Reflections on Cultural Matching in Direct Practice

The benefit of cultural matching between clients and therapists is a topic that has received little attention in the research literature. In light of recent demographic changes in American society and the increasing diversity of the social work client population, this issue is worth exploring. A group of Latino social work students at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago decided to explore this issue by interviewing a family with whom they felt they culturally matched. In this article, they describe their experience in interviewing the family and delineate some of the advantages of their being culturally matched. Implications for practice are offered.