Race, Ethnicity & Human Services 2 responses

1.  

To Sum everything up African Americans are the most widely dispersed race currently at 13.3% of the world’s population and right under them are Latinos. Both being geographical and economical. Even though “steady immigration from African countries has increased the linguistics and cultural diversity within the African American culture.” Religion is a very important part of African American communities and is often overlooked by clinicians in therapy. Seeking help from a mental health agency not connected to the church or ministries is also often frowned upon. It is impossible to understand the magnitude of African American trauma because of the history itself. “From 1619- 1865 over 10-15 million Africans were brought here against their will and another 30-35 million died during the transport over.”( Kivel. 1996). To this day African American pays the price for the color of their skin after everything they have been through like being tortured, forced, malnourished, and separated from their family.

Question 2: some effective ways to help your client is to do your background on them as well as let them tell you their background because you can’t always assume something because of their race. Also, poverty does affect a large portion of African American so there is housing assistance for women in children and there are shelters, low-income homes, food stamps, Medicaid, and more programs available.

2. 

1. Arab Americans are very spiritual people and they live holistically. They do not pay attention to emotions nor believe in talking to a therapist is of any value. (Diller, J.V. (2018)) I think that it is very important for human service providers to understand the cultural background and heritage of diverse populations because when they know more about a person’s culture and heritage then they will know how to help. The human service provider want to jump to a conclusion on what the problem is because they will know how to handle whatever situation it is they need help in.
2. The current challenges The Arabs face are racial hatred and trauma. Since 9-11, the Arabs have experienced so much hate towards them. (Diller, J.V. (2018))  Also high levels of mental health issues.
3. Dr. Abi-Hashem states that ways to work with American Arab clients are you can greet the client with respect, awareness of personal boundaries, and potential internal conflicts about living in the West and reconciling tradition with American culture. (https://www.apa.org/pubs/videos/4310843)

The Arabs have a high rate of mental health so I would recomend mental health services for them.