White Male Counselor Credibility

Chapter 4 is didactic as it focuses on the importance of self-awareness and counselor credibility. As I read the case study about the white male counselor and the African American client I was quite intrigued. Clearly, the therapist presuppositions about African American men played a significant part of his choice of methods for intervention. The counselor fail to understand the client’s needs and pain because of his own preconceive notions. He even went so far as to discard the clients’ issues because he felt they were nonclinical problems. He never considered that the client’s depression was a result of social oppression. He blamed the African American male problems on irresponsibility, imprudence, and a lack of self- control nerve once considering