Counseling African Americans

1
Counseling African Americans

• Mandy Cleveland, M.A.

2
Who is African American?

• Historically
• Term was used to describe people of African
  descent who were born in the United States and
  who may have experienced or inherited a history
  of slavery and oppression.
• Modern
• Modern definitions also include those who have
  immigrated to the United States and who choose
  the term African American because it best fits
  their group identity
• E.g. people of color from Africa, the West
  Indies, the Caribbean, and South America

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African American vs Black

• These terms have been used interchangeably in the
  literature
• However, each term may hold a different meaning
  for individual clients
• Important to understand how clients self identify
• Younger people often choose African American
  while the older prefer the term Black
• Preference for the term Black is strongest among
  the college educated, affluent, rural areas, and
  the South
• (Emonson, 1993)

4
Questions AA clients may have about Counselors

• Understand that Black individuals and families
  are distinct from other individuals and families?
• Understand that racism, classism, sexism, and
  other sources of discrimination are real issues
  for Black clients and not a sign that they're
  "too sensitive" or paranoid?
• Treat me as an individual deserving respect and
  at the same time avoid being biased or
  paternalistic or having a personal agenda??
• Know something about Black cultural expressions
  values, music, styles of speech, dress,
  mannerisms, and popular and classic music and
  literature?
• See me as deviant simply because I'm different
  from him or her?

5
Relevant Factors

• Historical oppression and racism
• Present socio-economic status
• Physical and mental health concerns
• Family structure
• Values
• Religion
• Understanding Black Identity Development

6
Historical Oppression and Racism

• 10 million Africans, brought as slaves into the
  Americas from the sixteenth to the nineteenth
  centuries
• In the Southern U.S., the economy was virtually
  destroyed due to the war, freeing of the slaves,
  and Reconstruction

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Historical Oppression and Racism

• Northern cities like New York and Philadelphia
  designated certain areas of the city where
  African Americans could live, and certain jobs
  where they could work
• The struggle to achieve basic civil rights and
  criminalize outright discrimination didnt take
  place until the 1960s

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Historical Oppression and Racism

• Had to fight for voter registration, equal
  opportunities for education, equal access to
  common public facilities like bathrooms and lunch
  counters, and most famously, the right to sit at
  the front of a public transportation bus
• Federal government eventually provided increased
  enforcement of desegregation, and punished some
  wrongdoers for discrimination

9
Present Status

• 36.6 million
• Roughly 13 percent of the U.S. population
• Almost 2/3rds of the AA population is in the
  lower socio-economic class today.
• 10.3 percent of White families with children
  under 18 are below the poverty level compared to
  24.9 percent of Black families with children
  under 18.

10
Present Status

• In 2001, the overall rate of unemployment for all
  Americans was 5.8 percent but the unemployment
  rate for African Americans was 10.2 percent
• AA men have the lowest participation in the work
  force compared to men in other racial groups

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Educational Equity?

• In 2000, 12 percent of Black males attained a BA
  compared to 20 percent of White males
• Similarly, 11 percent of Black females attained
  a BA compared to 18 percent of White females

12
Structural Discrimination

• Companies choosing to build factories away from
  urban areas with large AA populations
• Cities choosing to build public transit systems
  that provide easy access to inner city jobs from
  the suburbs, but not from inner city to central
  city jobs or from inner city to suburban jobs
• Funding education through local property tax
  revenues, when AA inner-city communities have a
  higher proportion of depressed property values

13
Middle class and Upper class

• This segment of the population often has a
  distinct set of experiences from other African
  Americans
• They are often better educated, have more
  financial security, and more work opportunities
• What message does this convey?
• They may also endure bicultural stress and
  receive negative feelings from both African
  Americans and Whites
• Why?

14
Mental Health Statistics

• African Americans rarely use private therapists,
  but more often may use community mental health
  centers (overrepresented)
• An APA task force found that large numbers of
  disadvantaged and minority citizens lacked access
  to adequate health care (mental health)
• African Americans are significantly more likely
  to terminate counseling prematurely
• Ethnic match between therapist and client proved
  to have a greater impact on the number of
  sessions attended than did treatment outcomes
• Does it matter though?
• What does the class think?

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Mental Health

• According to NIMH Study the rates of depressive
  disorders and substance abuse for African
  Americans were very similar to Whites
• The incidence of schizophrenia is slightly higher
  for African Americans (could be related to SES)

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Mental Health Cont.

• Mental health problems may not be equally
  addressed
• MH professionals may misinterpret behavior as
  being normative for African Americans when it is
  really a symptom of mental illness (D.O. Lewis,
  Balla, Shanok, 1979).
• Black patients are often given more severe
  diagnoses than Whites, regardless of the race of
  the psychiatrist (Loring Powell, 1988)

17
Family Structure

• Households with married couples with children
  comprised less than half of the households among
  African Americans. (Census, 2000)
• 78 of single parent families were headed by
  females. (Census, 2000)
• AA single mothers are the least likely to be
  divorced (17), most likely to never be married
  (65), and more likely than Whites to live within
  an extended family situation (e.g. with
  grandparents) (18)
• How do these statistics fit into societal norms?

