Experiential Activities and Multicultural Counseling Competence Training

JOURNAL OF COUNSELING & DEVELOPMENT • FALL 2003 • VOLUME 81400

The growing number of ethnic and racial minorities in the United States during the past four decades has led to an increased attention to the unique needs of these individuals (Atkinson, Morten, & Sue, 1998). This attention has been

further heightened by research findings, which show thatmany minority individuals tend to underutilize and pre-maturely terminate from counseling services (Atkinson,Morten, et al., 1998; Cheung & Snowden, 1990). As a result,the theoretical and empirical literature on ways in whichcounselors can provide more culturally relevant and sensitiveservices has increasingly highlighted the importance of therelationship between counselors’ multicultural counselingcompetence and positive counseling outcome (e.g., Atkinson,Morten, et al., 1998; Ponterotto, Casas, Suzuki, & Alexander,1995; Sue & Sue, 1999). Concomitantly, at the professionallevel, the attention to ethnic minorities’ cultural needs hasled to changes in the ethical guidelines of both the AmericanCounseling Association (ACA; 1995) and the AmericanPsychological Association (1992), which made it unethicalfor counselors to serve ethnic minority clients without hav-ing multicultural competence.

In general, the attention to multicultural counseling com-petence, at both the scholarly and professional levels of thecounseling profession, has led to greater awareness aboutthe components of multicultural competence—awareness,knowledge, and skills—and the need for counselors to ac-quire these aspects of competence before serving ethnicminority clients. However, although currently there is anincreasing body of literature describing these components,surprisingly little has been written about how to teach themto counselor trainees. Therefore, the purpose of this articleis to address this shortcoming in the multicultural counsel-ing literature by describing a method of instillingmulticultural competence in counselor trainees. The method

focuses on the use of experiential activities, in general, andgames, in particular.

The acknowledgment of the important relationship be-tween counselors’ multicultural competence and positivecounseling outcomes has been noted widely in various pro-fessional documents. For instance, the ACA (1995) Code ofEthics, section A.2.b states,

Counselors will actively attempt to understand the diverse cul-tural backgrounds of the clients with whom they work. This in-cludes, but is not limited to, learning how the counselor’s owncultural/ethnic/racial identity impacts her/his values and beliefsabout the counseling process. (p. 2)

Similarly, the importance of counselors having multiculturalawareness and sensitivity has been codified in documentsthat guide counselor training. For example, The 2001 Stan-dards of the Council for Accreditation of Counseling andRelated Educational Programs (CACREP; 2001) mandatedthat CACREP-accredited counselor education programs pro-vide their students with knowledge and training experiencesregarding cultural diversity. This includes an understandingof the cultural context of relationships and issues and trendsin a multicultural and diverse society. The document alsospecified that the counselor education programs providelearning opportunities for trainees to gain a culturally sen-sitive attitude and beliefs, cultural knowledge, and cultur-ally relevant counseling skills.

One document that arguably had the biggest impact ontraining culturally competent counselors is the position pa-per on cross-cultural counseling competencies written bySue et al. (1982). Sue et al. (1982) referred to cross-culturalcounseling as any counseling relationship involving two ormore participants who differ in their cultural background,values, and lifestyle. Within this contextual definition, thedocument outlined three dimensions of cultural competence

Bryan S. K. Kim and Heather Z. Lyons, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland. Bryan S. K. Kim is now at the Gevirtz Graduate School ofEducation, University of California, Santa Barbara. The authors thank Karen M. O’Brien and Jamila N. Codrington for their helpful comments on draftsof the article. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Bryan S. K. Kim, Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology Program, GevirtzGraduate School of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9490 (e-mail: [email protected]).

Experiential Activities and Multicultural CounselingCompetence Training

Bryan S. K. Kim and Heather Z. Lyons

Counselor’s multicultural counseling competence (attitudes/beliefs, knowledge, and skills) has been highlighted as an impor-tant ingredient in creating positive counseling outcomes when the clients are ethnic and racial minorities. The use of experientialactivities in general, and games in particular, is presented as a potentially useful strategy to instill and enhance multiculturalcompetence in counselor trainees. Illustrative games and guidelines for implementation are described.

© 2003 by the American Counseling Association. All rights reserved. pp. 400–408

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M u l t i c u l t u r a l C o u n s e l i n g C o m p e t e n c e Tr a i n i n g

that characterize culturally skilled counselors: beliefs andattitudes, knowledge, and skills. For each dimension, descrip-tions of a culturally competent counselor were presented.For example, Sue et al. (1982) suggested for the beliefs andattitudes dimension that a culturally skilled counselor is“aware of his/her own values and biases and how they mayaffect minority clients” (p. 49). For the knowledge dimen-sion, the authors noted that a culturally competent counse-lor has “specific knowledge and information about the par-ticular group he/she is working with” (p. 49). Also, regardingthe skills dimension, Sue et al. (1982) suggested that a cul-turally skilled counselor “must be able to send and receiveboth verbal and non-verbal messages accurately and ‘appro-priately’” (p. 49).

