Therapists today face a dramatic increase in the cultural diversity of
their client populations. Cultural literacy, long the dominant model
for preparing to do cross-cultural therapy, advocates study of the pro
spective client's history and culture. This model, however, poses logi
stical problems, emphasizes scholarship over the experiential and phen
omenological, and risks seeing clients as their culture and not as the
mselves. lit this essay, we argue that teaching culture alone can obsc
ure therapists' view of human diversity. To balance the cognitive mode
l of preparation, a process-oriented approach is considered whereby th
e therapists' attitudes of cultural naivete and respectful curiosity a
re given equal importance to knowledge and shill. We begin from a conc
ern with clients' vulnerability in the power distribution that inevita
bly exists in therapy, especially with immigrant and marginalized popu
lations. The use of acculturation narratives, which the therapist expl
ores with naivete' and curiosity, helps clients to find their voices.