1. Mentoring and multiculturalism
Deneen M. Harris, PH.D., MSW
Western Connecticut State University

2. Reflect

3. agenda Defining your role as a mentor Hays’ Addressing Framework
Attending to multiculturalism, diversity, and difference in the mentoring relationship
Best practices

4. What is a mentor
Mentor-someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person — mentor in a sentence(Webster Dictionary
How does this definition compare to what you do?

5. Hays’ ADDRESSING Framework
Age and generational influence
Developmental disabilities
Disabilities acquired later in life
Religion and spiritual orientation
Ethnic and racial identity
Socioeconomic status
Sexual orientation
Indigenous heritage
National origin
Gender
The Hays Framework enables the helping professional to go beyond simply categorizing clients and oversimplifying the impact of their cultural experiences on who they are in terms of their functioning. Using this framework involves a two step approach

6. A mentee’s statement
“I’m Mexican…but I actually feel that I would rather have had a White mentor. Uh, I don’t know that’s just my internal racism (laughs). Uh, but that is just how I feel. Like I feel, like I would have been better served by a White mentor….like when I think of a professional, I just automatically picture someone who is White. Uh, I guess that is what I see when I think of a professional, someone who is White, which I probably shouldn’t because I am Mexican (.”
What’s your reaction to this statement?
Say you are responsible for matching mentor to mentee what would you do in terms of a match and why?

7. Understanding race, ethnicity, and culture in the context of mentoring
Race-social construct, not biologically determined, but individuals assign others to racial categories based on physical characteristics and make generalizations and stereotypes as a result (American Psychological Association [APA], 2003)
Culture-encompasses the beliefs, values, and patterned ways of thinking, acting and feeling that are learned by individuals and transmitted to others (APA, 2003)
Ethnicity-refers to groups of people who share cultural traits, such as language, history, religion, ancestry, traditions, and beliefs (Smedley & Smedley, 2005).
As we know race has been used to maintain social hierarchies in societies. There is an activity that I do with my students that provides with an opportunity to assign individuals to racial categories based on the physical characteristics of these individuals. To go a step further its not uncommon to look at two people and assume that they are of the same race and ethnicity. As an inexperienced social worker from the mid-west I would come into contact with individuals whom I assumed were African-American only to learn that they were Caribbean, African. Intaking this stance I often made assumptions about the individual that may or may not have been true.

8. Power of illusion

9. Racial, ethnic, cultural, similarity and dissimilarity
Similarity-attraction paradigm proposes that those that individuals are attracted to those similar to themselves (Bryne, 1971).
Mentors tend to be more vested when they feel as though they have a stake in the development of the mentee.
Looking beyond race and ethnicity it is also extremely important to look at personality and interest
Most of the research that has been conducted on similarity attraction has focus on personality and interest. Mentoring research also tells us that if given the opportunity mentees would chose mentors of the same race, ethnicity, and culture

10. Let’s talk
Let’s compare your cultural assessment framework with that of your mentee’s what commonalities do you share? What are your differences?
What interest do you and your mentee have in common, what about personality traits?

11. Oppression/cultural mistrust
Oppression systemically denies access to resources and opportunities to certain groups
Cultural Mistrust- pervasive attitude of groups that have a history of experiencing oppression– mentee may fail to trust mentors of a different race/ethnicity
Cultural Mistrust can serve as a barrier to developing successful mentoring relationships
Research indicates that low-income, urban adolescents of color experience racial discrimination from adults and the rate of this discrimination increases with age (Greene, Way, & Pahl, 2006). Let’s talk about your experiences with cultural mistrust. What do you do when you encounter cultural mistrust

12. Racial and ethnic identity
Research has found that a stronger ethnic identity is related to more positive academic, psychological, and social outcomes (Wakefield and Hudley, 2007).
Mentors have the ability to provide opportunities that may facilitate identity development
Regardless of a mentor’s race, any racial attitudes that the mentor harbors could influence the mentees’ racial/ethnic identity
Racial and ethnic identity play a significant role in mentees’ development. Ethnic identity refers to a sense of belonging to a cultural group and participation in its cultural practices

13. Cultural Competence
Cultural Competence-refers to the extent to which individuals have the capacity to effectively work with individuals of a cultural group (Sue, 2006).
Components of Cultural Competence
Cultural awareness and beliefs
Cultural knowledge
Cultural skills
As a mentor it is important that you are cognizant of how your values and biases can play a role in the perceptions that your mentees hold.
It is important that you learn about your mentee and that means learning about how they operate culturally.
Refers to the ability to apply cultural knowledge in relationships

14. Racial Similarity/dissimilarity
Consider the preferences of mentors, mentees, and parents regarding matching based on race, ethnicity, and culture.
Assist mentors and mentees in finding similarities on other dimensions
Consider providing same race/ethnicity mentors to mentees who have few same race/ethnicity role models or who might have internalized racism
Consider providing cross-race/ethnicity mentors to mentees who have limited exposure to different cultures

15. Oppression
Consider assessing the level of cultural mistrust in mentees using instruments, such as the Cultural Mistrust Inventory for Adolescents (Sanchez & DuBois, 2006) and using the data to tailor program support accordingly.
Provide mentees and mentors with safe opportunities to explore experiences such as prejudice and discrimination and feelings toward members of other cultural groups.

16. Ethnic Identity
Assess youth ethnic or racial identity using scales such as the Multi-group Ethnic Identity Measure (Phinney, 1992) or Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity-Teen (Scottham, Sellers, & Nguyen, 2008). Use this information to help inform whether your program is promoting healthy ethnic/racial identity among participating mentees.
Consider the potential benefits of matching mentees with weaker ethnic identities with mentors with stronger ethnic identities to help catalyze the mentee’s development of a positive identity.
Integrate into programs opportunities for mentees to explore their racial or ethnic heritage with the support of their mentors and staff.

17. Cultural competence Examine cultural competence of mentors
Ensure that the program include staff and mentors who share the same culture and language as mentees being served
Provide training for mentors around the issue of cultural competence, that includes the social construction of race
Assess mentors’ cultural competence using the Ethno-cultural Empathy Scale (Wang et al., 2003)use this information to inform training
Assess mentees’ perceptions of their mentors’ cultural sensitivity using the Cultural Sensitivity Scale-Mentee Report (Sanchez & DuBois, 2006) use information gathered with this tool both to guide supervision and training of mentors