Week 3 Discussion: Empathy, Cultural Humility, and Trauma Awareness
Empathy, cultural humility, and trauma awareness all relate to truly seeing and knowing a person—understanding their unique feelings, their culture, and the way trauma may affect their life. This idea of “knowing a person” can be challenging in human services, particularly in a busy case management position where the practitioner may be working with many service users each day, in a limited time frame. These skills simply require more of practitioners than basic communication and interpersonal skills. They are nonetheless essential to building a meaningful helping relationship.
In this Discussion, you explain the importance of empathy, cultural humility, and trauma awareness, using an example from your own life in your reasoning.
To Prepare
- Review your course announcements for possible information related to this week’s Discussion and Assignment.
- Review the Learning Resources on advanced skills.
- Consider a time in your personal or professional life when you observed the use of skills related to empathy, cultural humility, or trauma awareness.
Post an explanation of why the skills of empathy, cultural humility, and trauma awareness are essential to human services professional practitioners. Use an example from your personal or professional life to illustrate the skills and their importance.
Note: When sharing your example, be sure to respect privacy and confidentiality, and do not use the real names of people or organizations.
Tutorial for Empathy, Cultural Humility, and Trauma Awareness
