In this episode, we talk with Dr. Narayan Gopalkrishnan about the relevance of multicultural counselling techniques in the contemporary world of intersecting identities and their implications in a country as culturally diverse as India.
Conceptualised in the USA, multicultural counselling focuses on awareness of one’s own personal beliefs, values, biases, and attitudes, knowledge of the worldview of culturally diverse individuals and groups, and utilization of culturally appropriate intervention skills and strategies.
We talk with Dr. Narayan Gopalkrishnan, a professional advocating for multicultural counselling techniques about the relevance of the techniques in the contemporary world of intersecting identities and their implications in a multicultural country like India.
Dr Gopalkrishnan is an internationally recognized academic with extensive experience in Australia and overseas, working in universities, NGOs and the private sector over the last 30 years. Dr Gopalkrishnan is particularly focussed on building social enterprise capacity in Far North Queensland.
Through his research, scholarship and practical experience, Dr Gopalkrishnan has consistently demonstrated his deep commitment to fostering social justice and integrated and holistic approaches to human development and participation. He has been a visiting scholar in universities around the world including in Africa and Asia, has published extensively in scholarly journals and has been a keynote speaker at international conferences held across the world. His work as Founding Director of the Centre for Multicultural and Community Development at the University of the Sunshine Coast was unique in Australia in bringing together the dual focus on cultural diversity and community development and undertaking ground-breaking work in research, development and training.