Date of Conferral

2018

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Counselor Education and Supervision

Advisor

Corinne Bridges

Abstract

The problem of racial microaggressions in the United States has important implications for counseling due to the mental and physical health concerns individuals who experience them may develop. Although the current literature addresses racial microaggressions among Black individuals and implications for counseling, no qualitative studies that included the voices of Black individuals using relational cultural theory were found. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of Black individuals who have encountered racial microaggressions and learn their perspectives on what counselors can do to help them in counseling. Adding this perspective will help fill this gap in counseling literature and aid counselors in promoting mental wellness among Black clients. Through semi structured interviews, 7 Black adults living in Florida shared their lived experiences with racial microaggressions and gave perspectives on how counselors can serve Black clients in counseling. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was the research design used in the study, in concordance the 6-step approach used to analyze the data, and relational cultural theory was the theoretical framework. The following 7 themes emerged from the study: lived experiences with racial microaggressions, emotional responses to racial microaggressions, intersectionality, coping with racial microaggressions, advocacy and social justice, neighborhood and community social support, and implications for counseling. These results provided implications for social change because they can add to counselors' knowledge on how to improve services to Black clients, which can improve their lives.

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