Counselling Chinese-Canadian Adolescents

Ethnic diversity has become an important consideration in counselling. Canada has
become a diverse nation with individuals from different cultural backgrounds living in Canada.
Counsellors and experts in the psychology field have been forced to adopt culturally appropriate
techniques that will help counselling achieve its goals and objectives. Chinese Canadian
adolescents are one group that requires the special application of certain techniques. Adolescence
is a complicated phase, and individuals in the adolescent stage require special attention and
special care. Parenting styles, as well as adjustment, could have a bearing on the life of Chinese
Canadian adolescents.
One of the techniques that are applied in psychology is psychotherapy. Psychotherapy
can help Chinese Canadian adolescents to achieve symptom relief, personality change and help
in the prevention of symptomatic episodes. Psychotherapy is also useful in increasing the quality
of life as well as helping individuals to improve their adaptive functioning as well as improve
their work and relationships (Vasquez, 2007). Research has documented that psychotherapy has
a wide application and is useful in treating a wide range of psychological problems and
conditions. Persons taken through psychotherapy have been found to be less distressed compared
to individuals who are not taken through psychotherapy. Psychological interventions have been
seen to be equally or more effective than medications. They are advantageous and are less
dangerous compared to medications that pose some degree of risk.
In treating clients using psychological interventions, one of the main factors that need to
be considered is therapeutic alliance. The therapeutic alliance is one of the factors that can
contribute to or hinder the effectiveness of psychological interventions (Vasquez, 2007).
Therapeutic alliance alludes to the quality of involvement that exists between the therapist and

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the client or patient. The alliance dictates certain factors such as teamwork and personal rapport.
The contribution of the therapist to the alliance plays an important role. There exists a body of
research on how the therapeutic relationship can be enhanced. Research suggests that therapeutic
alliance should be the primary point of attention in psychotherapy and other psychological
interventions. The success or failure of psychological interventions is built on therapeutic
alliance. When clients from diverse cultural backgrounds are involved, the therapeutic alliance
requires special considerations (Vasquez, 2007). Ethnic minorities such as Chinese Canadian
adolescents have a tendency of underusing psychotherapy services. While there are many
reasons that can explain the underutilization of psychotherapy, one of the main reasons that have
been brought forward is that minority clients do not experience therapeutic alliances (Collins,
2018). Cultural misunderstandings, as well as miscommunication between the therapist and the
patient, also contribute to the underutilization of psychotherapy by minority clients.
Psychologists who offer services to Chinese Canadian adolescents have a responsibility
to accommodate all clients who seek help. All clients who have problems that fall under the
scope of the psychologist’s competence must be accorded the necessary care without any form of
discrimination. Psychologists have a duty to refer clients to relevant experts if they feel that they
cannot accord the clients with the best care possible (Lam, 2001). One problem associated with
this is that psychologists may not be aware of when they cannot develop an effective therapeutic
alliance, especially when clients stem from diverse backgrounds (Vasquez, 2007). One way
through which psychologists can work on this is to ensure that they create adequate opportunities
that enable the clients to express their reactions. Clients have a tendency of deferring and
concealing negative reactions. While concealing feelings is normal, it can have an adverse
impact on the therapeutic alliance (Lam, 2001). Psychologists counselling clients who are drawn

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from the minority population must work towards ensuring that they are aware of any negative
reactions that the clients may have in relation to the treatment. Minority clients are accustomed
to offences on a regular basis, and this may result in editing their responses on a daily basis.
They may fail to show negative reactions, and this could be detrimental to the process of
counselling.
Minority clients are more likely to achieve positive outcomes if they are matched with
therapists from the same cultural background. To this end, Chinese Canadian adolescents are
more likely to bond with Chines Canadian psychologists. In many instances, such matches may
not be actualized. The matches may not guarantee positive health outcomes. Clinicians and
therapists have to rely on psychological research to advance their cultural competency and, in so
doing, cater for the needs of minority clients (Lam, 2001). Psychotherapists and clinicians
occupy a position of power. The power position that they occupy in the treatment process helps
them to inspire changes in the lives of the clients.
Psychotherapists must, however, be careful about how they use the position of power that
they occupy (Vasquez, 2007). In counselling Chinese Canadian adolescents, psychotherapists
must ensure that they do not abuse the power that they have to effect positive change on the life
of the client. Psychotherapists must be aware of cultural stereotypes that exist in a society that
has a negative bearing on the lives of Chinese Canadian adolescents (Collins, 2018). Chinese
Canadian adolescents are vulnerable to negative judgements and rejections. The history of
oppressive and rejecting experiences complicate the psychological treatment process. Therapists
must therefore ensure that they do not negatively judge the clients and must embrace the
appropriate body language, facial expressions, and eye contact.

