The counseling sector is not immune to racism, systemic or otherwise. Before the Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development (AMCD) was founded, non-white members of the American Counseling Association paid their dues, but had limited representation on the board and senate of the ACA . A group of advisors campaigned for AMCD (then the Association for Non-White Concerns) to become an official ACA division, but their initial applications were denied. It was a struggle to get the ACA executives of the time to see the need and legitimacy of a department that would focus on the needs of non-white people, but the attorneys' hard work eventually paid off when the AMCD department came up ACA conference in 1972 became a reality. (For more information on the history of AMCD, visit multiculturalcounselingdevelopment.org/amcd-history.)
Ebony White, clinical assistant professor and program director of the Masters in Addiction Counseling at Drexel University in Philadelphia, points out that the counseling profession – like other smaller systems in our society – has largely sought to remedy the role that racism has in business and in of society as a whole and still plays a role.
"The consultancy profession has imitated this model of sweeping it under the carpet," she claims. “So it is important that what happened first be acknowledged, and instead of… saying, 'We will do that [racism]', counselors should ask: 'How did we perpetuate racism in our profession? ? & # 39; And they should look at what has been published in the literature and what has worked [for others] in our profession and our organizations to bring about change. ”
In order to shed light on embedded racism and to help others understand it better, six black consultants shared their experiences of working in a predominantly white field and their hopes for the future of the profession.
Recognize racism in the counseling sector
The overlapping identities of black consultants influence the way in which they understand the world around them and how others perceive it. "I live and experience more situations each day as a black woman than I live as a counselor," said Noréal Armstrong, a licensed clinical mental health advisor in North Carolina and a licensed professional counselor-supervisor (LPC-S) in Texas.
As a black woman in the counseling area, she claims to have encountered microaggressions and racism from colleagues. For example, as the department head of the counseling program at a humanities college, Armstrong informed her colleagues about a standard of the Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs (CACREP) that is required to support the success of the counseling program. But, she says, her white colleagues questioned her without discussing options and asked to speak to a CACREP representative who simply confirmed that Armstrong had the correct information. This encounter made her ask: "Ask me questions because you don't trust me, because I am a woman or because I am black?"
The uncertainty in this and similar situations is "what keeps me up at night," says Armstrong. “That's what knots my stomach. That frustrated me. "
Armstrong, an ACA member and vice president of the AMCD Women & # 39; s Concerns group, says she didn't ask her white colleagues why they felt it was necessary to include the CACREP connection because she was fed up with it having to control their defensive and denial that race played a role in their actions, even if this may have been implicit.
White, who was part of the panel for the ACA Webinar "Our Congregation Gathered: A Conversation with Mental Health Counselors in 2020" and is President-elect of the ACA Counselors for Social Justice (CSJ) division, says she was "fired … ignored, often not heard, and called the 'angry black woman' many, many, many times."
White, the immediate past chairman of ACA's North Atlantic region, recalls a microaggression that took place at her last meeting as chairperson-elect. During the video call, she looked down and typed in notes from the meeting. A white colleague remarked, without being muted, “Ebony, you look so angry. What's wrong with you? "White was stunned. She was labeled" angry "just because she was taking notes.
"The reality is that for some people, your complexion is more important than your intellectual ability," says Raphael Bosley, a licensed mental health consultant who works at Cross Connections Counseling and Courageous Healing in Fort Wayne. Indiana.
Bosley, an ACA member, acknowledges that this truth weighs on him. He says he questions himself and his knowledge more than other clinicians. He also notes that he often has to explain the reasons for his professional reviews to colleagues and clients. Bosley admits that sometimes he's the one who doesn't trust his own thoughts, which he thinks is the result of living in a society that has conditioned him to trust his athletic prowess more than his intellectual abilities.
He also finds that wrong assumptions about his intellect can be a natural barrier for some clients in the therapeutic space – a space that contains the understanding of the brain. “They are not used to seeing a black male face as the one doing the service when it comes to dealing with mind and emotions. Why? Because black men are angry. Black men are angry. Black men aren't supposed to be able to teach me to calm down and ground myself, ”says Bosley.