18
Family Structure Cont.

• Among single AA mothers 23 live with related
  family
• 4 live with unrelated, or augmented, family.
  (Census, 2000)
• Many negative claims have been made concerning
  the influence of AA family structure on social,
  psychological, and economic well-being

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Family Structure Cont.

• For example, the AA family headed by a female is
  frequently characterized as inferior and blamed
  for many of the problems in the African American
  community
• Positive aspects of AA family structure are often
  overlooked

20
Values

• According to McCollum (1997) African Americans as
  a group tend to value strong kinship bonds, are
  work and education oriented, have strong
  dedication to religious values and church
  participation, and tend to be more group
  oriented, rather than individualistic
• These values are in many ways similar to West
  African heritage which values elements like
  family structure, notions of kinship, and
  religious concepts and practices. (Hine, Hine,
  Harrold, 2000)

21
Religion

• The religious customs of African Americans have
  helped them to survive slavery, deal with racism,
  oppression, economic hardship, and many other
  forces that demoralized and exploited their
  people.
• Indigenous religions of the slaves continued long
  after they left Africa
• These religions underscored
• the unity of the natural and the supernatural,
  the secular and the sacred, and the living and
  the dead

22
Religion

• Conversion to Christianity shaped AA culture
• The sharing of religious beliefs and practices
  created multiracial congregations, and a common
  ground of spiritual equality
• AA worshipers also influenced the practice of
  Christianity through the development of elements
  like gospel music and a vibrant worship style

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Religion

• Although many slave owners tried to use Christian
  beliefs to control and justify their treatment of
  Blacks, the freedom to worship together as a
  congregation reinforced African Americans
  collective identity and helped them to persevere
  through hard times.

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Black Identity Development

• Dr. William E. Cross Jr. (1971) developed an
  African American identity development model that
  traces the individuals group or racial
  identity growth.
• One of the first racial identity models
• The Cross Model
• The basis of this model is that self-perception
  is based on racial factors, especially for
  African Americans, because society has determined
  that race is a salient characteristic.

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Cross Model

• Stages Pre-encounter, encounter,
  immersion-emersion, internalization, and
  internalization-commitment.

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Cross Model

• Pre-encounter Unaware of ones own racial or
  cultural identity. Person is unconscious of
  negative stereotypes against African Americans
• Consciously or unconsciously devalue their own
  Blackness and concurrently value White values and
  ways. Pressure to assimilate and acculturate into
  White society

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Cross Model

• Encounter A specific event or experience
  happens that causes a person to feel the need for
  change by becoming aware of her/his own racial
  identity

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Cross Model

• Immersion-emersion - Individuals seek to immerse
  themselves in their ethnic culture through active
  exploration of cultural identity.  Ethnic culture
  becomes a positive, beautiful worldview, and the
  majority culture may be seen as negative or
  flawed.
• Feelings of guilt and anger seem to dissipate
  with a rise in pride

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Cross Model

• Internalization Stage - Identity is solidified,
  and the individual may have a deep and integrated
  sense of their racial/ethnic identity.  The
  individual is more at ease with their own
  standard of cultural identity. 
• Internalization-commitment Stage - The individual
  has a long-term commitment and involvement in
  their own cultural identity. 
• Commitment to community/people of similar
  cultural heritage
• Anti-White feelings subside as the person becomes
  more flexible, more tolerant, and more
  bicultural/multicultural

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Modifications

• This model was later expanded to include all
  people of color
• Minority Identity Theory Model
• This model included the stages of
• 1. Conformity
• 2. Dissonance
• 3. Resistance
• 4. Introspection
• 5. Integrative Awareness

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Racial/Cultural Identity Development Model

• Conformity - Individuals accept the values of the
  majority culture.  Ethnic individuals in this
  culture may value White role models, White
  standards of beauty and success, and may even
  believe it is better to be white.  There may be
  underlying negative emotions toward self.

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Racial/Cultural Identity Development Model

• Dissonance Stage - Individuals begin to
  acknowledge the personal impact of racism.  An
  event, or trigger, causes the individual to
  examine and question their own set of beliefs. 
  Confusion and conflict toward dominant cultural
  system emerges

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Racial/Cultural Identity Development Model

• Resistance Active rejection of the dominant
  culture and active involvement in ones own
  culture
• Introspection Starts to question the values of
  both his/her minority group and the dominant
  group
• Integrative Awareness Person develops cultural
  identity based on both minority and dominant
  cultural values

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Guidelines for clinical practice

• Clients reactions- Sometimes clients feel
  uncomfortable working with a counselor of a
  different race would this be a problem for you?
• Examine clients worldviews and believes about
  counseling
• Egalitarian relationship (self disclosure). Talk
  about non-counseling topics if client is hostile
  or aloof.

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Guidelines for clinical practice

• Reaction to racial oppression- How much does
  racism play a role in client problem?
• How client responded to discrimination
• Positive assets of client (e.g. family, church,
  etc.)
• Help client define goals
• Degree of adoption to majority culture values
• Personal experience of the individual