Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Mental health delivery for african americans
Counseling and cultural diversity
Counseling and cultural diversity
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Mental health delivery for african americans
What is contextualization? “Generally, to contextualize an idea, statement or event is to place it within its larger setting in which it acquires its true and complete meaning.” ("What is contextualization?") So contextualized counseling deals with the ideas, statement, and events surrounding counseling within the environment where it is relegated. This particular article examines factors related to the utilization of guiding counseling services by African American women. Differential acknowledgment, the fear of social disfavor, standard adjusting strategies, creating steady systems and atmospheres, and cash related issues influence African American women's utilization of formal counseling. This article also includes recommendations that are …show more content…
An imperative area for African American women searching for services is usually through their children's educational system. There is a deficiency of research devoted to the perceptions and usage of counseling organizations by African American women. Many consider directing just as a last resort, giving in exactly when they assume that their issue so worsens, or so severe, that only a "head authority" can help. There are a couple of segments related to African American women's usage of coordinating organizations. Ethnicity, which referred to social disfavor, is a vital reason that non-white people don't search for capable organizations. I concur with that because as an African American Woman, I know how much race, unfortunately, plays in counseling. As a counselee, I want someone who is sympathetic to my plight and listens devoid of pushing their prejudicial ideas upon …show more content…
As a means of survival, close to their supernatural presence, African American women must remember the ultimate objective is to drive forward through unspeakable pain and turmoil. As a Counselor, the idea is to empower these individuals and not deem them unworthy of attention, care, and compassion. From a personal standpoint, I know the value of maintaining the pride of my heritage but also knowing when to seek out help. For so many, the individual and total survival of their womanhood were contingent on their ability to be strong. Furthermore, a lot of African American women's character is created on their ability to keep up a relationship with others-to be outgoing, albeit strong-willed and feisty, so as not to be considered the weaker of the races and cast off the idea of any passivity. In our race, to be passive is seen negatively and as being easily taken advantage of by our non-white
Strong, self-contained, Independent, mild-mannered, and courageous are all words that come to my mind when I think about my grandmothers. These are also words that I think of when I look at other black women throughout history. Over the duration of this course I have learned about the tenacity and strength of African American Women. There are many hardships that come along with being an African American female. The trails that African American women have faced molded us into the strong people that we are today.
Developing friendships between black and white women has been difficult for many years. Although black and white women share common grey spaces, it is the effects of racism that caused one culture to be seemingly set at a higher level on the hierarchical scale. The perceived distance created limits on both races which as a result created a wall of silence and a lack of solidarity. Even though oppression and past hurts have prolonged the mending of what could become an authentic healing there are still positive views on what could be accomplished if women of all races came together to form a mutual bond. Based on the views of a white woman writer and culture I will discuss the limits placed on black and white women and how the two could form a place of reconciliation.
Sapphire, more commonly viewed as the angry black woman, is viewed as, the bad black woman, the black “bitch,” and the emasculating matriarch (88). The reason there may not be much research on this myth is because many researchers themselves acknowledge the stereotype (89). The stereotype is seen not as black women’s anger towards the unequal treatment and circumstances they endure, but an irrational desire to control black males, families, and communities around them (95). This stereotype bestows yet another double standard on black women in America today. While a white woman’s passion and drive may be seen as ambitious and exceptional, a black woman displaying the same perseverance would be seen in a negative rather than glorified light.
Throughout history, the black woman has always had a multitude of responsibilities thrust upon her shoulders. This was never truer than for southern black women in the period between 1865 and 1885. In this span of twenty years, these women were responsible for their children, their husbands, supporting their families, their fight for freedom as black citizens and as women, their sexual freedom, and various other issues that impacted their lives. All of these aspects of the black woman’s life defined who she was. Each of her experiences and battles shaped the life that she lived, and the way she was perceived by the outside world.
