White Counsellors – Black Clients

Book excerpt: Published in 1999. British cross-cultural counselling practice issues are examined through a survey of the attitudes of white British Counsellors and their self-reported practices with African-Caribbean and South Asian clients. The book has sections which review the literature on cross-cultural counselling and the relative significance of 'race', ethnicity and culture, the white counsellor-black client relationship, the concept of racialized transference and the importance of training and supervision when working cross-culturally. The book also presents a profile of a sample of British Counsellors’ levels of training, qualification and experience as well as interviews with practitioners and Counsellors’ in training responses to video vignette material. Recommendations for the supervision and training of Counsellors are made.