ABSTRACT
In the years since clinical training programs originally began incorporating curricular content to enhance multicultural competencies (Helms, 1990; Parker, 1988; Pedersen, 1988; Sabnani, Pomterotto, & Borodovsky, 1991), faculty in social work, clinical psychology, family therapy, and counseling programs
Hays et al., 2004; Mindrup et al., 2011; Richardson & Molinaro, 1996; Sabnani et al., 1991; Sue et al., 2010). Due to this incomplete white consciousness (Pewewardy, 2004), gaps in knowledge among current and future White practitioners translate into serious gaps in clinical skills that lead to concrete negative consequences for cross-racial and cross-cultural therapist-client relationships (Ancis & Syzmanski, 2001; Cardemil & Battle, 2003; Hays et al., 2008; Sue et al., 2010; Utsey et al., 2005). For example, lack of awareness and gaps in knowledge often result in White therapists avoiding discussions of race and racism when working with individuals from marginalized and oppressed racial groups (Cardemil & Battle, 2003; Sue et al., 2010; Utsey et al., 2005). In fact, practitioners may direct the conversation away from race due to fear of offending or in an effort to escape personal discomfort, guilt, and insecurities (Cardemil & Battle, 2003; Utsey et al., 2005). Research also documented the tendency of White therapists to endorse a color-blind viewpoint that prevents acknowledgement of differences in life experience among people from various racial and ethnic backgrounds (Gushue & Constantine, 2007; Sue et al., 2010; Utsey et al., 2005). Viewing clients of color through unconscious stereotypes (Gushue& Constantine, 2007; Hays et al., 2008; Nelson et al., 2001; Pewewardy, 2004), these practitioners may over-pathologize and more specifically, invalidate race discrimination experiences by attributing them to client pathology (Ancis & Syzmanski, 2001; Fuertes et al., 2002; Hays et al., 2004; Maxie, Arnold, & Stephenson, 2006; Utsey et al., 2005). White therapists lacking appropriate multicultural training tend to perpetuate white cultural norms, thus creating an ethnocentric environment that serves to alienate clients of color (Ancis & Syzmanski, 2001; Hays, Chang, & Dean, 2008; Mindrup et al., 2011; Richardson & Molinaro, 1996).
