Abstract

Rapid demographic changes have increased the need for culturally sensitive practice in all professions. This paper describes an inquiry set out to learn how practitioners from pastoral counseling, psychology and social work conceptualize and use diversity in their groups. A grounded theory approach was adopted involving interviews with seven counselors drawn from six different community-based organizations. Notwithstanding the participants differing professional affiliations, we found that there was general confusion about the term “diversity” among all respondents. Practitioners usually established groups by inviting potential members based upon a variety of commonalities. Practitioners offered little on how one can strategically use diversity within a group to promote group development or achieve therapeutic goals. Indeed, evident in their responses was some ambivalence about the benefits and challenges posed by diversity in groups. In working with diversity, practitioners suggested open discussion about the differences evident in the group. They also recommended that time be taken to learn about and really listen to diverse members, and try to see the world through their eyes. Given these findings and the paucity of related research, further research into how practitioners can harness diversity in service of group development and therapeutic goals is clearly warranted.