one of the most important works across social science disciplines that has contributed to the ongoing need to understand, analyze, resist, and dismantle racism, bias, and bigotry. In essence, CCD has become a “classic” in the field of mental health practice, and leads the profession in the theory, research, and practice of MCT.

CCD upholds the highest standards of scholarship, and is the most frequently cited source in multicultural psychology and mental health. The expert and global perspectives of the four co‐authors, each active researchers and practitioners in the field, strengthen the newly minted ninth edition of CCD. As a result, instructors will note the continued fresh, scholarly, and exciting perspective in the content of CCD, as it continues to rank as the most up‐to‐date text in the field.

CHANGES TO CCD

Much new research has been conducted on multicultural counseling, cultural competence, and social justice advocacy, alternative roles of helping professionals, White allyship, microaggression/microintervention theory, and culture‐specific interventions over the past few years. In essence, the topical areas covered in each chapter continue to anchor multicultural counseling coverage. As a result, while many chapters remain similar, each has undergone major revisions; some are quite extensive in the updating of references, introduction of new research and concepts, and discussion of future directions in counseling, therapy, and mental health.

Additionally, in light of the current societal upheaval and political bias and bigotry directed toward marginalized groups in our nation, one of the lenses used to analyze mental health practice must be sociopolitical in nature. To avoid doing so or to discuss these concepts superficially are to continue the oppression and silencing of diverse populations. Thus, we have updated and in some cases expanded our coverage of how such factors influence the profession. Studying systems of oppression is a necessary step to cultural competence. We consider it a serious omission not to discuss counseling diverse populations without acknowledging and dissecting the issues of marginality, oppression, and the current sociopolitical climate on mental health practice.

For example, the horrendous murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, and the historical and continuing killing of unarmed Black Americans, our nation has seemingly experienced a racial awakening of its racist historical past, and its continuing oppression, denigration, and silencing of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). Further, the COVID‐19 pandemic has laid bare the existence of systemic racism, and while it threatens the well‐being of humankind as a whole, it has most affected communities of color and poorer ones. Counseling and psychotherapy with marginalized group members do not occur in a vacuum. Issues of individual and systemic bias, prejudice and discrimination often rear their ugly heads in mental health practice. Being culturally competent requires practitioners to confront themselves as racial/cultural beings, to acknowledge the institutional biases of the mental health profession, and to change systems of oppression in our society.

EFFICIENT UP‐TO‐DATE COVERAGE

We maintain our two‐part division of the book, with 11 separate chapters in Section 1: The Multiple Dimensions of Multicultural Counseling and Therapy, and 13 population‐specific chapters in Section 2: Multicultural Counseling and Specific Populations. We introduce Section 2 by providing a chapter, “Culturally Competent Assessment” (Chapter 11), that ends Section 1 and transitions to Section 2. This transition chapter outlines the many variables that influence assessment, diagnosis, and case conceptualization—which guide the reader's understanding of each specific population to follow. All have been thoroughly updated using common topical headings (when possible) that allow better cross‐comparisons between and among the groups. Readers familiar with the eighth edition will note the incorporation of new information on transgender communities within the LGBTQ chapter. We have also combined several chapters to form a new one on Religious Communities.

We have heard from some textbook adopters that the breadth and depth of coverage of CCD has made it very difficult for instructors and students to digest the amount of material in a single course. This is a very legitimate concern but we would like to make several points.

First, although there may be differences of opinion, we have identified the first 11 chapters in Section 1 as providing the basic principles of cultural competence that can be applied across multicultural populations. These are foundational building blocks of multicultural counseling and therapy, which we believe all practitioners must acquire in order to move toward cultural competency. In our classes, for example, the first eleven chapters are mandatory for a semester course.

Second, although it would be ideal if all of Section 2, with the 13 specific populations could be covered, we never expected that all these chapters could be digested in a single course. Rather, we envisioned instructors selecting Section Two chapters that they felt were important for students to master. Some may choose to focus on racial/ethnic populations, others on sexual orientation and gender identity, others on poverty and disability, or any combination of special populations. Other instructors have used the special population chapters to allow students with interest in a particular group to do class presentations and term papers. Section 2 allows considerable flexibility and has unique appeal to professors and students.

Third, to aid in making the material less overwhelming, we have condensed, summarized, streamlined, and eliminated certain subtopics. In one case, two chapters were combined. We have tried our best to do so without violating the integrity of the content. Each of the major chapters (1 through 11) has been shortened but the special population chapters have maintained their original length. This latter decision was based on our belief that further shortening would result in the chapters having a “checklist” quality. Further, we are also aware that most instructors do not assign all special population chapters, but rather choose the ones most relevant to their classes.

Despite shortening major sections of the text, new advances and important changes in multicultural counseling suggest additional areas that need to be addressed. These include updating concepts to be consistent with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM‐5) categories and principles, the multicultural guidelines of the American Psychological Association, the American Counseling Association's (ACA) multicultural and social justice competencies, and Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs (CACREP) standards.

We also include the most recent research and theoretical formulations that introduce and analyze emerging important multicultural topics. These include the concept of “cultural humility” as a domain of cultural competence; the important roles of White allies in the struggle for equal rights; the emerging call for social justice counseling; the important concept of “minority stress” and its implications in work with marginalized populations; a new focus on microinterventions; reviewing and introducing the most recent research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) issues; major research developments in the manifestation, dynamics, and impact of microaggressions; and many others.

PEDAGOGICAL STRENGTHS

One of the main goals of the eighth edition has been to better engage students in the material and allow them to become active participants in digesting multicultural counseling concepts. We have increased our focus on pedagogy by providing instructors with exercises and activities to facilitate experiential learning for students. We open every chapter with broad chapter objectives, followed by more specific—and oftentimes controversial—reflection and discussion questions interspersed throughout, which allow for more concentrated and detailed discussion by students on identifiable topical areas.

Further, every chapter opens with a clinical vignette, longer narrative, or situational example that previews the major concepts and issues discussed within. Many of these are new and serve to anchor the multicultural chapter focus questions issues to follow. They add life and meaning to the chapter concepts and research. They serve as prompts to address the opening “course objectives,” but instructors and trainers can also use them as discussion questions throughout the course or workshop. To further stimulate interest and meaning to multicultural counseling...