The follow-up revisions of the competencies in Sue,Arredondo, and McDavis (1992) and in Arredondo et al.(1996) provided additional explication of the multiculturalcounseling competencies. In Sue et al. (1992), the three di-mensions of competence (beliefs and attitudes, knowledge,and skills) were further delineated within the following threeareas of focus: (a) counselor awareness of assumptions, values,and biases; (b) understanding the worldview of the culturallydifferent client; and (c) developing appropriate interventionstrategies and techniques. For each of these areas, descrip-tions were offered of how the three dimensions of compe-tencies might be observed in a culturally competent coun-selor. To further operationalize the competencies,Arredondo et al. described how the three dimensions ofcompetencies, within each of the three areas of focus, mightbe attained. For example, within the area of counselorawareness of cultural assumptions, values, and biases andunder the beliefs and attitudes dimension, Arredondo et al.explained, among other things, that culturally skilled coun-selors might “Actively engage in an ongoing process of chal-lenging their own attitudes and beliefs that do not supportrespecting and valuing of differences” (p. 57). For the knowl-edge dimension, Arredondo et al. specified, among other things,that culturally skilled counselors “Can identify at least fivespecific features of culture of origin and explain how those fea-tures affect the relationship with culturally different clients”(p. 59). As for the skills dimension related to counselors’awareness of their own assumptions, values, and biases, theauthors explained, again among other things, that culturallyskilled counselors should “Actively seek out and participatein reading and in activities designed to develop culturalself-awareness, and work toward eliminating racism and preju-dice” (p. 62).

The recommendations offered in these documents havethe potential to assist those involved with counselor train-ing programs to develop culturally relevant training cur-ricula. In particular, Arredondo et al.’s (1996) explanatorystatements provide specific and measurable criteria that canbe used to design curricula as well as to assess the level ofmulticultural competencies obtained by trainees. Recently,several training models have been designed to teachmulticultural counseling competencies to counselor train-ees (Abreu, Gim-Chung, & Atkinson, 2000). In general, these

models provide global descriptions of how multiculturalcounseling competencies can be integrated into and assessedin a curriculum. For example, Ridley, Mendoza, and Kanitz(1994) identified the following six multicultural counselingtraining models (in the order of increasing emphasis onmulticultural competence education) that have been usedby counseling programs: traditional program, workshop de-sign, separate course, interdisciplinary cognate, subspecialtycognate, and integrated program. Moreover, data suggest thatincreased attention to multicultural counseling training hasinfluenced counselor training programs to proceed in thedesired direction. For example, Dinsmore and England (1996)conducted a survey of all 90 CACREP-accredited doctoral-and master’s-level counselor education programs and obtainedresponses from personnel representing 69 programs. Althoughthe authors acknowledged the possibility of anoverrepresentation in their sample of programs with strongminority recruitment records and interest in multiculturalcounseling, the results revealed that about 9 in 10 programsrequired at least one course on multicultural counseling andthat at least 6 in 10 programs made a systematic effort tointegrate multicultural content into all of the requiredcourses. Furthermore, the results showed that about 5 in 10programs had the combination of a required course inmulticultural counseling and the integration of multiculturalobjectives in all required course work.

However, although there have been some advances in thedevelopment of multicultural counseling training modelsand their implementation in counselor education programs,the issue of how to effectively teach multicultural counselingcompetencies to counseling students (beyond global modelsof training) has not been adequately addressed. Because teach-ing multicultural competencies in the dimensions of beliefsand attitudes, knowledge, and skills also involves the af-fective domain of learning (i.e., learning that influencesone’s emotional status or attitudes toward the subjectmatter), dependence on the use of a didactic teaching methodalone—which is typical in counselor training curricula, ingeneral, and multicultural counseling training models, inparticular—may not be effective (Torres, Ottens, & Johnson,1997). (For the purposes of this article, the didactic teach-ing method refers to a type of instructional strategy thatfocuses on intellectual exercises such as reading, writing,and Socratic discussions.) A research study based on responsesfrom 190 counselor trainees indicated that taking a tradi-tional multicultural counseling course was predictive ofdecreased prejudicial cognitive racial attitudes but not re-lated to affective racial attitudes (Toporek, 2001). Toporekdefined affective racial attitudes as attitudes about situa-tions or events that may affect the respondent personally,whereas cognitive racial attitudes were defined as those thatare more general and intellectual. It is interesting that theresults also revealed that experiential activities such as coun-seling ethnically diverse clients or interacting with counse-lor supervisors of diverse ethnicities were predictive of lessprejudicial affective racial attitudes (Toporek, 2001). In-deed, instilling such competencies as being aware of what it


K i m a n d L y o n s

means to be a member of an oppressor group, being cogni-zant of the stereotypes one retains about culturally differ-ent persons, and being culturally sensitive when interactingwith an ethnically different client may require methods ofteaching beyond that of didactic presentations. This may beespecially true for the multicultural competency dimensionof attitudes and belief, which involves the important crite-rion of gaining deep awareness of one’s own biases and preju-dices (Arredondo et al., 1996).

The general lack of strategies for teaching multiculturalcompetencies that target the affective, cognitive, and behav-ioral components of learning has been a shortcoming in thefield of multicultural counseling training. Therefore, the pur-pose of this article is to describe one potential strategy, rootedin gaming and simulation, that can be used in conjunction withthe didactic teaching method to instill and enhance in counsel-ing students multicultural counseling competencies within allthree of the competency dimensions (beliefs and attitudes,knowledge, and skills). We first describe the strengths of usingexperiential activities in multicultural counseling training.We then illustrate the use of games as an effective tool toeducate about multicultural counseling competencies and thenexplain the use of illustrative games designed to teach the be-liefs and attitudes, knowledge, and skills dimensions of thecompetencies. We conclude with suggested guidelines to imple-ment these techniques.

USE OF EXPERIENTIAL ACTIVITIES IN MULTICULTURALCOUNSELING TRAINING

There is a general recognition by counselor educators of theimportance of using experiential activities to educate counselortrainees about the counseling process (e.g., Barak, 1990;Rabinowitz, 1997; Westwood, 1994). When used in conjunctionwith didactic methods, experiential activities can providetrainees with the opportunities to observe and practice theskills that they have read about in the literature and lis-tened to in instructional seminars. For example, Rabinowitzused a semester-long role play activity to teach counselingskills to his students. In this method, the instructor role-played a client while students took turns in the counselorrole, switching when one “counselor” reached an impasse. Atthe end of the course, the students reported that the roleplay educated them about the counseling process and pro-vided a realistic experience of the process (Rabinowitz, 1997).

Given the potency of experiential activities as a generalcounselor training tool, it is of little surprise thatmulticultural counseling educators have also observed theirusefulness specifically for multicultural counseling train-ing. Pedersen (2000) noted that experiential activities arepowerful means to stimulate multicultural awareness andcan be used to help individuals confront and overcome ra-cial–ethnic bias. Torres et al. (1997) found empirical supportfor a variety of experiential activities that can infusemulticultural content into a curriculum. Specifically, Torreset al. interviewed multicultural counseling experts and ledfocus group discussions with counselor education faculty at

three universities to identify the following effective activities:role-playing, viewing training videos, performing cross-cul-tural interviews, writing cultural autobiographies, studyinga second language, and conducting values clarification work.The respondents in the study indicated that classroom ex-periential activities were more valuable than intellectualactivities and suggested the incorporation of experientialactivities that challenged students to examine their valuesand restructure their beliefs (Torres et al., 1997). Also,Heppner and O’Brien (1994) examined counselor trainees’perceptions of helpful and hindering events during amulticultural counseling course. They collected 1,907 indi-vidual responses from 20 master’s- and doctoral-level train-ees. The responses from these students suggested that expe-riential class activities were important to their learning.

Among the many experiential activities designed to en-hance a trainee’s multicultural counseling competence, theuse of films is a popular method that allows trainees tovicariously experience and react to the ideas and emotionspresented. Pinterits and Atkinson (1998) pointed out thatsome culture-oriented films have the capacity to evoke anemotional response for the viewer and thereby increase theviewer’s diversity awareness. They also noted that viewingfilms helps counselor trainees to empathize with culturallydifferent clients. Despite these benefits, however, viewingfilms requires trainees’ openness to the emotions and ideascontained in the film. Specifically, if trainees are not willingto explore their personal reactions to the films, they cansimply ignore the contents of the film. Also, the vicariousnature of the experience typically creates some artificialdistance between the contents of the films and the emo-tional reactions to them, even if the trainees are open toexploring their reactions.

In contrast, games are a more engaging experiential activ-ity, offering trainees firsthand experiences that enable themto achieve the educational objectives. Because trainees areparticipants who are intimately involved in the outcomesof the games, the use of games offers optimal opportunitiesto gain multicultural counseling competence in the areas ofattitudes and beliefs, knowledge, and skills. Given the im-portant benefits of using experiential activities inmulticultural counseling training, the use of games can bean important adjunct to didactic teaching methods.

