The Ethics of Cultural Competence

The Ethics of Cultural Competence (2HR)

$32.00

Course Description

This training is designed to help you navigate the ethical responsibilities of providing culturally responsive care. As our client populations become increasingly diverse, it is essential for clinicians to recognize how cultural values, biases, and systemic factors shape the therapeutic process. This training will explore ethical guidelines related to cultural competence, including issues of informed consent, power dynamics, and avoiding harm through cultural humility. You will engage in self-reflection, case discussions, and practical strategies to enhance your ability to work ethically and effectively with clients from diverse backgrounds, ensuring that therapy remains an inclusive and affirming space for all.

Upon completion of the training, participants will be able to:

Identify the components of cultural competence.
Understand how to best serve clients from different cultures.
Implement ethically-based culturally competent care.

Social workers completing this course receive 2 Ethics asynchronous continuing education credits.

For other board approvals, this course qualifies for 2 Ethics continuing education training.

Course Instructor: Dreya Blume, LCSW

Recording Date: 01/15/2026

Course Format

NBCC ACEP # 7091, CE Training Workshops has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP #7091. Programs that do not qualify are clearly identified. CE Training Workshops is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. CE Training Workshops designates this continuing education activity for 3 continuing education hours.

CE Training Workshops, LLC, #1770, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 08/02/2025 to 08/02/2028. Social workers completing this course receive 3 Clinical continuing education credits.

Meet Your Facilitator

Dreya Blume, LCSW, has traveled a long and winding road to arrive where she is today,as a therapist, coach, author, and group facilitator.

She has taught English in Thailand, Japan, Australia, and Hawaii. She has worked in psychiatric wards, served as a case manager, and eventually launched her own private therapy practice.

She has taught part-time as an adjunct professor for over twenty years, led multi-day international retreats, and written seventeen books, with an eighteenth on the way.

Syllabus

Objective 1: Define Culture and Its Clinical Relevance

Participants will explore culture as a system of shared beliefs, values, norms, and practices. The course examines how culture operates across multiple levels, including nationality, social class, gender, religion, workplace environments, and subcultures. Participants will consider how cultural norms shape expectations, behavior, power, and experiences of belonging or marginalization in both society and the therapeutic space.

Objective 2: Understand Intersectionality and Multiple Identities

This section focuses on the complexity of overlapping identities and how individuals simultaneously belong to multiple cultural groups. Participants will examine how identities such as social class, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, and professional roles intersect to shape worldview and experience. Emphasis is placed on moving beyond simplistic definitions of culture toward nuanced, individualized understanding.

Objective 3: Apply Cultural Competence in Clinical Practice

Participants will learn how to apply cultural competence through intentional curiosity, reflection, and humility. The course explores how clinicians can better understand clients’ cultural contexts and how those contexts influence meaning-making, distress, resilience, and relational dynamics. Ethical considerations and strategies for ongoing self-reflection and growth in cultural responsiveness are emphasized.

Summary and Q&A

The course concludes with a synthesis of key concepts related to culture, intersectionality, and culturally responsive care. Participants will reflect on their own cultural positioning and clinical practice, followed by discussion and questions to support continued development of culturally attuned therapeutic work.