Exploring Black/White Biracial Female Therapists’ Perceptions and Meaning-making in the Context of Providing Therapy

Individuals born to parents from two or more different racial groups are one of the fastest growing population groups in the United States, with Black/White biracials making up the largest proportion therein. This diversification has permeated the field of psychology and counseling, and people of mixed race will increasingly be clients, colleagues, supervisors, and supervisees. It is imperative that the field of counseling and psychology turn attention not only to serving/treating mixed race clients, but also to providing training and supervision to mixed race professionals. In particular, much work remains to better understand the significance and impact of a mixed race identity status as a helping professional. Given the absence of relevant research, we do not know how Black/White biracial therapists address their own racial/ethnic background within the therapeutic context. Such training is especially relevant in the societal context of the United States, in which race continues to hold significant implications for one’s way of being in the world as well as one’s interpersonal interactions. This study explores the experiences of Black/White biracial therapists in engaging in conversations about race (particularly their own) within a therapeutic context. In light of the use of disclosure as a concept in the literature pertaining to the multiracial experiences, therapist self-disclosure was used as an anchoring concept to explore this topic that has yet to be addressed in the literature