Black Psychotherapists' Experience of Conducting Psychotherapy with a Non-Black Client
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Authors
Evans, Alicea
Issue Date
2019
Type
Dissertation
Language
en
Keywords
"African-American Psychotherapist","Mixed-Race Dyad","Psychotherapist","Black Therapist","Qualitative Study"
Alternative Title
Abstract
A review of the current literature shows that multicultural competence theory and research has primarily focused on the experience of White Psychotherapists and their ability to conduct psychotherapy with non-White clients effectively. There appears to be relatively little literature addressing the experiences of Black psychotherapists who conduct psychotherapy with non-Black clients. This qualitative study explored the experiences of Black psychotherapists to gain a better understanding of the dynamics that are present in this therapeutic dyad. The participants of this study were 10 self-identified African-American psychotherapists over the age of 18 who had conducted psychotherapy with at least one White client. Conventional content analysis was used to analyze data from semi-structured interviews. Findings indicated that the degree to which their graduated education and supervision reflected their distinctive experience as Black psychotherapists influenced how they experienced work with non-Black clients in training and in their later careers. The implications of the findings for clinical training are discussed.