USE OF GAMES AS A LEARNING TOOL

Games can be defined as activities with specified rules andrewards that are engaged in for amusement. The use of gamesin the field of counseling, and particularly as a tool to posi-tively influence the counseling process, has a relatively longhistory (e.g., Crocker & Wroblewski, 1975; Flowers, 1978;Johnson & Chatowsky, 1969; Varenhorst, 1973). Crockerand Wroblewski pointed out that using games during coun-seling offers six helping functions: (a) to sensitize a personto previous behaviors of which he or she has been unaware;(b) to allow a person to confront feelings of powerlessness;(c) to offer opportunities to deal with the rules of the game



as an analogy to living by norms of society, norms that maybe different from personal norms; (d) to allow childlike playful-ness to emerge, which may lead to some forms of risk taking; (e)to create a safe and permissive climate to experiment with newbehaviors; and (f) to help a person learn effective coping behav-ior. Likewise, games have the potential to serve as effective ve-hicles in counseling students’ training. In particular, helping func-tions (a) and (e) are especially salient for counselor traineesbecause they deal with the process of safely exploring personalblind spots, a vital aspect of counselor training.

Research also supports the use of games as a useful train-ing tool in education. In a review of research, Bredemeir andGreenblat (1981) noted that advocates of this use of gamesemphasized that participants typically experience motiva-tion, interest, enjoyment, involvement, and satisfaction.These authors concluded that games are at least as effectiveas other methods in facilitating students’ learning of subjectmatter and are more effective aids in helping students to re-tain what is learned. They also noted that games could bemore effective than traditional methods of instruction in fa-cilitating students’ positive attitude change. In a more recentarticle, Randel, Morris, Wetzel, and Whitehill (1992) describedsupport for the usefulness of games as a learning tool. Theynoted that because games require the active participation ofstudents, the material has a greater chance of being integratedinto the cognitive structures of the individuals and, thus, ofbeing retained. Like Bredemeir and Greenblat, Randel et al.also found that the use of games produced greater retentionof the learned materials than did conventional classroom in-struction, perhaps because games may be more interestingthan traditional didactic forms of instruction. Moreover,Varenhorst (1973) noted that games are useful because theyallow experiential learning, as opposed to cognitive learningusing the written or spoken word (i.e., didactic education).

More specific to training counseling students, Westwood(1994) described the benefits of using simulation activitiesto develop the student’s counseling competence. Westwoodstated that most teaching approaches in counselor trainingprograms are designed to instill a strong knowledge and skillsbasis and lack an emphasis on bringing about changes in thestudent’s self-awareness. The author stated that the devel-opment of personal awareness should be attended to in coun-selor preparation and be given equal importance to skills andknowledge. Westwood noted that experience-based learningactivities offer an excellent option for achieving this goal. Ina study supporting this viewpoint, Barak (1990) examinedthe use of a game procedure, called the Empathy Game, toteach empathy to counseling students. Based on the data from7 female and 2 male first-semester graduate students, the re-sults showed an increase in empathy skills among the train-ees between pregame and postgame testing.

USE OF GAMES IN MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING TRAINING

Paralleling the arguments put forth by Westwood (1994) infavor of experience-based learning activities, we believe thatgames can be effectively used to instill and enhance coun-

seling students’ multicultural counseling competencies. Thereare numerous characteristics in game playing that could en-hance the teaching of competencies within the three dimen-sions of beliefs and attitudes, knowledge, and skills. For thedimension of beliefs and attitudes, the use of games, particu-larly those that have low-risk potential, can increase thecounseling trainees’ sense of safety, reduce their feelings ofvulnerability, and enhance their multicultural awareness. Forexample, the use of games can balance out the inherent hier-archy between the trainees and the instructor (i.e., it levelsthe playing field) and potentially lead to an increased senseof safety on the part of the trainees. The increased sense ofsafety is a prerequisite to trainees’ greater willingness toacknowledge and work to eliminate their biases and preju-dices. It can also allow the trainees to more openly exploretheir own cultural values, norms, and beliefs that influencetheir counseling style. As such, the increased sense of safetycan allow trainees to confront and improve their multiculturalcounseling limitations. Also, the use of games may lead thetrainees to feel less hesitant about making mistakes in theactivity, which could lessen the trainees’ sense of vulner-ability in behavioral and emotional risk-taking. This couldlead the trainees to share their emotional reactions to work-ing with ethnic minority clients and thereby decrease theirmulticultural counseling limitations. Moreover, the use ofgames may build a sense of camaraderie among the traineesand the trainer that may further increase the sense of safetyin the learning environment.

For the knowledge dimension of multicultural counselingcompetencies, games can provide an interesting and perhapsenjoyable way to gain multicultural knowledge about variousethnic groups. Culture-specific information can be incorpo-rated into games, and the trainee’s accurate and inaccurateperceptions about the culture can be explored without fear ofnegative retribution. Also, games can be used to discuss ste-reotypes and their possible origins, because the process ofgame playing can encourage the participants to talk aboutsensitive topics. Furthermore, difficult and provocative ques-tions (e.g., regarding issues of affirmative action and reversediscrimination) can be explored and discussed openly in agame format.

For the skills dimension of multicultural counseling compe-tencies, games can provide simulated experiences in workingwith an ethnically different client. Participants may feel moresecure using strategies such as role-playing and perspective-taking within the framework of a game. Trainees can also safelyexperiment with strategies designed to increase the counselor’scultural sensitivity and competence. Furthermore, trainees whoare proficient in a language other than English can practicecounseling in that language.

