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I had never written a children’s book before, unless of course you count the story that I wrote in 1st grade entitled “The Scary Nights on Crazy Place.” I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I knew that I wanted to share the story of my young niece who was having difficulty expressing her feelings about trauma. I had spent several years working within the prison system, the juvenile justice system and the community, and up into that point, a significant number of my clients had been people of color. To be inclusive, I titled the piece, “Little Brown Girls DO go to Counseling.” As a mother of five daughters myself, I normalize the process of therapy, but back when I wrote the book, my stance seemed anything but normal.
Although I had seen, assessed and worked with scores of clients of color, I still faced the same opinionated statements from people who knew very little about what really happened in the world of counseling. That was to be expected. Television shows, films, and even social media posts made therapy within communities of color seem like a rainbow-colored unicorn. Now while I must admit that I had to engage in a great deal of educating, the clients DID in fact show up and participate in this seemingly foreign world of sharing and processing feelings. The real issue for me came about when others in my field also subscribed to the narrative that people of color were resistant to counseling. Now of course there may be stigma concerning mental health in general, but particularly within communities of color, but it was offensive to me that learned people would communicate the polarized thought that people of color, ( black people), did not got to therapy.
I faced an uphill battle as I worked on my dissertation research that originally explored the efficacy of community-based programs. It was assumed that I would not have participants in the first place and after I assured my committee that ALL of my clients were people of color, then came the assumptions about their willingness to participate. I just couldn’t win. Back to the book (which I wrote after many years of working with clients of color). The biggest blow came to me when I attempted to market the book. It was suggested that it would not work because it was not true. How could it not be? I had lived this truth both personally and professionally.
Years later, as the world became more aware of black issues as well as black mental health, my thoughts from previous years suddenly had merit. This current discussion is by no means a way to say “I told you so,” but a reminder that although many people believe that black people do not go to therapy, I am here to say that they do. It is up to our field to make sure that multicultural intervetions and a sincere understanding of the socio-political stories of people of color are heard, seen and validated, so that the truths of our clients are appreciated and honored.
