In praise of cultural-competence training for mental health professionals.

Background: Mental health practitioners in Israel encounter clients from a variety of ethnic groups and cultural backgrounds. Yet, culturally-informed practice standards have neither been defined nor promoted by the professional establishment.

Method: A model for cultural-competence training for mental health professionals is presented and evaluated based on self-reports of 51 trainees.

Results: An increase in the trainees' understanding of their clients' cultural experiences is elicited, as well as the expansion of their cultural self-awareness, empathy and respect for cultural diversity.

Limitations: this is a qualitative evaluation with a limited number of respondents and provides data only on short term effects of the training.

Conclusions: the evaluation demonstrates positive training effects on the practice. Hopefully, this experience will encourage addressing cultural issues in the practice and training of mental health professionals in Israel.