ILLUSTRATIVE GAMES TO ENHANCE MULTICULTURAL COUNSELINGCOMPETENCIES

Many existing games can be easily modified, and others canbe used as is to teach the three dimensions of multiculturalcompetence (awareness of beliefs and attitudes, knowledge,



and skills). In addition, counseling instructors and traineescan develop games by considering the specific skills, knowl-edge, or beliefs and attitudes they wish to assess, instill, andenhance. The following are illustrative examples of gamesthat can be used to teach trainees the dimensions ofmulticultural competence.

Using Games to Instill Competency in the Dimension ofAwareness of Beliefs and Attitudes

Multicultural awareness of beliefs and attitudes encompassesthe counselor trainees’ exploration of culturally determinedvalues and perceptions. Presumably, this exploration influ-ences trainees’ consideration of themselves as cultural beingsand how the trainees function in multicultural counselingsituations (Sue et al., 1992). Perhaps more so than with theother dimensions, games that focus on awareness must bal-ance affective arousal with a feeling of safety that allows coun-selor trainees to confront their limitations, biases, and preju-dices. These games can focus on increasing the awareness oftrainees’ culture, clients’ culture, prejudice, and privilege.

Bafa Bafa (Shirts, 1977). Bafa Bafa is an example of agame that can be used in its existing form to fostermulticultural awareness among counselor trainees. Designedto help participants experience and become aware of thesocial construction of culture, differences among culturalgroups, and culture’s influences on human behavior, BafaBafa engages participants in various activities that focus onfacilitating cross-cultural encounters. Participants are in-structed to create simulations of a culture using a given setof cultural characteristics and are asked to assume the roleof members of the culture. More specifically, participantsare divided into members of two cultural groups, the Alphaand Beta cultures. In both cultures, the participants learnthe rules of their culture (e.g., customs, rituals, and tradi-tions as specified in the instructions of the game), send ob-servers to learn about the other culture, and exchange groupsof visitors to experience each other’s cultural norms. Throughthese activities, participants see and experience the culturaldifferences that exist between their two cultural entitiesand learn to be aware of the unique norms of each other’sculture as well as the differing worldviews of each culture’smembers. After these activities, the participants come to-gether as a whole group to share and discuss their experi-ences as members of their assumed culture and as visitors tothe other culture, with the instructor facilitating the de-briefing process.

Bafa Bafa is unique in its realistic simulation of cross-cultural interactions. For example, players are asked to as-sume certain cultural norms by learning game-specified rulesfor social interaction. The players are then asked to interactwith members of the other culture whose values and cus-toms are quite different, thereby creating a cross-culturalencounter. Obviously, this experience in many ways simu-lates real-life interactions between members of differentcultural groups. Playing Bafa Bafa can help counselor train-ees to become aware of the erroneous assumptions they might

make about people from different cultures because they lacka full and accurate understanding of the systems and normsof that culture. This experience may also lead trainees toquestion the bases for these incorrect assumptions. Further-more, they may also become aware of the inaccurate as-sumptions made about them by others. Ideally, the experi-ences and lessons gained by the trainees will be generalizedto their real-life interactions with culturally different per-sons. Specifically, it is hoped that the trainees will becomemore aware of how their behaviors and interactions areshaped by their culture, how they have come to identifywith their cultural norms that cause them to be ethnocen-tric, and how they have arrived at their assumptions andstereotypes about members of other cultural groups.

There is anecdotal evidence to show that Bafa Bafa is agame that is effective in increasing participants’ multiculturalawareness and sensitivity (Benns-Suter, 1993; Fowler, 1994;Pruegger & Rogers, 1994). For example, Pruegger and Rogersreported that, in a comparison between the use of Bafa Bafaand a lecture-based cognitive presentation, participants in-dicated on a qualitative measure that they preferred BafaBafa to the other method. Similarly, Benns-Suter reportedthat the use of Bafa Bafa in a graduate course on multiculturalcounseling was found to be an excellent strategy to stimu-late dialogue and thinking about multicultural differences.

Step Forward, Step Back. By modifying the game of MotherMay I, a counseling educator can simulate the ways in whichculturally afforded privileges can determine who “gets ahead”in real-life situations. In this game, players are instructed tomove forward (or backward) based on an assigned privilegestatus. By seeing at the end of the game who is ahead and byhow far, players can draw real-life parallels about who isallowed to “get ahead” by virtue of having unearned privi-leges and who is “held back” because of institutional orsystemic oppression. This game can be used to enhanceawareness that members of some segments in our societyhold privileges that are based solely on demographic char-acteristics (e.g., race, ethnicity, and gender).

