A discourse analysis looking at the way counselling psychologists discuss and address issues of race with individuals from black Asian and minority ethnicities
Background: Current literature reports the prejudiced experiences Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) clients and supervisees have when talking about culture, racial discrimination and race when engaging with professionals in therapeutic dyads. However, they seldom investigate the practitioners’ interpretations when engaging with non-White individuals. This raises questions about the way professionals address the needs of BAME individuals in clinical and supervisory practice, thus drawing attention to possible causes behind these occurrences. Therefore, the present study aims to shed light about the discourses counselling psychologists use to address and discuss issues of race and discrimination when talking with BAME individuals in clinical practice. Methodology: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 6 counselling psychologists (2 male and 4 female) who had engaged with clients or supervisees from a BAME background. Participants’ accounts were recorded, verbatim transcribed and analysed using Discourse Analysis (DA). Results: The analysis indicated that three main discourses were present when counselling psychologists were describing their therapeutic interactions with BAME clients and supervisees. These discourses were Systemic Institutional Racism, Legitimising Racism and Challenging Systemic Racism. The first two discourses alluded to similar repertoires present in the discourses of white counselling psychologist participants whereas the discourse challenging systemic racism was mainly constructed by BAME counselling psychologists. Conclusion: The findings suggested that the discourses counselling psychologists used to address issues of race and the impact of difference, when engaging with BAME individuals, appeared to be associated to the racial identity of the practitioner. Responses indicated that BAME counselling psychologists were more attuned and open to engaging in culture, race and racism topics than white counselling psychologists in the study. Further, the research supports existing 8 literature reporting biased experiences BAME clients and supervisees have when talking about race with professionals in therapeutic dyads. The research offers valuable implications for service provision and practice thus suggest that the more attuned and open professionals are to openly discuss race related difficulties the greater the outcomes in practice when engaging with BAME individuals.
Madre de Deus de Sousa, Filipe Alexandre
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