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Moving from Cultural Competence to Antiracism

192 Comments

We’ve all heard about cultural competence in clinical practice. And while it’s important, it’s also not enough.

So today, Thema Bryant-Davis, PhD will get into some first steps in becoming an antiracist practitioner.

 

 

Click here for full transcript
Dr. Bryant-Davis: So, it’s important to know that white therapists can be anti-racist therapists. What I mean by that, as opposed to just cultural competence – cultural competence is often about like, “Have you learned some information about different communities, do you have some sense of your own identity?” But to have an anti-racist stance is more active, it is more intentional, and some directories or mental health networks have started educating communities of color to tell them that it’s a small percentage of psychologists and mental health professionals that are ethnic minority. So as they’re looking for therapists – and you can even have an ethnic minority therapist who does not have that consciousness around being actively anti-racist – so, what these networks are recommending to people when they call to look for a therapist is to ask them, “What are your thoughts about the impact of racism on mental health? What are your thoughts about the impact of white supremacy on mental health?” as a taste test. If the answer is, “I believe people are people,” well then there you have your answer that this is not someone who is going to be able to acknowledge and engage with you because they’re not even willing to acknowledge that it exists and that it has an impact. It’s important to be able to communicate awareness and compassion that these events are happening, and that oppression is a reality now. That historical piece is helpful to know and it is very important to be able to not go into victim-blaming. So when we go in to try to defend and explain people who have said or done harmful things, then it lets the client know, “This is someone who is not really safe for me, they’re not really for me,” and it what it requires from us – and when I say “from us” I mean whenever you’re a part of the majority group – is to release my defensiveness because our usual tendency is to connect with the person we see as a reflection of ourselves. Because if the mom did something bad, then maybe that means I do something bad, so that I need to make it okay. And so, the example that comes to me from my own experience is around working with clients with disabilities as an able-bodied person. I was teaching multicultural psychology, and I had a guest presenter who uses a wheelchair and she was talking about coming across the campus at a place where I used to teach and the invisibility of systematically everyone refusing to look at her. As she came across the campus, no one would look at her. So in my “able-bodiedness”, what my instant defensive instinct, which I didn’t speak on but what came to my mind, was I know what that is because I have done it, in terms of trying not to stare looking away, without ever taking into consideration what would it feel like if everyone does that, if everyone is averting their gaze? Again, that difference between intention and impact – even if you did not intend to be rude or mean, that it is an erasure, and so to be able to sit with that. What I would say for white clinicians, when an ethnic minority client is describing an experience, your instinct may be to try to figure out how they could be interpreting it incorrectly because we want to believe that things are fair and right. Maybe I would do that or maybe my cousin would do that, and we’re not bad people, but instead to really sit with, “What is it this person is saying and what might it be like to have that experience?” and then to respond with that support. I want to say, actually, that that can be very therapeutic and healing in a way that hits on another level than them hearing it from me. What I mean by that is when I’ve had rape survivors who were raped by a man had a male therapist tell them how wrong that was of what happened to them, it registers in another way because this person in some ways they identify with that group. So instead of feeling powerless, like, “Oh I won’t be able to help my ethnic minority clients,” instead, with humility because people have talked about now not just cultural competence but cultural humility which is, “I don’t know everything,” and a continuous learning and an openness and a recognition. So, with humility and compassion, this could really be a therapeutic moment, it could really be healing.

 

What are your biggest takeaways from what you just heard? Please let us know by leaving a comment below.

If you found this helpful, here are a few more resources you might be interested in:

Working with the Trauma of Racism

When Staying Neutral Isn’t the Best Approach

The Same Pandemic, Vastly Different Experiences

 

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Related Posts: Antiracism, Compassion

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192 Comments

  1. Sonja Martin, Social Work, Marietta, PA, USA says

    Thanks Thema for your comments and the hope that you give the Caucasian therapist community that we can be part of the healing process if we dare to listen with compassion to our non-Caucasian clients who have experienced racism. I remember being impacted deeply by a project I was given in my undergrad work to choose a disability to have for 24 hours. I chose to be without the use of my legs and be deaf. Although I desperately wanted to hide from the public after several hours, my parents insisted that I work my typical job in our family business. I can remember wanting desperately to explain to our customers that my disabled state was only temporary, but I didn’t. It was humbling to be looked at by people who didn’t know me and know that they thought I was permanently disabled. I felt the stares and experienced being ignored and not given eye contact. That project still influences my actions over 20 years later as I communicate with a person in a wheelchair. I will often kneel by them or sit to have a conversation. You mentioned that a compassionate encounter with someone from the group that caused the pain (males, whites, etc.) can even be more healing that if the compassion only comes from people who have also experienced the racism. That gives me hope….purpose. It allows me….as a person with white skin…to be a avenue of healing.

