White Male Counselor Credibility

Chapter 4 is didactic as it focuses on the importance of self-awareness and counselor credibility. As I read the case study about the white male counselor and the African American client I was quite intrigued. Clearly, the therapist presuppositions about African American men played a significant part of his choice of methods for intervention. The counselor fail to understand the client’s needs and pain because of his own preconceive notions. He even went so far as to discard the clients’ issues because he felt they were nonclinical problems. He never considered that the client’s depression was a result of social oppression. He blamed the African American male problems on irresponsibility, imprudence, and a lack of self- control nerve once considering
the social aspect of the client’s problem.
Erroneously, in my opinion the therapist used a humanistic-existential approach without focusing on the cultural diversity factors. The therapist allowed his own worldviews to dictate the session without bearing in mind the worldviews and ideologies of the client, which potentially affected the intervention process. The counselor took a more non-directive approach bases on his view of the client, whereas, studies indicates that clients of color prefer a therapeutic relationship in which the helper is more active, self-disclosing, and not adverse to giving advice and suggestions when appropriate. In addition, the counselor was not in tune with his own adverse biases and racism which possibly harmed the therapist-client relationship.