I Believe Appropriately

Gallardo states—I believe appropriately—that “culturally responsive practice should be our standard and norm and not the exception”. If culture is part of each one of us and we believe that culturally responsive practice is therefore both necessary and inevitable for good, effective, and ethical practice, then we need to understand what belongs within psychotherapy through the broad and inclusive vision that culturally responsive practice brings. Changing our understanding of the nature of the therapeutic frame rests on an assumption that the boundaries of the therapeutic hour are themselves a product of cultural assumptions and that our own assumptions should be challenged as we move toward culturally responsive practice. We must ask ourselves, What are the essential parameters that are included within psychotherapy and that need to be redefined, moved, or stretched to support culturally responsive practice within the ethical guidance provided by the American Psychological Association code of ethics? I propose that we must extend the frame to incorporate the unique values, perspectives, and characteristics of each one of our clients and that we must envision that frame as flexible, expansive, and responsive, that is ethically responsible and ethically responsive.