    Reply
  2. Kristina Peary, Counseling, Honesdale, PA, USA says

    So much good info and so concisely laid down. I loved Thema’s instruction on how to identify an anti-racist mental health provide and her stating so clearly that cultural competence is not enough. I want to grow my ability to know my intentions but to be able to listen for and ask about the impact I have.

    Reply
  3. Susan, Psychotherapy, Princeton , NJ, USA says

    Hello Thema!

    I’ve often thought of you since you left Princeton and I am delighted to see you pop up here. You continue to be a clear and compassionate voice for many issues, but especially those of multiculturalism and race/racism. I would love to hear more about anti racism, more from you and in general see more consistent black representation here.

    Thanks nicabm for the work that you do, for helping to expand the conversation about racism and for acknowledging that there is more work to be done.

    Reply
  4. Aniko Lewis, Counseling, GB says

    Oh, thank you so much Thema, for sharing your experience and wisdom and kindness around the healing work that is possible when a therapist can be open and empathetic around issues of racism as well as identity of self and other, in the therapeutic alliance–this is so beautiful and positive to hear. Your words resonate with me that there is gentle path forward; providing I am willing to stay in humility and awareness, and if I am open enough to hear, reflect and process the truth being spoken by my client – in my role as helper and advocate. Ruth, thank you for inviting Dr. Thema Bryant Davis to speak up about antiracism as an active stance in practice. So valuable, thank you both so much.

    Reply
  5. Natasha Picot, Another Field, GB says

    Thank you for this. It’s great to hear more empowered clarity for socially aware practice. I really like the emphasis on the active. Would be great to see more of this and also intersectional issues.

    Natasha Picot PhD.

    Reply
  6. Aprilani McIlwraith, Coach, Waipahu, HI, USA says

    I appreciate Dr. Bryant-Davis stepping up to the plate to address anti-racism and NICABM for giving her the platform to present this important topic. Until there are more mental health workers who are anti-racist, satisfactory mental health for minorities who need these services will continue to be challenging, elusive or difficult to attain.

    Her suggestion to filter potential therapists by asking the relevant questions she posed is helpful.

    I really liked the observation that she averted her eyes from certain people in an effort not to stare but how it could feel like being erased.

    Reply
    • Aprilani McIlwraith, Coach, Waipahu, HI, USA says

      I would also like to add that this has been a cornerstone issue for me in my coaching practice. I feel that “my people,” Asian, Hawaiian and other minorities in Hawaii are not being served appropriately because of the shortage of coaches of these cultures who are anti-racist.

      I have been navigating the coaching world to figure out how to provide this service and it’s great to have words for the situation now. I think I have some research in this area to do….. Thank you for touching on this topic.

      Reply
  7. Marlon Familton, Marriage/Family Therapy, Bellevue, WA, USA says

    I am so glad to hear her perspective as the word “anti-racist” fills a gap for me. Cultural competence is important of course. However, to approach this issue from the “open non-judgmental accepting” place has felt more like “I have no stand on this issue” and that feels too much like silent acquiescence. That is not an acceptable position. I think it is possible to be an open non-judgmental therapist and anti-racist at the same time. Just like I can be a good relationship counselor and be anti-DV. Thank you for this posting.

    Reply
  8. Tania Salazar, Counseling, USA says

    Thank you, thank you, thank you! for bringing this conversation to the forefront. Dr. Bryant-Davis hits the nail on the head. My take-aways are the notion of sitting with the reality of your client’s experience, uncomfortable as it may be. And to come from a place of cultural humility. So we’ll said. Please share more as you can! We need these conversations, in both personal and professional settings, now more than ever. Thanks again & keep the dialogue going!

