Preface For nearly four decades, Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice (CCD) has been the cutting‐edge text in multicultural counseling and mental health, used in an overwhelming majority of graduate training programs in counseling and clinical psychology. It now forms part of the multicultural knowledge base of licensing and certification exams at both the master’s and the doctoral levels. In essence, it has become a “classic” in the field, and continues to lead the profession in the research, theory, and practice of multicultural counseling and therapy (MCT). CCD upholds the highest standards of scholarship and is the most frequently cited text in multicultural psychology and ethnic minority mental health.
With the addition of two new co‐authors, Dr. Helen Neville and Dr. Laura Smith, to the eighth edition, instructors will note a fresh, new, and exciting perspective to the content of CCD, and their scholarly input guarantees it will continue to rank as the most up‐to‐date text in the field. Both have been foremost leaders in multicultural psychology, and their voices become obvious in this revised edition.
CHANGES TO CCD Much new research has been conducted in multicultural counseling, cultural competence, social justice advocacy, new roles of the helping professional, White allyship, and culture‐specific interventions over the past few years. In essence, the topical areas covered in each chapter continue to be anchors for multicultural counseling coverage. As a result, while the chapters remain similar, each has undergone major revisions; some are quite extensive in the updating of references, introduction of new research and concepts, and discussion of future directions in counseling, therapy, and mental health.
We maintain our two‐part division of the book, with 12 separate chapters in Section One: The Multiple Dimensions of Multicultural Counseling and Therapy, and 13 population‐specific chapters in Section Two: Multicultural Counseling and Specific Populations. We introduce Section Two by providing a chapter, “Culturally Competent Assessment” (Chapter 13), that outlines the many variables that influence assessment, diagnosis, and case conceptualization—which, hopefully, guide the reader’s understanding of each specific population presented. All have been thoroughly updated using common topical headings (when possible) that allow better cross‐ comparisons between and among the groups.
EFFICIENT UP‐TO‐DATE COVERAGE We have heard from textbook adopters that the breadth and depth of coverage has made it very difficult for instructors and students to digest the amount of material in a single course. Although reviewers suggested that CCD be shortened, they did not recommend eliminating topics, but rather condensing, summarizing, streamlining, or eliminating certain subtopics. We have tried our best to do so without violating the integrity of the content. Each of the major chapters 1 through 12) has been shortened by an average of 10%, but the special population chapters have maintained their original length. This latter decision was based on our belief that further shortening would result in the chapters having a “checklist” quality. Further, we are also aware that most instructors do not assign all special population chapters, but rather pick and choose the ones most relevant to their classes.
Despite shortening major sections of the text, new advances and important changes in multicultural counseling suggest additional areas that need to be addressed. These include building on the previous groundbreaking edition, which has become the most widely used, frequently cited, and critically acclaimed multicultural text in the mental health field, and updating concepts to be consistent with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM‐5) categories and principles, the multicultural guidelines of the
American Psychological Association, the American Counseling Association’s (ACA) multicultural and social justice competencies, and Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs (CACREP) standards.
We also include the most recent research and theoretical formulations that introduce and analyze emerging important multicultural topics. These include the concept of “cultural humility” as a domain of cultural competence; the important roles of White allies in the struggle for equal rights; the emerging call for social justice counseling; the important concept of “minority stress” and its implications in work with marginalized populations; greater focus on developmental psychology that speaks to raising and educating children about race, gender, and sexual orientation; reviewing and introducing the most recent research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) issues; major research developments in the manifestation, dynamics, and impact of microaggressions; and many others.
PEDAGOGICAL STRENGTHS One of the main goals of the eighth edition has been to better engage students in the material and allow them to actually become active participants in digesting multicultural counseling concepts. We have increased our focus on pedagogy by providing instructors with exercises and activities to facilitate experiential learning for students. We open every chapter with broad chapter objectives, followed by more specific—and oftentimes controversial—reflection and discussion questions interspersed throughout, which allow for more concentrated and detailed discussion by students on identifiable topical areas.
Further, every chapter opens with a clinical vignette, longer narrative, or situational example that previews the major concepts and issues discussed within. Many of these are new and serve to anchor the multicultural issues to follow. They add life and meaning to the chapter concepts and research. The chapter focus questions serve as prompts to address the opening “course objectives,” but instructors and trainers can also use them as discussion questions
throughout the course or workshop. As in the previous edition, we have retained the “Implications for Clinical Practice” and “Summary” sections at the end of every chapter.
