Week 3 Db

1. I selected two articles from this week’s reading that further explore intersectionality and
cultural humility. For the first article, Danso suggests that from a social work perspective,
cultural humility is a great form of anti-oppressive practice (2016). For my next article, the
authors explored how intersectionality affects discrimination in mental health treatment. These
authors report that people with mental illnesses who are of color and/or lesbian, gay, or
bisexual experience mental health disparities, including within mental health treatment
programs (Holley et al., 2016). These articles will be very helpful in this week’s reflection paper
as well.
Above you will see my intersectionality diagram. In the center of the diagram I have
included the important aspects of my identity. In many ways, my identity serves as a form of
privilege and power as I identify with various aspects of dominant culture. This leads to my
social location as being mostly visible. I added “mostly” because I do have several physical
Social
Location:
Mostly
visible
Identity: White,
American,
male,
heterosexual,
married, not
able bodied,
middle-class,
Christian.
Economic &
Environmental
Structures:
Capitalism, the
Federal
Reserve,
pollution,
interest rates.
Structural
Oppression:
Privilege
Political Power
Structures: California
State government, San
Diego County, Federal
government.

2. injuries/genetic conditions that bring many challenges to my life. From the outside, one may
not know this about me and when people do find out, I often hear responses like, “But you look
so healthy” or “You are so young though”. Next, in reference to the political power structures
that affect me, I included local, state, and federal government entities. For example, San Diego
has specific policies that affect gentrification and prices of rent, which affect myself and other
residents. Thinking through economic and environmental power structures, it is important to
think through how entities like the Federal Reserve affect interest rates, our purchasing power,
and inflation. Last, when it comes to structural oppression, I included “privilege” because I
could not identify or think of ways in which I am structurally oppressed
As a social worker, this intersectionality diagram will help guide my assessments by
highlighting the importance of exploring intersectionality with our clients to understand what
aspects of their identity either help or hurt them. Aspects of our client’s intersectionality are
just as important to assess for as other elements in basic psychosocial assessments. The same
can be said about how great of a tool intersectionality diagrams can be for our own self-
awareness. Thinking through aspects of my identity and the way I am privileged and ways I am
oppressed increases self-awareness, which I think can lead to improved human connection with
our clients. For example, my whiteness, sexual orientation, and gender are huge areas of power
that I have that can oppress and harm individuals around me. These areas of power can lead to
personal biases like thinking dominant culture is the norm and is acceptable. Overall, personal
biases and values can hurt the therapeutic relationship with clients, can cause feelings of
distrust or animosity, and may not make client’s feel safe, leading to negative outcomes for the
client and social worker. In conclusion, what aspects of intersectionality should we assess for in
our future social work practice with clients?
References
Danso, R. (2016). Cultural competence and cultural humility: A critical reflection on key cultural
diversity concepts. Journal of Social Work, 0:1-21.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qOaTWuWJr8dLSsKNRRqDMy0fItPcenY5/view
Holley, L.C., Tavassoli, K.Y., & Stromwell, L.K. (2016). Mental illness discrimination in mental
health treatment: Intersections of race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Community Mental
Health Journal, 52:311-322. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fB_xiLHSL7XAQXucIPyOK8cdPBe-
tjFw/view