The Importance of African-American Centered Therapy

African Americans and other communities of color have a troubled history with the medical and psychiatric fields. The Tuskegee syphilis experiment is an example of that troubled history.  Trust has been lost and it will take time and much work to reestablish that trust.

For that reason, it is vital that black therapists and counselors make themselves available for counseling and therapy in communities of color. This is particularly true in communities where there has been generational trauma.

We all learn to do family, to be human from watching our elders do it. If something happens that prevents or distorts that teaching and learning relationship it must be corrected or restored. When trauma occurs in a family it ripples across the fabric of the family the way a pebble causes ripples across a pond. It changes the family blueprint. It may distort that blueprint or destroy portions of it all together.

This may cause important information about how to make healthy family to be lost, left out or replaced with something unhealthy. These blueprints need to be maintained and when damaged, restored. This restoration is necessary not just for the present generation, but for the health of succeeding generations of a family. That is why individual, couples and family counseling is so important for communities of color.

As black and brown people continue to struggle with the problems and concerns generated by institutionalized racism such as police violence, drug addiction, mass incarceration and poor education systems it is my opinion that good mental health care is more important than ever in the form of counseling and psychotherapy. I hope if you find yourself in need of individual or couples counseling you will give me a call and we can begin rewriting your family blueprint. Doing the work of creating a healthy blueprint not only for you and your children, but for all the generations of your family to come.