The (in) ability to be one's authentic self
Diversity is not just about issues such as race, ethnicity, gender and religion; It's also about the way we communicate, notes Tyce Nadrich, assistant professor of clinical psychological counseling at Molloy College. Black consultants often cannot communicate naturally or authentically with their white colleagues, students, and clients, he says. Instead, they change the code by changing their style of speech, appearance, or behavior to appeal to a different audience, often to receive fair treatment.
"The amount of code switching that is required in my opinion [Black counselors] is outrageous," says Nadrich, a licensed mental health advisor and clinical education coordinator at Balance Mental Health Counseling in Huntington, New York . "It is exhausting because I know when I communicate … as I take it for granted … I am not heard because people pretend they do not understand me or simply dismiss it as not worth hearing."
Nadrich says, for example, that when he gets upset he is not allowed to use three- or four-syllable words – even though he has them in his vocabulary – because he doesn't speak like that when he has heightened emotions. He expresses his feelings in a more casual register.
Bosley, who is also the assistant pastor of the Greater Progressive Baptist Church, Fort Wayne admits that as a black counselor who works in a predominantly white field, he often feels the need to communicate in his own way, even in situations It doesn't need to be sanded. He feels like he's in the spotlight 24/7 because of his breed.
For Armstrong, whose areas of interest include drug use, black women in science, multiculturalism, the deaf community, and spirituality in counseling, code switching means adopting a professional discourse on privilege. When speaking to white coworkers, she often avoids personal or emotional language and relies on data and numbers to get her message across and ensure she listens to her.
White, whose research interests have largely focused on advocacy and social justice within the black community, realized that no matter how she spoke or presented herself, people would have preconceived notions about her. She says she has reached a point where she will no longer switch to white coworkers because she knows she cannot control how others perceive her. With colleagues she is her authentic self, which can also mean that she says "is not", drops verbs or rolls her neck.
The fatigue factor
Too often the burden of raising issues related to racism and educating others falls on black advisors. "It's a constant and frequent fatigue," says White. “Because advocacy is such a big part of my identity, I'm not one of those people who really choose my battles. I am always selected for combat, which is tiring and exhausting. "
White recalls sitting in several meetings and being so upset about what was or wasn't said about race and diversity that she got in touch because no one else would. “It's annoying that I have to be the one to bring this up,” she says. White is a licensed professional advisor who developed the Center for Mastering and Refining Children’s Unique Skills (M.A.R.C.U.S.), a non-profit organization that provides tutoring, mentoring and counseling for children and adolescents, particularly in the black community.
A few days after George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis in May 2020, Nadrich noticed that many of his white colleagues were silent. So he decided to bring the subject up himself because he knew that students and faculty hurt.
After bringing up the subject, a couple of white colleagues said to him, “I've been thinking about it for so long, but it's just so hard, so emotional. I was torn as to what to say. ”Rather than sharing those words with hindsight, Nadrich, an ACA member who specializes in racial ambiguity, diversity and social justice, wants his colleagues to stand up against racist violence and pronounced injustice before he felt compelled to do so.
The burden of reacting to the broader community should not have been on his shoulders, emphasizes Nadrich, especially when you consider that he does not hold a leadership role and already with the trauma and grief of another horrific act of racist violence against someone in the black community.
Bosley says he is often concerned with white guilt and the burden of answering or asking questions about race himself. He never knows which of these tasks will be required of him on any particular day. He notes that working as a psychologist only reinforces this obligation to educate others. “You have this uninvited burden that [you] must use this moment to enlighten, because every silence gives the fire permission to continue burning. Whether that's right or wrong, or whether I should accept it or not, it's my reality, ”he says.
White emphasizes the importance of self-reflection and awareness, especially for white counselors. Consultants need to unpack their own privileged identities and examine what that means for their actions in the world, she argues.
"We talk a lot about 'what must white people do' so it becomes a different version of us to educate white people and tell white people what to do when they are literally just reading and see what has been said out there, "she says, citing the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competences as an example.
Have courageous conversations
In the immediate aftermath of George Floyd's murder, white students and colleagues asked Armstrong, who serves as the new executive director of A Therapist Like Me, a nonprofit that connects marginalized clients with marginalized therapists, how they felt. She wasn't sure how to describe her emotions or how this latest case of racist violence affected her.
