As a counselor, sensitivity to diversity is essential: Counseling cannot take place without considering an individual’s circumstances, experiences, opportunities, and needs. A sensitive approach to people of different ages, genders, social or cultural backgrounds and upbringings, appearances, religions, and worldviews is a prerequisite for respectful and thoughtful counseling. Therefore, developing intercultural competence is a fundamental requirement for counselors.
To address any experiences of discrimination that those seeking advice may have had, it helps to structure the counseling session in a way that is sensitive to discrimination. This includes, for example, understanding the principles of gender-sensitive counseling, presenting career fields in a gender-neutral manner, reflecting on gender stereotypes, and addressing the balance between family and career. To this end, it is worthwhile to familiarize yourself with the General Equal Treatment Act, which you can find on the website of the Anti-Discrimination Agency, as well as the handbook “Legal Protection Against Discrimination,” which provides information on legal foundations and possible courses of action.
Migration-sensitive counseling requires counselors to understand that those seeking advice have had specific, often negative experiences due to their migration history. The publication “Where Are You Actually From? Experiences of Discrimination and Phenotypic Differences in Germany” by the Expert Council of German Foundations for Integration and Migration outlines immigrants’ subjective perceptions of discrimination. The policy brief thus provides counselors with insight into the experiences of migrants. It demonstrates how a person’s phenotypic appearance is linked to their experiences of discrimination. For example, people who are perceived as having a foreign background based on their appearance are more frequently affected by discrimination than others. The report also examines differences between groups based on country of origin and among members of different religious communities.