Tear and Repair:
A Relational Approach to
Racial and Ethnic
Microaggressions
Danielle N. Knight, MA, LPC-Intern (supervised by Christie Melonson)
Christine D. Wong, MA, NCC
Texas Counseling Association Professional Growth Conference
November 13, 2014
Introductions
Who Are We?
Danielle Knight
Christine Wong
Tell us a bit about yourself!
Your backgrounds
What drew you to this presentation?
Purposes/ Goals of Presentation
Learn a new way to attend to session that
may increase awareness of racial
microaggressions
Learn a multiculturally-sensitive way to attend
to racial microaggressions that occur in
session
Learning Objectives
1. To educate attendees on various
psychological and physical effects of
racial and ethnic microaggressions on
minority individuals.
2. The impact of racial and ethnic
microaggressions on the therapeutic
alliance.
Learning Objectives (cont’d)
3. To educate attendees on Safran and
Muran’s (2000) relational treatment
approach and their rupture-resolution
models.
4. To describe a multicultural counseling
approach to Safran and Muran’s (2000)
rupture-resolution models.
Learning Objectives (cont’d)
5. To provide attendees with practice
recommendations and suggestions utilizing
this approach.
Overview of Presentation
Why it is important to address race and
ethnicity in therapy
Definitions of race and ethnicity
What are microaggressions?
How they affect the counseling relationship?
Consequences of racial microaggressions?
Overview of Presentation (cont’d)
What are alliance ruptures?
Importance of addressing ruptures in
therapy?
Alliance-Focused Therapy and Basic
Therapist Skills
Experiential activities!
Why it is important to address race and
ethnicity in therapy
US is becoming increasingly diverse
Racism still exists – just changed forms
Minority clients less likely to come to
counseling (Owen et al., 2011)
Why it is important to address race and
ethnicity in therapy (cont’d)
Minority clients are more likely to terminate
prematurely (Owen et al., 2011)
Misdiagnosis of minority clients –
colorblindness (Ridley, 1995)
Definitions – US Census Bureau
Race
Reflects a social definition, and not an
attempt to define race biologically,
anthropologically, or genetically
Ethnicity
refers to an individual’s self-identification of
their origin or descent, “roots,” heritage, or
place where the individual or his/her parents
or ancestors were born.
Definitions –
Counseling & Psychology Literature
Race
Socially constructed
only meaningful when understood from social,
historical, and political contexts
NOT genetically based (Andersen & Collins, 2013)
Ethnicity
“A group classification of individuals who share a
unique social and cultural heritage (customs,
language, religion, and so on) passed from one
generation to the next” (Richardson et al., 2010, p. 227)
Also socially constructed
Microaggressions - History
Chester Pierce (1977)
“Subtle, stunning, often automatic, and
nonverbal exchanges which are ‘put downs’ of
blacks by offenders” (p. 65)
Other terms used to refer to microaggressions
Symbolic racism (Sears & McConahay, 1973)
Modern racism (McConahay, 1981)
Aversive racism (Dovidio et al., 2002)
Microaggressions – Definition
Sue, Capodilupo, et al. (2007)
“Brief and commonplace daily verbal,
behavioral and environmental indignities,
whether intentional or unintentional, that
communicate hostile, derogatory, or
negative racial slights and insults to the
target person or group” (p. 273).
Microaggressions – Types
Race
Ethnicity
Gender
Sexual Orientation
Consequences of Racial Microaggressions
Mental & physical health (Blume et al., 2012; Nadal et al., 2014)
Depression
Anxiety
Stress
Emotional & psychological well-being
Difficult dialogues on race (Sue et al., 2009)
Consequences of Racial
Microaggressions (cont’d)
In counseling, affects how clients view/rate
Working alliance
Counselor’s general counseling competence
Counselor’s multicultural counseling
competence
Question to Audience
Experience with microaggression based on
your race, ethnicity, culture directed at you?
In general?
During your counselor education?
In supervisory relationship?
Experience with committing a
microaggression?
What are Alliance Ruptures?
Fluctuations in the quality of the alliance
Can be major or minor
How they affect the therapeutic alliance
Clients rate lower working alliance for
unresolved ruptures
Successful resolution of ruptures can create
an “emotionally corrective experience (Safran &
Muran, 2000)
Basic Therapist Skills
Self-Awareness
Affect regulation
Interpersonal Sensitivity
Awareness Activity 1: Mindfulness
Raisin exercise (Segal, Williams & Teasdale, 2013)
Intentions for Raisin Exercise (p. 114)
1. Noting the contrast between mindful awareness
and automatic pilot
2. Seeing how paying attention in detail can reveal
things we had not noticed or had forgotten
3. Paying attention in this way can transform the
experience
4. Noticing mind wandering as normal
Awareness Activity 1: Mindfulness
What was this experience like?
Was there any difference between this
experience eating a raisin and past
experiences?
How can this translate into the counseling
process?
Awareness Activity: Role Plays
Way to practice metacommunication
10 min role-plays
About 5 min processing each
Role Play 1: When Racial
Microaggression is NOT addressed
Questions to Client
Were you aware of the MA?