To play this game, the instructor first needs to create char-acters with varying cultural demographics (e.g., race/ethnicity,gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status). Once thecharacters have been created, the participants are randomlyassigned (e.g., they can draw out of a hat) the identity ofone of these characters. Then, the instructor or a studentvolunteer can act as “The Institutional System” that is incharge of determining the movements that the players make(i.e., move forward or backward). For example, “The Insti-tutional System” might instruct those participants who areassigned the identity of a female Native American to take agiant step backward because they are members of a doubleminority (ethnicity and gender). In contrast, “The Institu-tional System” might instruct participants who are assignedthe identity of a male European American to take a stepforward because they are members of a majority culture.After the participants take each step, there should be abrief discussion about the reasons for either stepping for-ward or stepping backward. As a way to increase the level



of personal involvement, the game could be modified byhaving the participants step forward or backward based ontheir actual demographic status rather than that of con-trived characters.

This game-playing experience could raise counselor train-ees’ awareness of the gatekeeping mechanisms that allowsome individuals in our society to advance while keepingothers from moving forward. The physical spaces based onunearned privileges that are created between the partici-pants represent the real-life gap in opportunities that peopleof different cultural backgrounds experience. The acknowl-edgment and confrontation of these unearned privileges isthe main intention of the Step Forward, Step Back game.Ideally, this game will encourage counselor trainees to re-flect on the advances they have (or have not) made in lifecompared with people from other ethnic or racial (or other)backgrounds. In turn, this awareness may cause the train-ees to view culturally different clients with increased sen-sitivity to their culture. Furthermore, this game may assistcounselor trainees to appropriately locate the sources ofbarriers for ethnic minority clients that exist in the socialand political environment, rather than solely focusing onintrapersonal sources, which leads to “blaming the victim.”As McIntosh (1990) acknowledged, European Americans,by virtue of their “White privilege,” are taught not to rec-ognize the privilege that affords such advancements. Sheencouraged European Americans to gain awareness of thesespecial privileges, stating that “describing White privilegemakes one newly accountable” (p. 31). Of course, the samecan be said about the unearned privileges held by men,heterosexual individuals, and physically abled persons, togive a few examples.

Using Games to Instill Competency in the Dimension ofKnowledge

Using games to teach the multicultural competency of knowl-edge allows counselor trainees to gain accurate informationand eliminate their stereotypes about other cultures, whilethe trainees’ biases and prejudices can be more safely chal-lenged. This format can also reduce the barriers to engagingin open and honest discussions about multicultural issues.The barriers may be caused by the nervousness, defensive-ness, or guilt that can accompany the discussions of culturaldifferences and minority oppression. Furthermore, difficultquestions can be asked and openly discussed. Abreu et al.(2000) argued that discussions of culture are often thwartedby a group collusion to remain silent about the topic. Thesestructured, culture-focused games can facilitate open dis-cussions of multicultural issues in society, in general, and inthe counseling profession, in particular.

Multicultural Jeopardy. The original game Jeopardy! can beadapted to teach the multicultural competency dimensionof knowledge to counselor trainees. In their article, Millerand Knippers (1992) described a game, based on the widelyknown game called Jeopardy!, that school counselors usedto teach the Holland career types to their student clients.

According to Miller and Knippers, classroom materials canbe used for the game; that is, the chalkboard can act as theboard displaying the game categories and point values. Theinstructor can divide students into groups. As in the usual Jeop-ardy! format, the instructor gives the students the answers andthe students provide the questions. The group with the correctquestion gets to choose the next category and the point value.These activities are repeated until all categories are selected.The group ending the game with the most points wins.

To adapt the game to the context of training counselors, thecategories in Multicultural Jeopardy can comprise informationfrom the counselor trainees’ readings on multicultural counsel-ing with various cultural groups. For example, using informationfrom a chapter on counseling Native Americans inAtkinson, Morten, et al.’s (1998) textbook CounselingAmerican Minorities: A Cross-Cultural Perspective, studentscan be given the following answer: “These two groups cre-ated the ‘Identity Through Traditional Lakota Methods’ project.”Students would be awarded appropriate points if they were torespond with the correct answer: “Who are the Sioux medicinemen working with Western counselors?” (LaFromboise, 1998).To give students more frequent opportunities to succeed, thisgame could be played with each player having access to thetextbooks and other educational resources.

Knowledge games, like Multicultural Jeopardy, providecounselor trainees with the opportunity to identify, recall,and integrate fact-based information related to counselingclients of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Fur-thermore, these games provide counselor trainees with anopportunity to challenge inaccurate information and ste-reotypes. An incentive system of earning points creates acompetitive yet playful format that creates anonintimidating and engaging learning atmosphere. To thisend, students working together in groups should be encour-aged to brainstorm (rather than work individually) to pro-vide the correct questions.