“For the longest time I was not able to say a word about it because somehow I didn't feel anything. And I don't mean cold, closed, deaf, ”she explains. “I mean it more because unfortunately I feel like I'm desensitized because racist violence and injustice are so deeply rooted in our society now. It's a different thing that, as a black man in America, I carry around with me. "
Armstrong wondered if her white colleagues were also bothered by these horrific murders and acts of violence against the black community. Did you have a lump in your stomach? Did you also call your family members to check on you?
So Armstrong asked them a simple question: How did you feel about George Floyd's death? But her white colleagues avoided the question. Armstrong's frustration with this exchange led to her presentation, "Please Stop Asking Because I'm Not All Right: The Fight for Black Counselors During a Racial Pandemic," at the North Carolina Counseling Association's 2021 conference. Her goal, she says, was to start a serious dialogue about the problems faced by black mental health professionals.
When it comes to race and social justice, counselors need to "go out of the way and allow conversation," says ACA President S. Kent Butler. "Just as we are trained as advisors … we have to take ourselves out of the equation and be there as culturally competent advisors for our [clients] so that we do not cause any damage and [do not] negatively influence the outcome of what happens." Relationship. We try to help our customers move forward, ”he says. “This same philosophy needs to flow into social justice work. Consultants need to take themselves out of the equation because sometimes they can be or be part of the problem. And if you are indeed part of the problem, it is imperative that you take steps to understand your role in it and how you can actually contribute to systemic change. That is what self-awareness is about. "
Camellia Green, a LPC-S with private practice in New Orleans, agrees that lack of self-awareness often prevents society and the counseling field from moving forward. “In the area of counseling, we are taught that you have to know yourself and be aware of all possible areas of countertransference. … clinicians [are encouraged] going to counsel themselves … but a lot of people don't, "she says.
But this assignment goes deeper than consultants who know themselves. It requires them to grapple with their racial identity development, which they don't get in a training session, and question their worldview that has evolved over the course of their lives, says Green, an ACA member who specializes in working with people who have experienced trauma.
Bosley advises white colleagues to give themselves permission to be a beginner in discussing race. "Be brave enough … to talk about it," he says. “Because the same lump that's in your throat is in my throat when I have to address it. But I realize that if I don't address it, it's not you. "
"And have an obligation not only to talk about it, but then to do something about it," he adds.
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Agents of Change
Consultants are in a prime position to turn these bold conversations into action. "We are supposed to lead the indictment because from a psychological and psychological point of view we know what is the basis of [racism] … and we are the ones who can speak to her and say how to change it," says Armstrong. "But consultants don't do that."
The incongruity between the counselors' words and actions is a big part of the problem, emphasizes Bosley. He notes that counselors often say they are against discrimination but do not speak out publicly against those who discriminate or claim to be "an agent for the voiceless" until they have to speak for them. Then they are silent.
"Don't just use your voice for me when I'm there," says Bosley. "Use your voice when I'm not there and your friend … [or] colleague says something [harmful]."
ACA began its own crucial talks when the Governing Council issued an ACA anti-racism statement in June 2020. Later that year, the ACA created an Anti-Racism Task Force led by Butler, then President of the ACA. elected.
The Task Force proposed an ACA Action Plan Against Racism, which includes nine initiatives to combat systemic racism and racial injustice. The ACA also recently formed a commission to help counselors understand ways to advance this narrative, promote research, provide counselors with resources against racism, and involve more action-based projects like providing scholarships to help underrepresented counselors in the To help attend conferences, Butler adds Interim Chief Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Officer, and Professor of Consultant Education at the University of Central Florida and Fellow of the National Association of Diversity Offices in Higher Education.
The need for more representation
Another problem in this area is the need for more diverse counselors and therapists. According to the American Psychological Association, only 4% of psychologists are black, compared with 84% white.
Nadrich was one of two black men in his Masters Counseling Program. When the class started discussing race, students would often turn to these two men and ask them explicitly or implicitly for their thoughts, as if they had been appointed spokesmen for the black community. Although Nadrich's doctoral program was more diverse, he was nonetheless the first black person to complete the program.
When Nadrich, together with Michael Hannon (an associate professor of counseling at Montclair University) and four other colleagues, examined the underrepresentation of black men in counseling training, they faced an interesting dilemma: How could they get the voices of the eight black men, who you interviewed without revealing or "outing" their identity? With so few black male counselor trainers, they feared that other professionals could easily identify their participants by the way they spoke. (The resulting article, “Contributing Factors to Earning Tenure in Black Counselors for Male Counselors” was named “Outstanding Counselor Education and Supervision Article for 2020” by the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision Awards Committee [ACES].)
