Combining Substance Abuse Treatment With Intermediate Sanctions for Adults in the Criminal Justice System
Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series 12

Cultural Competence and Proficiency

• Attitudes are less ethnocentric and biased.
• Policies are more flexible and culturally impartial.
• Practices are more congruent with the culture of client from initial contact to assessment.
• The system:

  -Values diversity and respects its worth.

  -Culturally assesses itself.

  -Understands the dynamics of difference

  -Institutionalizes the value of both cultural competence and cultural proficiency.

  -Adapts to diversity.

  -Has a value base for both.

  -Incorporates valid research into the care process.

Cultural Competence Checklist

Check the items which are true of you. Hint: The more true, the better! However, don't kid yourself about how well you see yourself perform in these areas. Get feedback from others as well as rating yourself. When I belong to the dominant culture: I am aware that I am part of a dominant culture, and know how its dynamics work. I listen to people of other cultures when they tell me how my culture affects them. I have a philosophy of fairness and I let others in my culture know about my commitment. I realize that people of other cultures have fresh ideas and different perspectives to bring to my life and my organization. I work to make sure that members of other cultures are heard and are respected for their differences. I coach others on how to succeed in my culture. I tell them the unwritten rules and show them what they need to do in order to function better. I ensure that my subordinates and colleagues from other cultures are prepared for what they have to do to meet the demands of my culture. When I train or coach others, I do not put them down or undermine the value of their differences. I give others my personal support and loyalty even if they are rejected or criticized by members of my culture. I am aware that outsiders to my culture recognize my cultural peculiarities better than I do and I go to them for information about the effect of things that I do and say. I recognize how stress causes individuals to revert to older and narrower beliefs and the desire to make onself and one's culture right and others wrong. I apologize when I have done something inappropriate that offends someone of a different background. When answerable to or reporting to someone of a different culture, I deal directly with that person and avoid the tendency to "go over his or her head" to a person of my own culture. I make others aware of unfair traditions, rules, and ways of behaving in my culture or organization that keep them out. I acknowledge people for what they have accomplished in terms that make them feel recognized in their own right, not just because they have been useful to me. I resist the temptation to make another group the scapegoat when something goes wrong. I give others honest yet sensitive feedback about how they perform on the job. I have learned to give feedback to people of other cultures in a way that is sensitive yet clear and useful. I distribute information, copies, results, etc., to whomever should get them regardless of cultural differences. I go out of my way to recruit, select, train, and promote people from outside the dominant culture. Despite the fact that I may naturally feel less comfortable with them, I see this as one of my responsibilities as a manager. When I don't belong to the dominant culture: I realize that, because of my background, I have something distinctive to contribute to the place or organization in which I find myself. Even when rejected, I take pride in my culture. I take steps to build by self-esteem and the self-esteem of others who, like me, do not belong to the dominant culture. While I know that I do not have to lose my cultural distinctiveness to fit in, I realize that I may have to learn new information and skills that will enable me to succeed in the dominate culture. I look for and cultivate relationships with members of the dominant culture who help me "read between the lines" to understand the unwritten rules about "how the system works." When I succeed in the dominant culture, I am careful not to make myself an exception or separate myself from others of my background. I share what I learn about the dominant culture with others like myself. I recognize that when under pressure, I tend to revert to older and narrower beliefs and want to make myself and my culture right and others wrong. I sympathize and collaborate with other nondominant groups to achieve common objectives in the dominant culture. I resist the inclination to cluster exclusively with my own kind of people or exclusively with people from the dominant culture when I am in mixed company. I resist blaming the dominant group for everything that goes wrong. I know how to present distinctive features of my culture and its points of view in ways that others can hear and understand. I can respect individuals of other cultures and treat them fairly even though I may be fiercely committed to conflicting political goals. I know how to refresh myself from the wellsprings of my own culture when I am exhausted by trying to understand and work in the dominant culture. I resist the temptation to make another group the scapegoat when something goes wrong.