    Reply
  9. Gayle Henry, Counseling, AU says

    Thank you Thema. That was very insightful.
    I must say that I always thought of myself as being anti racist but if seeing people and not colour or culture is wrong then I think I am racist and feel much shame. I prided myself on not signally out individuals as being different. Also, think I failed the looking test too. I’ve always thought it rude to look at disabled people unless of course they needed help. I have a nephew in a wheel chair and he hates people who look at him. Guess I have some processing to do. Thank you for the wisdom and compassion though. Stay safe everyone.

    Reply
  10. Camille, NY, USA says

    There are different ways of responding to this topic, Anon. One is projection.

    Reply
  11. Alison O Jordan LCSW, Social Work, USA says

    This was very helpful.
    First, to Hear how one can tell the difference between “I’m not a racist – people are People” and “I am against racism and will support anti-racism actively and in collaboration with racial ethnic minorities.” And also to hear how to affirm that I will never be able to fully understand the feelings of a Black person but I can demonstrate empathy and compassion and acknowledge the wrongs my clients have experienced.

    Reply
  12. Anonymous says

    That was very insightful and timely. I wanted more.

    Reply
  13. Allison C, Psychotherapy, CA says

    Thank you Ruth for posting Thema Bryant-Davis’s (PhD, and thank you Thema for you succinct, direct and compassionate approach! Humility certainly goes a very long way in our work as therapists, and I concur with the term ‘anti-racist’. The whole point of therapy is for us to become fully emotionally integrated adult, and being that demands the absence of any kind of intentional negative bias regarding race, sex, language, sexual orientation, education etc etc etc. Mental Health workers have a very important role to play, and we need to start being more vocal about all of this.

    Reply
  14. Ellen Patton, Counseling, USA says

    Thank you for this wisdom.

    Reply
  15. metta flows, Another Field, cle, OH, USA says

    To heal we need to know we are seen – and know we are not invisible. We need to experience being heard and valued; To have the experience that the truth of our existence is witnessed and respected. Then healing can happen, the work can commence, restoration begins, bears fruit and creates change. Remember the “other” is “us”.

    Reply
  16. Pat Smith, Other, USA says

    This is a marvelous woman! Where has she been?
    I don’t remember anyone on this website ever talking about humility as a virtue in a therapist before.

    Reply
  17. Heather Owens, Health Education, USA says

    Dr. Bryant-Davis, THANK YOU for your video! That really made me think. I have had that experience of looking away quickly so as to not appear ablist, and I really appreciate you using that example to illustrate that we must be really intentional in stepping out of our own defensiveness to be present for someone else. The truth is, we all have been raised in this culture and we all have racist, sexist, homophobic and xenophobic thoughts flash through our brains….even when we belong to those groups denigrated by stereotypes! I am embracing the term “anti-racist” as a tool to help me take action to step outside my own “stuff” to be present for black and brown folks and against the systematic racism we all learn in our culture. Thank you for this powerful lesson! Heather M. Owens

    Reply
  18. Christine FibroCoach.Online, Coach, CA says

    Wonderful! I didn’t have the word antiracist. But seeing that cop murder George made me ashamed to be white. Antiracist is a much better way to express it, because I was promptly corrected for not accepting who I am. I handled the objection but antiracist is the perfect word and she expressed her message calmly in an antiracist way toward whites. Thank you for this.

    Reply
  19. Veronica Taylor, Counseling, CA says

    It is important for white therapist to accept that they work from a place of privilege and that being liberal and open is not enough. Accepting their limitation of knowing what it is like and being open to the very different reality of the black client and to learning about and acknowledging that that reality really exist is needed. Often the black client with a white therapist who is unable to even acknowledge the issues that race brings into the therapy room feels even more diminished by that experience.
    Thank you Dr.Bryant-Davis for addressing this at this very emotionally difficult time. Unfortunately it often takes something difficult for the issue of racism to be put on the table and most often danced around.

    Reply
  20. Darren Witzy, Psychotherapy, CA says

    I work 90% cross-cultural; I thought her points were relevant, helpful and articulate. The ideas don’t need to be new to be relevant, relatable and instructive. I’d invite you to rethink your approach, as it comes across as resentful.

