As we begin to wrap the year up, I thought of sharing two books with you.

Diversity, Culture and Counselling: A Canadian Perspective:  by Geoffrey Hett, M. Honoré France, Maria del Carmen Rodriguez  is based on the belief of diversity and the importance of culture, that multicultural counselling offers an approach to working with people from different ethnic, racial, religious backgrounds and sexual orientations. Understanding the causes and costs of stereotypes and biases is vital if counsellors are to bridge the ethnic and racial divide. Being secure in one’s own identity, culturally and racially, can only help to ensure that people accept and respect individual and collective differences. This book provides necessary background information relative to many of the diverse cultural groups in Canada .Canadian society encompasses a variety of cultural, ethnic and religious groups. It is essential for the counsellor to understand the beliefs and thought processes of individuals within these various groups in order to establish rapport and understanding, as well as to make the counselled individual feel comfortable.

Using as a starting point the pioneering work of Clemmont E. Vontress, the contributors to Counseling Across and Beyond Cultures trace the evolution of multicultural counseling and discuss remaining challenges for practitioners. Essays include a personal reflection by Vontress himself, critical analyses of the growth of multicultural counseling, considerations of his influence in Canada and the UK, and African and Caribbean perspectives on his work. Throughout, the importance of Vontress’s accomplishments are celebrated, while critical analysis points the way towards further work to be done in the field.  The book focuses on the fact that professional counseling is a dynamic field, necessarily changing to reflect shifting societal norms and client needs. In an increasingly multicultural and globalized society, there is a growing need for counselors to be sensitive to the diverse needs of clients expressing different cultural and ethnic beliefs and facets of racial, gender, sexual, age, ability, disability, or class identities.