There are two other major resources available for instructor use:
1. A series of brief simulated multicultural counseling videos that can be used in the classroom or viewed online. Each video relates to issues presented in one of the first 13 chapters. They are excellent training aids that allow students to witness multicultural blunders by counselors, identify cultural and sociopolitical themes in the counseling process, discuss and analyze what can go wrong in a session, and suggest culturally appropriate intervention strategies.
Following each video, Dr. Derald Wing Sue and Dr. Joel M. Filmore discuss and analyze each session in the context of the themes of the chapter. Instructors have many ways to use the videos to stimulate classroom discussion and understanding.
2. In keeping with the importance of applying research and theory to work with client and client systems, we encourage instructors to use Case Studies in Multicultural Counseling and Therapy, edited by Sue, Gallardo, and Neville (2014), alongside CCD.
APPRECIATION There is an African American proverb that states, “We stand on the head and shoulders of many who have gone on before us.” Certainly, this book would not have been possible without their wisdom, commitment, and sacrifice. We thank them for their inspiration, courage, and dedication, and hope they will look down on us and be pleased with our work. We would like to acknowledge all the dedicated multicultural pioneers in the field who have journeyed with us along the path of multiculturalism before it became fashionable. We also wish to thank the staff of John Wiley & Sons for the enormous time and effort they have placed in obtaining, evaluating, and providing us with the necessary data and feedback to produce this edition of CCD. Their help was no small undertaking, and we feel fortunate in having Wiley as our publisher.
Working on this eighth edition continues to be a labor of love. It would not have been possible, however, without the love and support of our families, who provided the patience and nourishment that sustained us throughout our work on the text. Derald Wing Sue wishes to express his love for his wife, Paulina, his son, Derald Paul, his daughter, Marissa Catherine, and his grandchildren, Caroline, Juliette, and Niam. Helen A. Neville wishes to express her deepest love and appreciation for her life partner, Sundiata K. Cha‐Jua, her daughters, and the memory of her parents. Laura Smith expresses love and appreciation for the support of her partner, Sean Kelleher, as well as her extended family. David Sue wishes to express his love and appreciation to his wife and children.
We hope that Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, eighth edition, will stand on “the truth” and continue to be the standard bearer of multicultural counseling and therapy texts in the field.
Derald Wing Sue David Sue Helen A. Neville Laura Smith
REFERENCE Sue, D. W., Gallardo, M., & Neville, H. (2014). Case studies in
multicultural counseling and therapy. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
About the Authors Derald Wing Sue is Professor of Psychology and Education in the Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University. He served as president of the Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race, the Society of Counseling Psychology, and the Asian American Psychological Association. Dr. Sue continues to be a consulting editor for numerous publications. He is author of more than 160 publications, including 21 books, and is well known for his work on racism/antiracism, cultural competence, multicultural counseling and therapy, and social justice advocacy. Three of his books, Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, Microaggressions in Everyday Life, and Overcoming our Racism: The Journey to Liberation (John Wiley & Sons), are considered classics in the field. Dr. Sue’s most recent research on racial, gender, and sexual orientation microaggressions has provided a major breakthrough in understanding how everyday slights, insults, and invalidations toward marginalized groups create psychological harm to their mental and physical health and create disparities for them in education, employment, and health care. His most recent book, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race promises to add to the nationwide debate on racial dialogues. A national survey has identified Derald Wing Sue as “the most influential multicultural scholar in the United States,” and his works are among the most frequently cited.
David Sue is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Western Washington University, where he has served as the director of both the Psychology Counseling Clinic and the Mental Health Counseling program. He is also an associate of the Center for Cross‐Cultural Research at Western Washington University. He and his wife, Diane M. Sue, have coauthored the books Foundations of Counseling and Psychotherapy: Evidence‐Based Practices for a Diverse Society, Understanding Abnormal Psychology (12th edition), and Essentials of Abnormal Psychology (2nd edition). He is coauthor of Counseling
the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice. He received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from Washington State University. His writing and research interests revolve around multicultural issues in individual and group counseling and the integration of multicultural therapy with evidence‐based practice. He enjoys hiking, snowshoeing, traveling, and spending time with his family.
