I believe everyone is teachable and that everyone communicates, learns and processes information differently. This includes both people served and people providing services. Everyone has their own way in which they interact with others and go through the best of life.

This week I like to talk about being a cultural competent society when it comes to addressing our on going care crisis. People from different cultures have different lived experiences and ways they do their work or want to receive services. In thinking about culture, we must acknowledge that not everyone has the privilege of owning an electric can opener or robot vacuum or even a television. Some people have no idea how to cut an apple so that you get a star in the middle. Our upbringing and cultural experiences shape how we walk out our lives.

We have to have the mindset that everyone is teachable. This involves being patient and willing to help others grow in their knowledge of a particular subject or process to complete a task.

In the care crisis we are in that same ideology of life applies. We may have a set way of doing something or maybe there is the mentality that everyone knows how to make that box of macaroni and cheese that is in your cupboard. The reality is that not everyone knows how to make macaroni and cheese. Not everyone has ate macaroni and cheese.

We are a culture often that wants to believe that people “should” come in our home already knowing the basics. The reality is that these expectations are truly a result of our own incompetence in culture. To help ourselves we must let go of the expectations and be teachers and let ourselves also be taught about other cultures.

I firmly believe to teach others we must be open to being able to be learn from others. The way we do our daily tasks might be done differently and we have to offer grace and come with a heart that’s open to helping people know our way of how we do things.

People will stick around when they see you want to Teach them how you do things. They will watch you or others and learn by example.

I was once a jerk to people. It took me awhile to realize that everyone is teachable and just as I want to learn so do others. Being open to changing my perspectives about cultural and caregiving has changed who I am and also how I receive my care. I have found that learning about other cultures makes people want to learn more about me as I ask people about their traditions and culture and how they do different tasks or prepare different dishes.

All around we have to be open to learning and to help others learn too and the more we are open the more cultural competent we can become. The more we open the door to bringing new people to the tables of caregiving and helping this workforce crisis.

It can no longer be that measure of well so and so or the DSP used that 8 inch knife to open a can because they were too stupid to understand how to use a can opener. It is reality that, the direct support professional has never had privilege to use a can opener let’s be a teacher and help them understand how to use this nifty gadget we open cans with. At the same time, let’s understand why a knife is used to open a can – this sheer reality that if we are open we can learn something new or something we don’t have lot of understanding about.