    Reply
  21. Janaki Severy, Seattle, WA, USA says

    This was very helpful for me. I am white and 71 and am dating now and have previously dated men of color and I think there have been moments where I thought that meant I “understand”. Yet, I am a dentists daughter and grew up in a white neighborhood and I have never been treated like my friends of color have told me about how they have been treated. So I have intellectual understanding -not experiential understanding.

    Reply
  22. Katherine Ziegler, Psychology, San Leandro, CA, USA says

    Takeaway: As a white therapist working with a black client, if I can say (and with complete sincerity, as I for one would), for instance, “The impact of systemic racism on mental health is profound,” that can be doubly healing for a black client, since I — one of the race/skin color that continues to so damage them (out of our ignorance if not malice) — have validated their pain.

    In effect I have said, “Yes, that stuff does in fact happen all the time and is in fact devastating. I see you, I understand you, I am ashamed for my race’s willful ignorance and inaction, I grieve for you, and I am taking action to wake up myself, to educate myself, and to nourish genuine friendships with black people so that I’m not always the one with the power of my role in the room.”

    Reply
    • Cleopatra, Another Field, Astoria, NY, NY, USA says

      As an immigrant, I totally agree with Dinesh D’Souza who put it better than I am able to do – America is a great country and RACISM is cultivated by politicians, as well BEING VICTIMIZED attitude inserted in children from pre-schools. Racial separation is use now instead of old Marx’s theory of struggle between classes OR “rich” and “poor”. Divide the people in order to dominate them! Americans are not racist – the politicians use the mistakes of the past to grab the power and destroy the Republic from inside (as Alinsky teaches in his Bible). Is up to each person to free herself for misconceptions. Coming from a communist country I really appreciate the American Republic based on laws who created wonderful people that Americans are!

      Reply
      • Camille, Teacher, Brooklyn, NY, USA says

        One possible reaction to this topic is defensiveness; another is the temptation to change the subject. Dinesh D’Souza. Hmm. Personally if I’m going to take advice from someone I prefer they be law-abiding, considerate, level-headed folk. Race baiting, embezzling, adulterous felons can have words of wisdom to share, and sometimes not.

        Reply
  23. John Wadsworth, LCSW, Social Work, Portland, OR, USA says

    Helpful! Thank you Dr Bryant-Davis.

    Reply
  24. Susan Jovanovic-De Domenicis, Counseling, CA says

    Anti racist stance is “active and intentional.”
    Great example of the woman in a wheelchair.
    Difference between “ intention and impact.”
    “Cultural humility”
    “Recognition and openness”
    Sit with, “what it might be like to live this experience”
    Humility and compassion “could be a therapeutic and healing moment”

    Reply
  25. Terry Papiernik, Counseling, CA says

    Dr. Thema,
    Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and ideas on moving from cultural competence to antiracist it was helpful. I saw a post from an ally this morning and it hit home the importance of speaking out. “Yes, I am a racist. And I support an antiracist way of being in my life. Yes I make mistakes and will as I work hard at recognizing my own and colonized system I have been brought up in does not support all people and cultural tradition and languages other than that of those of white privilege. As an ally I will be alert and address these racists behaviours….” As someone who is white I often find myself held back because of my own fears of making a mistake and offending. I need to step up if I wish to see the changes I believe in. So yes I truly appreciated the respectful way in which you got this point across. Kindly,Counsellor. Comox BC, Canada

    Reply
  26. Kate, Social Work, Gilead, ME, USA says

    Thank you! I will use these ideas in my work and pass them along to other clinicians and teachers I work with. I like the idea that giving a compassionate response with humility can be a healing experience for a person in an ethnic minority group. I’ve felt unqualified and not wanting to insult but I realize this is a form of turning away and avoiding rather than supporting. This gives me more confidence about what an anti-racism stance looks like. I appreciate you taking the time to speak on this topic!

    Reply
  27. Gayook Wong, Psychotherapy, Los Angeles, CA, USA says

    With the volatile emotions occurring in reaction to the recent police brutality of African-Americans, this presentation was timely with much needed suggestions for white antiracist therapists. Thank you. As a retired Chinese-American psychotherapist and social worker, I fully agree with the suggestions she gave. Due to the president’s labeling COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus”, there has been a rash of violence towards all Asian-Americans. Much of what Dr. Bryant-Davis suggested for working with African-American clients also holds true in working with Asian-American clients.

