Where are you coming from: An examination of cultural factors in groups

Groups are influenced by cultural elements, even when all group members appear to share the same background. When these cross-cultural themes are addressed directly by the group, the process is enhanced, and leadership becomes easier. This paper relates the experience of one Clinical Pastoral Education group which discovered the pervasiveness of cultural influences after an exploration of an article by G. Keith Parker on Problems and Possibilities of Cross-Cultural Supervision (Pastoral Psychology, Summer, 1978).He also serves on the faculty of the Menninger School of Psychiatry in Topeka.