What thoughts/ feelings did you have?
Thoughts/feelings you had toward the
counselor?
Role Play 1 (cont’d)
Questions to Counselor
Were you aware of any internal and/or
external reactions the client had?
Was there a shift in the relational dynamic
after instigating the microaggression?
Role Play 2: When the Racial
Microaggression IS addressed
Client
How did you feel when you brought up that
a racial microaggression occurred?
Did you feel the RM was “successfully”
resolved?
How did playing a racially different client
help you become more aware of what a
client of this background may be thinking or
feeling?
Role Play 2 (cont’d)
Counselor
What was it like to have the client bring up
the racial microaggression?
Were you satisfied with the way you
negotiated the racial microaggression?
If not, how would you have done it
differently?
How might being aware of your client’s
racial, ethnic, or cultural background help
you be more mindful of when a racial
microaggression occurs?
Final Questions?
Thank You!
Danielle N. Knight
danielleknight541@gmail.com
Christine D. Wong
christinedwong@gmail.com
References
Andersen, M. L., & Collins, P. H. (2013). Race, class, and gender: An
anthology (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Blume, A. W., Lovato, L. V., Thyken, B. N., & Denny, N. (2012). The
relationship of microaggressions with alcohol use and anxiety among
ethnic minority college students in a historically white institution.
Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 18(1), 45-54. doi:
10.1037/a0025457
Constantine, M. G. (2007). Racial microaggressions against African
American clients in cross-racial counseling relationships. Journal of
Counseling Psychology, 54(1), 1-16. doi: 10.1037/0022-0167.54.1.1
Dovidio, J. F., Gaertner, S. L., Kawakami, K., & Hodson, G. (2002). Why
can’t we just get along? Interpersonal biases and interracial distrust.
Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 8(2), 88-102. doi:
10.1037//1099-9809.8.2.88
Gaztambide, D. J. (2012). Addressing cultural impasses with rupture
resolution strategies: A proposal and recommendations. Professional
Psychology: Research and Practice, 43(3), 183-189. doi:
10.1037/a0026911
References (cont’d)
Henry, P. J. (2010). Modern racism. In J. M. Levine & M. A. Hogg (Eds.),
Encyclopedia of group process & intergroup relations (pp. 576-578).
doi: http://dx.doi.org.libweb.lib.utsa.edu/10.4135/9781412972017.n174
McConahay, J. B., Hardee, B. B., & Batts, V. (1981). Has racism declined in
America? It depends on who is asking and what is asked. The Journal
of Conflict Resolution, 25(4), 563-579.
McConahay, J. G., & Hough, J. C. (1976). Symbolic racism. Journal of
Social Issues, 32(2), 23-45.
Nadal, K. L., Griffin, K. E., Wong, Y., & Hamit, S. (2014). The impact of racial
microaggressions on mental health: Counseling implications for clients
of color. Journal of Counseling and Development, 92(_), 57-66. doi:
10.1002/j.1556-6676.2014.00130.x
Owens, J., Imel, Z., Tao, K. W., Wampold, B., Smith, A., Rodolfa, E. (2011).
Cultural ruptures in short-term therapy: Working alliance as a mediator
between clients’ perceptions of microaggressions and therapy
outcomes. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 11(3), 204-212.
doi: 10.1080/14733145.2010.491551
References (cont’d)
Owen, J., Tao, K. W., Imel, Z. E., Wampold, B. E., & Rodolfa, E. (2014).
Addressing racial and ethnic microaggressions in therapy.
Professional Psychology Research and Practice, 45(4), 283-290.
Pierce, C. M., Carew, J. V., Pierce-Gonzalez, D., & Wills, D. (1977). An
experiment in racism: TV commercials. Education and Urban
Society, 10(1), 61-87. doi: 10.1177/001312457701000105
Ridley, C. R. (1995). Overcoming unintentional racism in counseling
and therapy: A practitioner’s guide to intentional intervention.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
Safran, J. D., & Muran, J. C. (2000). Negotiating the therapeutic
alliance: A relational treatment guide. New York, NY: The Guildford
Press.
References (cont’d)
Sue, D. W., Capodilupo, C. M., Torino, G. C., Bucceri, J. M., Holder, A.
M. B., Nadal, K. L., & Esquilin, M. (2007). Racial microaggressions in
everyday life: Implications for clinical practice. American
Psychologist, 62(4), 271-286. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.62.4.271
Sue, D. W., Lin, A. I., Torino, G. C., Capodilupo, C. M., & Rivera, D. P.
(2009). Racial microaggressions and difficult dialogues on race in
the classroom. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology,
15(2), 183-190. doi: 10.1037/a0014191
U.S. Census Bureau. Race. Retrieved from
http://factfinder2.census.gov/help/en/glossary/r/race.htm
U.S. Census Bureau. Ethnic origin or race. Retrieved from
http://factfinder2.census.gov/help/en/glossary/e/ethnic_origin_or_
race.htm