    Reply
    • Barbara K., Counseling, GR says

      That’s a good example. What I see is that everyone labels and lapses into prejudices and even to the extreme “racism” when they fear. There are always prejudices and reactions. Years ago I had read a paper about how African American patrons thought the Korean owners of a shop were “racist” because they didn’t speak a lot (which was not true as this was a cultural approach to all). I grew up and went to school in the US with many black and Hispanic kids and my best friend in high school was Haitian — she could not identify with “African American” and she got bullied for this. I got bullied because I was a white kid of foreign parents.
      In this part of the world where I live now there is prejudice against Roma because of experiences of theft, and migrant groups, are prejudiced against each other (!). One group though who makes things worse by labels or racism to all is “Antifa” they join peaceful protests and then start spraying graffiti tags and wearing hoods often destroy shops “against the system” but what they do is continue to destroy an already suffering economy (all this since 1990s). So we need to look at all sides of the story and keep discussion going.

      Reply
  28. Karen Cobb, Counseling, Albuquerque, NM, USA says

    Don’t second guess anyone’s lived experience of oppression… Check your assumptions at the door. Tread humbly and call out violence for what it is.

    Reply
    • Barbara K., Counseling, GR says

      Couldn’t agree more! Read my comment above …..

      Reply
  29. Karen Gravel, Counseling, Venice, FL, USA says

    Dr. Thema I just want to say I enjoy your podcast The Homecoming very much and admire the work you do. In this video I appreciate the emphasis on cultural humility as it relates to working with clients who have different cultural experiences from my own. Being culturally competent is foundational, but humility is genuine and inspires trust, connection and rapport.

    Reply
  30. Cynthia Pollet, Counseling, GRANDVILLE, MI, USA says

    Great words. “That difference between intention and impact… it is an erasure.” Also keeping with the humility, I really do not know the answers nor can I, as a white person, ever know what it must feel like to be black in this country. But my heart is broken for those to whom wrongs have been done.

    Reply
  31. Cheryl Card, Psychology, South Salem, NY, USA says

    Thank you. Very eager to go all in on this discussion on being anti racist in all domains of life. Maybe we will go back from this very challenging time better.

    Reply
  32. Janel, Counseling says

    Good reminder. Encouraging to know and think about empathy from a white practitioner being healing. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  33. Liz Widdop, Other, AU says

    Yeah …
    at some point in our journey as “human beings” we need to move beyond the labels and notions of sexism… racism… nationalism …
    and find … greater uplifting connective authentic communication to help us all heal our limitations
    Humility surrender to move in safety and trust and probably grace thru our individual issues as well as collective issues …
    Transmutation …

    Reply
    • Denise Powers, Student, GA, USA says

      I challenge you to think through your reply as the evidence is everywhere that society is not set up so that all human beings are considered equal by institutions, systems, and individuals. You call “labels” what are considered by the majority as “identities” – identities that are intimately intertwined with their lived experiences. Thus, we cannot turn our heads and ignore the violent oppression folks experience because of these identities.

      Reply
    • Anne-Marie Suddreth, Psychotherapy, Fort Collins, CO, USA says

      We will be able to move past these labels only after we acknowledge and address the pain and division that they create. We are far from that right now.

      Reply
      • bob roberts, Counseling, Louisville, KY, USA says

        Ever killed any of your children? What should we call you Anne?

        Reply
  34. Anonymous says

    I found the comment about good intentions not being an eraser of what is felt or experienced by the person on the receiving end

    Reply
  35. Anonymous says

    As a Black therapist and social worker, I get tired if explaining culture and anti racism at times to others. She said something which was quite powerful and that ivhave often found….believe what your client is telling you about their experience. Do not dismiss it because you want to make things better. You make things better y acknowledging and believing.

    Colette
    London ontario canada

    Reply
    • Gayook Wong, Psychotherapy, Los Angeles, CA, USA says

      I am a retired Chinese-American psychotherapist and social worker, and I concur with your suggestion to believe what the client is saying about his/her experience. When you try to make it better, it just makes the client feel unheard and undervalued!

      Gayook
      Los Angeles, CA.

