ABSTRACT
Graduate faculty and students challenged with the growing complexity of working effectively in a therapeutic context with African American women are discussed in this article. Although measures of the effective depth and breadth of diversity training in graduate programs exist, this article discusses how multicultural training affects faculty, students, and systems. The relational aspects of clinical interventions with African American women who both share and diverge from the ethnic, racial, and gender identity of the therapist and supervisor will challenge this encounter. This article focuses on training, supervision, and systemic issues using a case example of working through these issues. The therapist’s training or lack thereof in working with African American women begins to express itself in the first encounter during the intake interview. It is crucial during this initial stage that the therapist and supervisor explore their knowledge and experience with diversity and feminist perspectives so that clients’ needs can be acknowledged and understood by all members of the triad, in order to build the therapeutic alliance.