The consulting profession must not only make itself more accessible to non-white clients, but also to non-white consultants. "There is very little deliberate mentorship when it comes to engaging and engaging black people in the counseling profession," says White, who recently received the Dr. Judy Lewis has received ACA Counselors for Social Justice Award. "There is this ruse … [that] we have all these things available, but it is not accessible if it is not attractive."
To explain, White recalls that a few years ago she attended a division meeting in one of the ACA regions, where she was greeted by a room full of white faces. She remembers how unwelcome the room could be to other black professionals like herself. When the consultants began to discuss as usual, White felt compelled to ask why there was so little variety in the room. Her question was answered in silence for a full minute. Comments were then casually made about how the group had tried to deal with diversity. “It gives you the message that they don't care; it doesn't really matter or value, "says White.
Although the counseling profession still has a long way to go to attract various counselors and clients, White is confident because she has noticed that black people are opening up to counseling. "We got something right, where now more people in the African American community are considering counseling [entering the] and realizing the value of mental health," she notes.
White is also enthusiastic about the increase in black consultants in leadership positions: the current president of ACA is black; the presidents of the CSJ and the Military and Government Counseling Association (MGCA) are black women; and the presidents-elect of ACA, AMCD, ACES, CSJ, MGCA, the American Rehabilitation Counseling Association, the National Career Development Association, and the Society for Sexual, Affectional, Intersex and Gender Expansive Identities are black women.
These people “are more than qualified, but I also know that our voting body is very white. It gives me hope that they could see the promises, ”says White. At the same time, she fears that this shift in representation at the management level could trigger a backlash. She says she has heard from counselors asking, "How did that happen?"
The further path to cultural competence
Multicultural training is central to preparing counselors to understand other people's experiences and to be aware of their own privileges and prejudices. Butler asks, "How can we change the narrative about systemic racism when the profession has some counselor trainers and counseling programs that do not appreciate multiculturalism or change?"
Nadrich says the multicultural education offered in his Masters counseling program was inadequate, which reflected the dynamics of the one multicultural course he was taking rather than the institution, he adds. The instructor did not know how to conduct conversations about race and culture. “It was a very black and white course. We haven't talked much about issues beyond blacks and whites' problems. We rarely talked about other oppressed groups and never talked about topics like intersectionality, ”he says.
Some counseling programs require students to only take one multicultural counseling course, and as Armstrong and Green point out, one course is not enough to prepare clinicians for cultural proficiency. Armstrong believes that an emphasis must be placed on cultural self-awareness and community awareness from the outset and throughout the counseling program, as cultural literacy arises over time and through practice.
Multicultural counseling involves more than one organization or department saying it values it and adding an additional cultural role to the curriculum, notes Green, a doctoral student in the counselor training program at the University of New Orleans. She wants counseling programs to incorporate multicultural awareness into all counseling courses, not just one.
Butler, whose research interests include African American men, spirituality and ethics in counseling, and diversity and social justice in counseling, agrees that multicultural training must be incorporated into every aspect of counseling, including theories, techniques, and research . His forthcoming textbook, Introduction to 21st Century Counseling: A Multicultural & Social Justice Approach, co-edited with Anna Flores Locke and Joel M. Filmore, embeds multicultural and social justice skills in each chapter and serves as a guide to improving the Instructional and teaching counselors help to better understand themselves, their clients and the world around them.
“Cultural competence is not an end point. It is not a goal. It's a journey, ”says White. And part of the journey involves self-awareness, especially for whites. “Your whiteness shapes your… interactions. It moves the space. It takes up oxygen, ”she states.
And people's own perspectives shape their awareness of others, she continues. "The way you see me is not a fact," she says. "It is your perception of who I am." Therefore, counselors need to "be aware of what shapes these perceptions and then be able to constantly pay attention to these things when interacting with colleagues, students, client communities [and]," she adds.
White argues that the profession must find a way to make diversity training a prerequisite for a consultant's overall professional development. It suggests, for example, that counselors be required to have a certain number of training credits on the subject of racism against blacks.