      Reply
    • G Stewart says

      “Believe what your client is telling you about their experience” is spot on and good advice, in general. There is much harm from pathologizing someone’s lived experience – I would go so far as to say that’s true even when it doesn’t match consensus reality. I see the hearing voices movement for mental freedom as going after the root of all -isms. If humanity were truly open-minded enough to not shame or judge different mental frameworks, it would no longer make sense to have bias based on color, sexuality, ability, etc.

      I am white so I am not certain this feels true to others, but from the outside it seems like racism would feel like constant gaslighting. I imagine having white society say racism no longer exists, or to have a person do something racist and then deny that it was.

      Thoughts?

      Reply
  36. nelson kieff, alexandria ,Va, VA, USA says

    It doesn’t follow that someone who answers a potential client’s impersonal phone call question to the effect that “people are people” is not racially sensitive. It is not an assumed emotional hurt from a racially adverse encounter that the therapist will engage but an empathic attunement to a real individual’s specific self’s emotional experience.

    Reply
  37. Antoinette Babers, Marriage/Family Therapy, RIVERSIDE, CA, USA says

    Thank you for saying all of this. Just because you don’t share an experience with your client does not mean that it’s not real for the client. I like the way you separated cultural competence and anti-racist.

    Reply
  38. Rosa Vance, Other, CA says

    I think so often that you should acknowledge the person existence by perhaps saying hi as you would do with anyone else thereby averting the feeling of being ignored or excluded.

    Reply
  39. Jaylene Hamilton, Other, CA says

    I have so much to learn. Feeling a great deal of emotional pain for those who have suffered at the hands of racism. What is the next step to take after listening to todays video.
    Thank you

    Reply
  40. Janice Arlene Rost, Counseling, Briarcliff Manor, NY, USA says

    Thank you for helping me/us learn more about what works and what is not the quality of an antiracist. Please continue to enlighent us/

    Reply
  41. Liz Walton, Medicine, AU says

    In that short excerpt I learned so much. Thank you. I too have been brought up with the “don’t stare, it’s rude’ mantra, without ever thinking about it from the other’s point of view. I’m still not sure of how to handle that – do you look? And how do you look? And how do you stop from going the other way – being too accommodating and sympathetic? If someone presented a course on that (Dr Bryant-Davis?) I’d sign up. (I am not a professional therapist, but a CAM practitioner who inevitably hears horrible things in sessions and has to cope with that.)

    Reply
  42. Diane Tetrault, Counseling, Montpelier , VT, USA says

    Excellent articulation of the therapeutic moment of connection, the vulnerability and humility of clinician creating a space for the the client’s tenderness To “land” and be received as sacred.

    Reply
  43. Anonymous says

    There is way a white Therapist Could even start to comprehend the spectrum of being a minority.

    Reply
  44. Jennifer Finch, Counseling, 30068, GA, USA says

    Great presentation. Thank you. I teach compassion meditation to healthcare workers and this is valuable insight. There are many of us working hard (I am a white woman therapist) to reduce prejudice and biases and increase compassion to wider and wider circles. It starts with self-inquiry and examination of ones own mind.

    Reply
  45. Anonymous says

    Thank you

    Reply
  46. Gretchen Rous, Social Work, Ypsilanti , MI, USA says

    The willingness to listen with humility and compassion and to sit with my own impulse to explain or defend

    Reply
    • Mary R, Another Field, CA says

      Super important learning and reminders. We must constantly ask ourselves: are we really making enough effort to imagine being in the shoes of our client/friend/neighbour, listening with humility and compassion? Or are we still too stuck in our perceptual habits and identifications, to foster a truly authentic and respectful relationship? Consider the message we are communicating, through each approach…

      Reply
    • Mary R, Another Field, CA says

      Super important learning and reminders. We must constantly ask ourselves: are we really making enough effort to imagine being in the shoes of our client/friend/neighbour, listening with humility and compassion? Or are we still too stuck in our perceptual habits and identifications, roadblocks to fostering a truly authentic and respectful relationship? Consider the message we are communicating, through each approach…

      Reply
  47. Donna Clark, Counseling, Coatesville, PA, USA says

    Before listening to this, i was wondering how i could transition from being just culturally competent, which i always felt was inadequate at best, to being an antiracist therapist. Now i know! It resonates within my heart and soul! Cultural humility!