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Social structures that exist in society have an implication on the counselling process.
Social structures in society can result in unintentional bias that can have an implication on the
psychological treatment process. Barriers can have a bearing on university admissions,
employment, and the economic advancement of members of a minority group. In many
instances, racism tendencies are unintended. Whites may often exhibit negative body language
when dealing with people who are different from them (Collins, 2018). They may be unaware of
the impact that this behavior has on the other person. In contrast, members of minority groups
are often aware of the negative body language that whites exhibit in such settings. Studies in the
field of neuroscience have revealed further details associated with race. The use of magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) has been used to study brains. The procedure is non-invasive, and this
helps neuroscientists to examine healthy brains (Vasquez, 2007). The use of MRI studies has
helped in the examination of the bias that different races have when they encounter individuals
from various racial backgrounds. Race-based perceptions are deeply rooted in individuals.
Psychotherapists must thus be aware that they may have an unintentional bias toward members
of the minority groups, and this bias could have a bearing on the treatment process of Chinese
Canadian adolescents.
Bias, both intentional and unintentional, can affect the quality of services delivered to
Chinese Canadian adolescents. It is therefore important for psychotherapists and other
psychological experts to ensure that they overcome the bias and, in so doing, take care of the
needs of clients from diverse cultures (Collins, 2018). When a white therapist has negative
stereotypes towards a Chinese Canadian adolescent, they are unlikely to empathize with the
needs and struggles of the patient (Lam, 2001). Empathy is important in all psychological
processes, and this means that any factor that could pose a threat to the empathy process should

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be discouraged. A psychotherapist must be flexible when dealing with members of minority
groups. They must ensure that they facilitate positive affect since this has a bearing on the
therapeutic alliance. Therapists who are involved with Chinese Canadian adolescents must
consider cultural factors that are unique to this group of clients. They must consider the issues
associated with adjustment and ensure that these issues affect how they perceive problems that
the clients may be experiencing. In certain instances, it may be plausible to use nondirect
interaction styles. Authoritarian stances when dealing with Chinese Canadian adolescents may
put off the clients. The implication is that therapists must stay away from such an approach since
it is likely to create problems. Multicultural sensitivity is one of the main guidelines that is
advanced by the American Psychological Association (APA) (Vasquez, 2007). The approach
should be used in dealing with Chinese Canadian adolescents. Understanding important aspects
such as the worldview might be helpful in creating a strong therapeutic relationship.
Psychologists must endeavor to understand the perspective of the clients and work towards
ensuring that they form a strong relationship with the client.
When Chinese families migrate to Canada, the children encounter a new context. Their
beliefs, values, and traditional practices are challenged. According to the orthogonal model of
cultural adaptation, acculturation can take place in four different ways. First, an individual
separate from the new culture and chooses to follow their heritage culture. Secondly, a person
exclusively follows the mainstream culture and this is known as assimilation. Another
occurrence is integration where an individual strikes a balance between their heritage culture and
the mainstream culture (Prout & Brown, 2017). The fourth way is marginalization where an
immigrant chooses neither the mainstream culture nor the heritage culture.