Cultural Bingo (Kim, Omizo, & D’Andrea, 1998). Recogniz-ing the importance of providing culturally relevant counselingmethods, Kim et al. designed a group counseling program forNative Hawaiian adolescents that integrated traditional Ha-waiian healing approaches and forms of communication withtraditional European American forms of counseling. Thisprogram consisted of a variety of interventions, includinggames designed to highlight the importance of knowingculturally specific information. The authors found that thisform of group counseling, in comparison to participants in acontrol group, increased participants’ general self-esteem andthe self-esteem related to adolescents’ home life and theirrelationships with their families.

Among the knowledge-focused interventions described inKim et al. (1998) was a game called Cultural Bingo. In thisgame, a bingo board consisted of squares, with each squarecontaining a request to say something about the culture. Forexample, one square contained the following statement: “Saywhat the best thing about being a Hawaiian is.” Such state-ments gave participants opportunities to present importantand accurate information about the culture and share feel-



ings about that aspect of the culture. Each participant rolleda die that specified the number of the square containing theculture-specific request to which the participant responded.The game was completed once a person covered a vertical,horizontal, or diagonal row of squares. Kim et al. noted thatthe positive effects on participant self-esteem were gener-ated because this game allowed participants to demonstratetheir knowledge about their culture while validating andreinforcing the positive feelings about their cultural norms,traditions, and customs.

Cultural Bingo can be easily amended to instill the knowl-edge dimension of multicultural counseling competenciesin counselor trainees. Using the original format and rules ofthe game, instructors can create a board that includes squareswith questions about various cultural norms and influencesthat may be related to the counseling process and outcome.Using a die to select the square, counselor trainees attemptto answer the question in the square. If they answer thequestion correctly, they place their chip on the square. Ifnot, they try again later. On a side note, this game can alsobe amended to teach awareness (e.g., asking players to de-scribe aspects of their cultures) and skills (e.g., players mustidentify appropriate skills).

A similar version of the game, but perhaps with decreasedrisk for participants, can also be played with each individualbeing given a sheet of paper, or a “bingo card,” containingsquares with various culture-specific questions. For eachsquare, the participants are instructed to speak to anotherparticipant to obtain the correct answer and the person’ssignature. The participants are directed to speak to one an-other until all of the squares have been filled. This form ofCultural Bingo may be less intimidating than the one previ-ously described because the students are interacting in pairsrather than in the larger group.

Cultural Bingo, like Multicultural Jeopardy, engages playersin a format that provides students with a means of demon-strating the knowledge they have gained in the classroom orthrough readings. Unlike Multicultural Jeopardy, however,Cultural Bingo provides an extra challenge to students becausethey must function as individuals to arrive at an answer. Thismay require more knowledge and some risk taking on the partof players. But both Bingo and Jeopardy provide the moti-vation of a play-for-points reward system. Of course, candyor other prizes may be used in both games as additionalincentives for active participation.

Using Games to Instill Competency in the SkillsDimension

The skills dimension of multicultural competence refers tothe transmission of culturally appropriate skills that coun-selors should use when working with culturally differentclients. The use of games provides a unique way to presentmulticultural skills to counselor trainees because games com-municate information about culturally appropriate skills boththrough the content and the process-experience of game play-ing. For example, games can assume a quiz show format or

can take the form of a role play in an attempt to mimic thecounseling process.

How May I Help You? Atkinson, Thompson, and Grant(1993) proposed a three-dimensional model to help counse-lors determine the role that they should assume when coun-seling racial/ethnic minorities. The three dimensions mak-ing up this model are the clients’ acculturation level (highor low), the goals of counseling (prevention or remediation),and the etiology of the problem (external or internal). Eachof the two levels of the three dimensions converge in eightintersections, each intersection corresponding to a helpingrole that counselors can assume when working with racial/ethnic minorities (e.g., facilitator of indigenous support sys-tems, consultant, adviser, counselor). For example, a coun-selor working with a recent immigrant to the United States(low acculturation) who is currently in the midst of a hous-ing discrimination conflict (external etiology of the prob-lem and the need for remediation as the goal of counseling)would assume the role of an advocate for the client. In asurvey of psychologists and Asian American college students,Atkinson, Kim, and Caldwell (1998) found support for va-lidity of the three-dimensional model.

Using a quiz format, a game could be created to assesscounselor trainees’ knowledge of appropriately matching acounseling approach with the type of client’s presentingproblem. With this format, mock clients can present theircounseling problems (e.g., the instructor may provide aone-paragraph description of the problem to the mock cli-ents) and the trainees can choose the most appropriate coun-seling approach based on the three-dimensional model. Then,a trainee may attempt to role-play with the mock client theimplementation of the particular helping role.