The Author of this book (On our own terms: race, class, and gender in the lives of African American Women) Leith Mullings seeks to explore the modern and historical lives of African American women on the issues of race, class and gender. Mullings does this in a very analytical way using a collection of essays written and collected over a twenty five year period. The author’s systematic format best explains her point of view. The book explores issues such as family, work and health comparing and contrasting between white and black women as well as between men and women of both races.
It is pertinent to study the history of racial oppression when preparing to counsel a client from an ethnic minority if the counselor is from the majority culture. The problem is it would be difficult to examine the complete history and would be highly impossible especially in a short time. However, a therapist can gain knowledge of some of the essentials of history such as, religion, family structure, and background information. If the therapist or counselor is uncomfortable counseling these individuals he/or she can refer the client to someone who has more knowledge or has the same cultural background as the client. For instance, a therapist must become aware of the sociopolitical dynamics that form not only their clients’ views, but their own as well. Racial and cultural dynamics may interfere into the helping process and cause misdiagnosis, confusion, pain and reinforcement of biases and prejudices towards their client.
Jewelll, N., & Russell, K. (1992). Current health status of african americans. Journal of community health nursing, 9(3), 161-169.
Walker delves into the subconscious and ever-present spirituality that is found in African-American women and she believes that it is important to identify with this.
"Open Statement - The Help." Welcome to the Association of Black Women Historians Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.
Race and ethnicity can influence a client’s experience of self and others in a variety of ways. A client’s personal race and ethnicity can influence his or her experience within the context of therapy through the set of beliefs he or she brings into the room. This set of beliefs and customs influences how he or she views therapy and whether there is motivation to be there. If the client’s culture does not usually seek therapy for their problems, or even believe in mental illness, it is likely the client will have apprehensions about trusting or speaking to the clinician. If the clinician is not aware of this possibility, the clinician may wonder why the client is in therapy if he or she will not speak or allow rapport to be built. A responsible clinician will take this into consideration.
Snowden, Lonnie R. Barriers to Effective Mental Health Services for African Americans. N.p.: n.p., 2001. Print. Mental Health Services Research 4.
When advocating for the success of a client when utilizing this theory, a counselor must be prepared to identify and eliminate barriers, prejudices, oppression, and discrimination that may create a psychological obstruction in the client. Learning culturally-competent counseling practices and current theoretical approaches while practicing self-reflection will help the counselor acquire the skills necessary to engage with a diverse clientele. Strategies such as; identifying cultural differences, understanding and addressing issues in the counseling process, the counselor’s ability to understand self, and ongoing education are all important strategies in combating oppression and eliminating barriers.
During slavery, African American women were the ones that stayed home all day and cooked and cleaned for their families. These women were always told to just keep quiet and believe in God or their religious belief through everything they were going through. African American women didn’t have a voice in society so they couldn’t express their feelings like others could. This cultural aspect of African American women, just going through life and not being able to express themselves has contributed to many of the ladies suffering from depression. Depression amongst African women is very high because of past cultural experiences. African American women are one of the major groups of people that have sacristy of resources. Many times when African American women go to their doctors the doctors tend to diagnose them incorrectly or some time even give them the wrong treatment (Carrington, C. H. ,2006). African American when were always made to just deal with the problem that they were going through at the time not matter the mood they were in (Carrington, C. H.
The intersection of race and gender and the experiences of discrimination and prejudice are paramount in defining and understanding the mental health of African American women (D. Brown & Keith, 2003; Canady, Bullen, HoIzman, Broman, & Tian, 2008). Behaviors seen in African American women are adaptations to a complex set of gender, generational, chronic, and extreme life stressors (hooks, 1993) and should be viewed in terms of the psychosocial and cultural factors unique to this
Kim, B. S. K., Ng, G. S., & Ahn, A. J. (2005). Effects of client expectation for counseling success, client-counselor worldview match, and client adherence to asian and european american cultural values on counseling process with asian americans. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52, 67-76.