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Studies show that children in immigrant families tend to follow the values and norms of
the mainstream culture (Yoo & Miller, 2011). However, their parents choose a different path and
tend to retain values, norms, and practices that are consistent with their heritage culture.
Additionally, adolescents who chose the integration culture where they retain elements of their
heritage culture and adopt features of the mainstream culture tend to show optimal sociological
and psychological outcomes. Chinese-Canadian adolescents tend to encounter two opposing
cultures. The distinctness of the two cultures makes it difficult for them to fully integrate as there
are aspects of each culture that are not compatible. This makes it more difficult for Chinese-
Canadian adolescents to achieve and maintain a healthy sociological and psychological
adjustment.
The adolescence stage is a critical stage for the development of young people. It is during
this stage that they seek to identify their identity as they assert their autonomy. Counselors in
Chinese and Canadian societies are confronted with the problem of parent-child conflict and
parenting stress. Specifically, within Chinse-Canadian families, the difficulties encountered due
to disparities in child-family acculturation exacerbates these stresses. Counselors thus must
understand that most Chinse-Canadian adolescents struggle to identify a stable sense of self. As
they struggle with this, they also have to adapt and negotiate their responsibilities and roles as
per the values of expectations of their heritage culture as well as the mainstream culture. When
dealing with Chinese-Canadian adolescents, counselors must examine he psychological
adjustment of their clients before counselling them. They must get as much information as
possible about their clients’ cultures to be able to form an accurate conceptualization of their
needs.

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Psychological adjustments among adolescents are directly influenced by parental warmth.
Studies show that adolescents who show low levels of psychological adjustments report having
controlling parents. In some instances, however, it is not the presence of parental control that
affects psychological outcomes, but rather the perceptions that adolescents have towards parental
warmth. Thus, psychotherapists and counsellors providing services to Chinese-Canadian
adolescents should widen their scope and provide services to families and parents of these
adolescents (Yoo & Miller, 2011). Parent education in schools is a great way to ensure that as
counsellors deal with adolescents, the problem is addressed appropriately and that the parents are
made aware of their role in facilitating their children’s psychological adjustment. Further,
psychotherapists should provide psychoeducation to parents or a group of targeted parents
depending on the needs of their children to ensure that they understand power, boundaries, and
circular causation (Prout & Brown, 2017). Having this knowledge will increase the parent’s
understanding of Western ideas and how their children are affected as they try to adjust into new
environments.
Counsellors could also provide services directed towards assisting parents of Chinese-
Canadian adolescents understand the importance of the development of their children in the
mainstream culture. They can do this by associating psychological wellness with academic
achievement. Research findings support certain psychoeducation approaches that counsellors can
use to enhance parental awareness. For example, although ten percent of a child’s academic
success is attributed to their IQ, there are certain social factors that can affect academic success
(Yoo & Miller, 2011). These may include social-emotional competence that is a product of
parental interaction and influence on a child. When counselors engage parents, they orient them

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to issues and factors that affect the psychological wellness of their adolescent children and this
paves the way for improved parenting and consequent enhanced psychological outcomes.
Further, when dealing with Chinese-Canadians, counselors can help validate their
confusing experiences and feelings about adjusting in a new environment. They can reassure
them by helping them understand that acculturation takes time and it is often a complex
experience as one has to balance between two distinct and sometimes opposing cultural values,
beliefs, and practices. Counsellors can enhance adaptation of adolescents into mainstream culture
by first understanding specific areas that the client is struggling with and then coming up with a
pan on how to help them to effectively adapt.
Psychotherapists and counsellors dealing with Chinese-Canadian adolescents can also use
group counselling. It is an effective strategy used to enhance acceptance and it can give the
adolescents a sense of belonging. Group counselling has been proven to be an effective strategy
that helps counter some of the difficulties associated with integrating and adjusting into
mainstream culture (Yoo & Miller, 2011). In most cases, adolescents may experience withdrawal
and alienation. They may find it hard to interact with their peers because of the outright cultural
differences that exist. However, when they go through group counselling, they experience role-
play are assisted in acquiring a coherent bicultural identity.
The acknowledgement and acceptance of an in-between cultural identity is crucial to
understanding the needs of Chinese-Canadian adolescents. Counselors should avoid the
prevalence of constructing a definite identity. Some clients like in this case will not identify as
either Chinese or Canadians but as in-betweens (Fang & Huang, 2020). As the adolescents strive
to acquire the new sense of identity, the psychotherapist should ensure that they do not view
multiplicity and elasticity as a problem in these clients. It is their identity and they should be

