Working with black minority ethnic children and adults

Research has indicated that working with black minority ethnic clients, is an area that creates some uncertainty for health and social care staff. Although, policies and practices are changing and developing there continues to be some ambiguity and ambivalence around working with individuals from different ethnic groups. This thesis considers two situations on a clinical level in which working with minority ethnic clients might raise additional dilemmas and challenges. These include working therapeutically with an ethnically dissimilar adult in therapy and working with black minority ethnic children in domestic violence situations. The first paper is a review of literature on addressing race in cross-racial therapy. In particular this paper focuses on how clinicians might bring up the issue of race in therapy, the factors which influence a therapist in discussing race and outcome studies in which race has been addressed in cross-racial therapy. The second paper is an empirical study exploring health and social care professionals’ perceptions and experiences of working with black minority ethnic children who are in domestic violence situations. This paper examines professionals’ perceptions of these children's family and of the wider professional system and considers how these two factors result in ongoing challenges for professionals working in this field. The paper also examines how these perceptions and dilemmas influence practice. The final paper is a reflective account of the hidden stories that were uncovered within me as researcher, participants and children throughout my research journey. In summary, the three papers demonstrate the important of remaining open in working with black minority ethnic clients, taking the time to understand the multiple influences within their lives and considering them as individuals rather than labelling. The papers also indicated the importance of having the confidence to ask questions about racial difference and in domestic violence situations where stories may remain hidden.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo