1. Know yourself: providers, like clients, are influenced by culture, values, and language.
2. Get to know the families and their health seeking behaviors. You might try using a simple genogram, which places family members on a diagram. Ask who the family members are, where they live, and who is missing or dead. You might also
ask them to talk about holiday celebrations: who comes, who 4 is missing, and what do they do?
3. Get to know the communities that frequently interact with your clinical setting: read about them, take a course, get involved (e.g., volunteer to give talks), hold forums with freeflowing and twoway communication, and learn who the formal and informal resources are.
4. Get to know some of the traditional practices and remedies used by families and communities, so you can work with, not against, them.
5. Learn how a community deals with common illnesses or events.
6. Try to see things from the viewpoint of the client, family, and community.