This game encourages counselor trainees to challenge thenotion of a one-size-fits-all approach to counseling and ex-pand their understanding of the services that counselors canprovide to ethnic and racial minority clients. With the three-dimensional model of multicultural counseling, participantscan reconsider the cultural relevance of the various skillsand strategies they have been using with minority clientswho have a variety of cultural characteristics and present-ing problems. Finally, students are able to implement theskills they read about and to gain experiential exposure todifferent counseling roles.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words. In this game, counselortrainees are instructed to brainstorm to determine possiblemeanings of various nonverbal gestures (e.g., lack of directeye contact, raised eyebrows, sitting apart at an increaseddistance) made by an individual who assumes the role of aculturally different client. Because many cultures rely onnonverbal cues to communicate and the meanings of non-verbal gestures can differ across cultures, this game is par-ticularly instructive in helping counselor trainees attend tothe different meanings of nonverbal cues during the coun-seling process. The person who assumes the role of a clientmay choose to display nonverbal gestures they have used inthe past or display cues observed in other people. The par-ticipants may choose to examine nonverbal gestures whose



meanings are known to them or about whose meanings theyhave been curious. Regardless of the source and the intendedmeaning of the gestures, trainees should explore and debatethe possible alternative meanings underlying the nonverbalgestures that are displayed. This game encourages counselortrainees to expand their repertoire of skills, to be flexible inthe way they communicate with clients from various cul-tural backgrounds, and to be tentative in interpreting thenonverbal gestures. Finally, this game challenges counselortrainees to form culturally appropriate responses based onaccurate observation and interpretation of clients’ behaviors.

In summary, games can be useful tools to instill in coun-seling students multicultural counseling competencies in thethree dimensions of beliefs and attitudes, knowledge, andskills. In addition to the six games just described, many oth-ers can be created depending on the instructional objectivesand the creativity of the educator. When implementing thegames, however, a few guidelines may help to successfullyapply them in the instructional setting.

IMPLEMENTING GAME USE IN THE CLASSROOM

Particular steps should be followed when implementing themulticultural competency games in the classroom to maximizethe acquisition of awareness of beliefs and attitudes, knowledge,and skills dimensions of multicultural competence. Althoughstudents no doubt will be familiar with playing games, ingeneral, they will probably not be familiar with the use ofgames in a graduate classroom setting. In this section, weoffer suggestions on how to appropriately implement theuse of games in a multicultural counseling course setting.

First, introduce the game to the counselor trainees, ex-plaining how it will help to enhance the trainees’ multiculturalcounseling competencies. To this end, the instructor may wantto outline the objectives of the game, inform the participantsof the multicultural competencies that they are expected tolearn, and provide them with the game instructions. The in-structor should emphasize that the overarching goal of usinggames is for the game to be a vehicle of learning rather than ameans to achieve a victory over other students. Of course,there are many examples of games whose goals are to engagein the activity, rather than to win. Thus, participants shouldbe aware that a friendly spirit of competition should be main-tained during the game process. Second, the instructor shouldlead a discussion about the fact that the participants are in anevaluative context (i.e., a course in which students will re-ceive a grade) and how this context might affect their par-ticipation. In addition, the instructor should inform the par-ticipants that the game process may result in the participantfeeling uncomfortable at times and that this is expected, nor-mal, and an important part of the learning process. Finally,the instructor should allow for questions so that the partici-pants are clear about the game procedures.

Students and the instructor are then free to engage in thegame. At this time, the instructor should act as the gamefacilitator and the process manager, ensuring that the train-ees are experiencing the game as intended. In addition, the

instructor should actively support, encourage, and challengethe students to fully participate in the game.

After the game is finished, it is important to debrief thestudents. During this time, students should be encouragedto share their experiences, including what they learned andtheir affective reactions to the experiences. The followingquestions may be asked: What did you learn about yourselfand others during the game? What feelings were aroused?How similar or different were these feelings to those arousedin other situations? How much enjoyment did you experi-ence during the game? How comfortable or uncomfortablewere you while playing the game? The instructor may alsoshare observations and personal experiences regarding thegame. The debriefing period could be enhanced by a supple-mental activity such as journal writing and a follow-up dis-cussion a week later.

Students should also be given the opportunity to evaluatethe game itself and the use of games in the classroom, be-yond a summary of what they learned and their affectiveexperiences. They could provide constructive criticism tomake improvements in the implementation of the game.Allowing students to offer suggestions to improve the gamewill not only aid in enhancing the game and its implemen-tation but also empower students to take ownership of andmake a difference in the course.

CONCLUSION

In the last four decades, there has been an increased diversi-fication of the U.S. population and an ever increasing callfor the provision of culturally competent counseling ser-vices to culturally different clients. One area where such acall has been heard is counselor training. However, the gen-eral lack of teaching strategies designed to instill and en-hance multicultural counseling competencies for counselortrainees has been noted as a shortcoming in this area. Thisarticle has addressed this shortcoming by offering a game-focused instructional strategy for achieving competency. Theideas presented in this article may assist counselor educa-tors to more effectively instill and enhance the multiculturalcounseling competencies of attitudes and beliefs, knowledge,and skills for future generations of counselors.

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Experiential Activities and Multicultural Counseling Competence Training