Date of Conferral
3-11-2024
Date of Award
March 2024
Degree
Ph.D.
School
Counselor Education and Supervision
Advisor
Rebecca Cowan
Abstract
Black male counselors working in the United States often face a unique set of challenges as the history of racism, discrimination, and prejudice that has plagued the United States also occurs in therapeutic spaces. Recent research has brought awareness to the existence of client-initiated microaggressions in therapy, but training on how to adequately address those microaggressions is lacking. Black male counselors have reported issues with knowing how to protect their own needs and maintaining a positive therapeutic relationship with their clients while addressing these microaggressions as they are required to hold space for their clients despite any emotional distress or racial trauma they may experience. Also, Black male counselors are underrepresented in counseling and in counseling research. Understanding the lived experiences of client-initiated microaggressions from the perspectives of Black male counselors can help to close this gap in the research. Husserl’s transcendental phenomenological research method helped answer this research question of how Black male counselors navigate client-initiated microaggressions and racial trauma from their clients. Data were collected from a purposive sample of 11 Black male counselors working in cross-cultural dyads. The themes that emerged after data analysis were (a) inauthenticity, (b) lack of training, (c) coping through self-care, (d) broaching, and (c) redirecting. The themes that emerged from this data analysis reinforce the need to bring awareness to the need for social change surrounding an unrepresented population.
Recommended Citation
Smith, Crystal, "Black Male Counselors’ Experiences Navigating Client-Initiated Microaggressions in Cross-Cultural Therapeutic Dyads" (2024). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 15511.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/15511