Counseling teachers should also consider whether non-white counseling students have the same opportunities as their white counterparts when it comes to mentoring and financial support, says Butler. It can be helpful to reflect on yourself: Are you overlooking working with non-white students on a research project? Who will receive graduate assistant positions in your department? Do white students in particular get the more sought-after graduate assistants? Wie denken Sie, dass nichtweiße Beratungsstudenten Sie als ihren Dozenten wahrnehmen oder wie sie in Ihren Kursen behandelt werden?
Zu Beginn seiner Karriere als Berater und Pädagoge schrieb Nadrich in seinem akademischen Profil, dass er sich leidenschaftlich für die Betreuung und Unterstützung von Farbstudenten interessierte. Ein anderer Kollege kam auf ihn zu und fragte, ob seine Aussage weiße Studenten davon abhalten würde, mit ihm zusammenzuarbeiten. Obwohl Nadrich ein unbefristetes neues Fakultätsmitglied war, lehnte er es ab, sein Profil zu ändern, weil er seine eigenen Überzeugungen aufrechterhalten wollte. Er sagte dem Kollegen, es sei in Ordnung, wenn einige weiße Studenten wegen seiner Aussage nicht zu ihm kämen.
Nadrich weist darauf hin, dass der Kommentar seines Kollegen zwei falsche Annahmen enthielt. Erstens wurde davon ausgegangen, dass weiße Studenten nicht bereits eine große Anzahl von Mitarbeitern, Dozenten und Fachleuten hatten, die wie sie aussahen und ähnliche Erfahrungen teilten, um Unterstützung und Ressourcen zu erhalten, während farbige Studenten es taten. Zweitens wurde angenommen, dass Nadrichs Leidenschaft für die Arbeit mit Farbstudenten schädlich sei, obwohl die Angabe anderer beruflicher Präferenzen, wie einer Leidenschaft für Verhaltensneurowissenschaften oder sozioökonomische Disparitäten, als weniger bedrohlich angesehen worden wäre.
Überbrückung der Lücke
Bosley sagt, es bricht ihm das Herz, wenn die Leute immer noch darauf bestehen, farbenblind zu sein, wenn das Gespenst des Rassismus aufkommt. Sie denken vielleicht, dass sie sich durch solche Aussagen besser fühlen, aber sie sagen tatsächlich, dass sie Rasse nicht sehen, anstatt sie direkt anzusprechen. Die Botschaft, die sie senden, ist, dass „sie nicht einmal genug von mir halten, um zu versuchen, mich zu sehen“, sagt er.
Nadrich lehrt seine Beratungsstudenten, warum es schädlich ist, sich immer an unterrepräsentierte Gruppen zu wenden, um sich selbst zu erklären, welche Ungerechtigkeiten sie erleben und was andere tun sollten, um zu helfen. „Sie müssen herausfinden, was es bedeutet, Sie selbst zu sein und wie Sie anfangen können, die Lücke zwischen Ihrer Identität und der Identität der Menschen zu schließen, denen Sie dienen und mit denen Sie arbeiten“, sagt er.
Wenn Nadrich zum Beispiel mit einer jugendlichen farbigen Frau arbeitet, dann weiß er, dass seine Identität als farbige Person helfen könnte, die Kluft zwischen ihnen zu überbrücken. Aber er erkennt auch, dass seine Identität als Mann die Kluft je nach eigener Geschichte und Erfahrung des Klienten vergrößern könnte. “I have to be cognizant of that,” Nadrich says, “and say overtly to myself, ‘How am I going to make sure that I’m bridging across gender in this situation?’”
And in speaking to his white colleagues, Nadrich asks, “Are you willing to be affected by my lived experience? Are you willing for my lived experience to be relevant to yours or necessary to yours when it doesn’t have to be?”
Nadrich is grateful for the colleagues who don’t avoid the issue and demonstrate a willingness to bridge this gap. “If you’re willing to be affected by it, now you hear me,” he says. “Now you know what’s going on with me and people like me.”
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Lindsey Phillips is the senior editor for Counseling Today. Contact her at [email protected].
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Opinions expressed and statements made in articles appearing on CT Online should not be assumed to represent the opinions of the editors or policies of the American Counseling Association.
