One of the most impactful topics that I took from this semester was the idea of cultural humility. Prior to this course, I had always learned about cultural competency which led me to believe that I needed to be well informed about every cultural group that I may encounter. I have since learned that while it is important to have in-depth general knowledge about various types of cultural groups, it is ABSOLUTELY crazy to think that one person can know everything about every possible cultural group they may encounter as a social worker. This is why I now use the term cultural humility rather than culturally competent.
What cultural humility breaks down to is that we as a human can only know so much about those around us. It is not humanly possible to know everything there is to know about the endless number of cultural groups that we may encounter as social workers. After all, no one knows more about a specific culture than those who make up that group. This is why it is important to be humble and learn from the experts (our clients).
Say, for example, I am meeting a family for the first time during a home visit. I know prior to the visit that the family immigrated to the area from Mexico fairly recently.
Culturally competent approach: “There is a long history of patriarchy in Hispanic family systems. I should talk directly to the father, he is probably the head of the household.”
Cultural Humility approach: “I have worked with a lot of Hispanic families in the past. Each family is so unique within their own culture. I wonder what new knowledge I will gain from working with this family? I know that historically Mexico is a patriarchal society, but I will wait to see how the family behaves before making any assumptions.”
I found this website to be very helpful in breaking down cultural humility and explaining the differences from cultural competency: https://hogg.utexas.edu/3-things-to-know-cultural-humility
The use of cultural humility is something that I will continue to use as a social work student and carry into my social work career. One aspect of social work is a commitment to life long learning, and with a cultural humility approach there is always something new to learn from those around us!