![]() I worked in a mental health clinic primarily with Latino clients and I became increasingly aware of how different clients were, even clients from different Latino backgrounds, and I realized that many people make generalizations and stereotypes about all Latino families are this or that, and also a lot of our literature speaks about characteristics of Latino families. Well another major factor that contributed to me developing the Culturagram was my earlier experiences as a social worker, before I entered academia. So that’s one of the factors that contributed to me developing the Culturagram.Įlaine Congress: Right. And I felt in my work with clients who are increasingly from immigrant backgrounds that it was very important to understand their cultural background, and neither the ecomap, which looks at the way the family, really engages with the external world, or the genogram, which looks at internal family relations neither of them really got at culture. But I was very concerned that the ecomap and the genogram don’t really focus on culture, it’s minimally considered. Well, very interesting because I was very aware of the ecomap and the genogram, in fact I use them in working with students as well as practitioners. Is this different or in conjunction, or how does it fit in with those other assessment tools that social workers might be more familiar with?Įlaine Congress: Right. Jonathan Singer: When you talk about families it makes me think of some of the other assessment tools like the genogram, or you know there’s the ecomap for individuals. I’ve decided that one way to really do this would be to develop a tool to help social workers really better assess the families they work with. So I feel as social workers it’s very important for us to understand completely the cultural background of families we work with. Under culture I feel is subsumed race, ethnicity, national origin and religion, as well as values and beliefs. I think of culture as not being a singular concept, a singular term. It basically consists of a diagram with 10 different aspects. The Culturagram is a family assessment tool I developed to help social workers and others understand better families from different cultural backgrounds. So the first question is what is the Culturagram?Įlaine Congress: Well first, thank you Jonathan for asking me to participate in a podcast, I am very interested and excited about this and I feel this is a way to really tell others about the Culturagram. Jonathan Singer: So I want to thank you so much for talking with us today about the Culturagram and I am very excited to actually talk with you because I have used the Culturagram for a number of years and I’ve taught it in class and I think this is a wonderful tool. Although the culturagram is most commonly discussed and applied within the context of working with immigrants and refugees, it can be used to great effect with people from the majority culture who are often mistakenly thought to be "culture-free." Her experience with diverse Latino clients led her to develop the culturagram that helps practitioners individualize families from diverse cultural backgrounds. There she worked with Latino immigrants from Puerto Rico, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Congress began in the social work field, she first worked with immigrants as a direct practitioner, as a supervisor, and as an administrator in a community mental health clinic in Brooklyn. She is the author of six books including the 2015 publication Social work with immigrants and refugees: Legal issues, clinical skills, and advocacy, 2nd edition. ![]() Congress has many publications on cultural diversity and ethics in social work. ![]() In addition she serves as the North American representative on the IFSW Permanent Committee on Ethical Issues. She is on the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) United Nations team and is a member of the NGO Committees on Migration and the United Nations International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Congress is professor and associate dean at Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service. ![]() Download this exclusive web-only content here:ĭownload Congress on Acculturation ĭr. values about family – structure, power, myths and rulesĭuring our conversation about the Culturagram, Elaine talked about the difference between acculturation and assimilation.oppression, discrimination, bias, and racism.contact with cultural and religious institutions, holidays, food, and clothing.language spoken at home and in the community.
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