    Reply
  48. B McKenna, Other, OR, USA says

    Excellent presentation! One of the best pieces I’ve heard on this website. I loved example of ableism. My son is adult man who is Black; experiences intellectual and mental health challenges. A very marginalized person. It’s hard to find support from people with the culturally humility you shared. Thank you.

    Reply
  49. Camille Marcus, Teacher, Brooklyn, NY, USA says

    I have been so damaged by white women therapists. I gave up on therapy for good in 2012. After being asked by my white female therapist if my father does drugs because I mentioned being Jamaican and also that my father is a believer in meditation, I gave up, but not before I got a good passive-aggressive tracing out via letter after I told her, in person, that I’d miss the next two weeks so I could go and visit my parents for Christmas. White women therapists are a nightmare for black women. White men are not much better. When I was doing my doctorate upstate and 5 minutes late for an appointment because of a traffic delay the therapist I was seeing asked me, sarcastically, is it true that black people are always late. I decided my body, mind and spirit and wallet didn’t need to take the abuse much longer. Gross insensitivity. To say the least. They’re also completely inept in working with people who are sensitive to the trauma of systemic oppression.

    Reply
    • Angela Sim-Laramee, LCSW, Psychotherapy, Philadelphia, PA, USA says

      I’m so sorry that happened to you Camille.

      Reply
    • Donna Clark, Counseling, Coatesville, PA, USA says

      So very sorry this has been your experience Camille.

      Reply
    • E Wong, Other, CA says

      I’m sorry to hear your experience. I can’t imagine how painful it has been, but you’re not alone on this. I am Asian, who’s originally from Asia. I was told by a white female practitioner that it’s just my perception that I was occasionally harassed and oppressed by white people in my life here, North America. I don’t pass a day without feeling hyper vigilant around white people as I was occasionally harassed by them, especially by female, even when I was with my child. In my graduate studies, I was surrounded by white female students who insist they’re anti-racists, however they always turned aggressive or passive aggressive as soon as I voiced my opinions that are different from theirs in a way they never adopt to other white students. I do not seek for help from white female practitioners, because I know too well that it is not impossible but very hard to find one who are truly anti racist. It’s a shame that this psychotherapy field is dominated by white women. Hope more and more racial and ethnical minorities will be accepted by reputable counselling/clinical psychology programs without institutional racism, and help people who does not do harm on minorities.

      Reply
    • A F, Counseling, USA says

      That’s truly awful. I’m sorry you were treated that way. I can see why you’d be done with white women therapists.

      Reply
    • Jaylene Hamilton, CA says

      I’m truly sorry that happened to you. Truly deeply sorry for those comments and attitudes from those you were suppose to be able to trust. May we find a way to heal these deep wounds humanity has caused. Wishing you love peace and respect each day forward.

      Reply
  50. Susan, Counseling, Cheektowaga, NY, USA says

    I appreciate the insight Dr. Bryant-Davis presents particularly the emphasis on cultural humility also the calling out of responses often considered PC like “people are people” as being inappropriate to direct questions about one’s belief system in working with ethnic minorities. Thank you for posting.

    Reply
    • Mary J Giuffra, Psychotherapy, Bronxville, NY, USA says

      Thank you Dr Bryant-David,

      I felt a connection with you and sadness at the times I have been insensitive. You made me realize I have to be more intentionally anti-racist with every thought and interaction.
      In terms of mental health, it has always pained me to realize that when a child is in fear, it interferes with their cognitive functioning. Racism may create fear. It can seriously Impact a child’s school experience.
      Racism is a systemic trauma. All we know about trauma and how it causes overwhelm in the nervous system with freezing of the Instinctive fight/flight responses are relevant. Any sensory experience, image, behavior, affect and the racist meaning that accompanied them may be triggered on a daily basis.
      I must practice what I preach minute by minute.
      Thank you for your gift, Dr Bryant- Davis.

      Mary J Giuffra, PhD

      Reply
      • Errol Roman, Psychotherapy, GB says

        Thank you for the move beyond the concept of cultual competence and the view that “people are people”. Your ideas are not just relevant for the US but across the Atlantic to the UK and beyond

        Reply
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