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helped without being shown the need to choose between either identifying as Chinese or strictly
as Canadians. Besides, some of the immigrants are able to balance the culture outside their
homes with the culture of their families. Besides, the symbols and meanings of a culture do not
have a primordial unity. As such, counsellors dealing with these clients must move beyond the
constraints of cultural identities as such categorical notions will affect their clients negatively.
Instead, they should strive to create a dialogical space that neither privileges coherence neither
pathologizes contradictions (Katsiaficas et al., 2011). By so doing, they will be able to meet the
needs of their clients more efficiently.
Additionally, the counsellor should develop cultural literacy that is free of bias. As the
counselor learns about the immigrant’s culture, they need to understand that they will be
incorporating new information through their own lens and interpretation of the new culture and
the world in general. As such, as they develop cultural literacy, they must be aware of this filter
which is their own bias. Counselor bias can hinder the success of their treatment. According to
Sue et al. (2019), a therapist can follow a tripartite model to developing cultural competence
which entails acquiring self-awareness or building knowledge on one’s bias, developing cultural
literacy and lastly applying one’s professional skills through a multicultural frame. The standard
helps ensure that therapists demonstrate multicultural competence and this helps ensure that their
clients benefit regardless of their cultural background (Prout & Brown, 2017). At the minimum,
a counselor dealing with Chinese-Canadian adolescents should apply treatment approaches that
are culturally responsive (Collins, 2018). Additional, cultural awareness and competency are not
fixed. One can continually grow and build on their skills and knowledge through being open to
learning and having an open worldview.

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Overall, counseling Chinese-Canadian adolescents as is the case with dealing with any
other group of immigrants entails establishing a therapeutic relationship. The relationship
between the counselor and adolescent also extends to include the client’s culture as well as
family. Thus, even as the therapist comes up with a treatment pan, they must consider the
interaction of variables. Most importantly, the psychotherapist must possess good cultural
awareness and understand how the values and beliefs between the two involved cultures interact
as well as how they affect the child. Thus, multicultural counselling competence is necessary for
any therapist dealing with Chinese-Canadian adolescents.

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References

Collins, S. (Ed.). (2018). Embracing cultural responsivity and social justice: Re-shaping
professional identity in counselling psychology. Counselling Concepts. [ISBN 978-0-
9738085-3-7 (PDF)]
Collins, S. (Ed.). (2018). Embracing cultural responsivity and social justice: Re-shaping
professional identity in counselling psychology. Counselling Concepts. [ISBN 978-0-
9738085-3-7 (PDF)]
Fang, L., & Huang, Y. T. (2020). “I’m in Between”: Cultural Identities of Chinese Youth in
Canada. Families in Society, 101(2), 205-218.
Katsiaficas, D., Futch, V. A., Fine, M., & Sirin, S. R. (2011). Everyday hyphens: Exploring
youth identities with methodological and analytic pluralism. Qualitative Research in
Psychology, 8(2), 120-139.
Lam, C. M. (2001). Adolescent development in the context of Canadian-Chinese immigrant
families: A theoretical framework. Canadian Social Work Review/Revue canadienne de
service social, 177-191.
Prout, H. T., & Brown, D. T. (Eds.). (2017). Counseling and psychotherapy with children and
adolescents: Theory and practice for school and clinical settings. John Wiley and Sons.
Sue, D. W., Sue, D., Neville, H. A., & Smith, L. (2019). Counseling the culturally diverse:
Theory and practice. John Wiley & Sons.
Vasquez, M. J. (2007). Cultural difference and the therapeutic alliance: an evidence-based
analysis. American Psychologist, 62(8), 878.

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Yoo, C. S., & Miller, L. D. (2011). Culture and Parenting: Psychological Adjustment Among
Chinese Canadian Adolescents. Canadian Journal of Counselling and
Psychotherapy, 45(1), 34-52.