Practising Cultural Humility

In this journal, two benefits of practising cultural humility will be discussed, namely the opportunity of in-depth learning and reformation of the imbalanced power between a social worker and a service user. I will also examine some of my personal challenges such as fear and religious belief.
Firstly, the cultural humility approach would generate the opportunity of detailed learning on other cultures. Some complex aspects of a culture such as values and beliefs are difficult to acknowledge for a foreigner by him/herself. For example, even though a non-Sudanese social worker could easily recognise the language, food and looks of the Sudanese culture, the other factors such as history and rules could only be learnt while actively engaging with the Sudanese. The in-depth knowledge would allow a practitioner to have deeper understanding of certain behaviours, expressions or issues on Sudanese colleagues or clients.
Moreover, the cultural humility approach would also help a human service worker to remain humble in a relationship with their clients. As a person with more expertise, skills and experience, social workers might consciously or unconsciously have the internalised sense of superiority over their clients. The cultural humility approach would enable them to be always willing to learn from clients as …show more content…
Firstly, I have to admit that I have fear toward the disabled due to some past experience. When I was in Year 4, a boy with Down syndrome was my classmate and he often abruptly spat on others’ faces. A few years later when I was a teenager, a disabled man regularly came into the convenient store at which I was working and surprised me with his behaviours such as picking up almost all the goods without buying or incessantly asking questions even when I was serving other customers. I was terrified at both times and the feeling of fear seems to have solidified toward the disabled in

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