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Racial Bias in Therapy

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Racial Bias in Therapy: How to ethically treat all cultures
Heather Worthey
Liberty University

Abstract
Despite how technologically advanced the United States is, the United States has a long way to go when it comes to bias. Racial bias is alive and thriving today. One's skin color does not make them less or more of a person, but some still hold onto the hatred they have for others. Some racial bias is conscious in the words and language used. Racial bias can be placed on others unintentionally by our thoughts and actions. As counselors, we have to be able to keep our bias in check. Having bias in therapy can be detrimental to our clients and to us professionally. When we let our biases cloud our judgment, we may look negatively on others when she should be trying to help them instead. Letting our biases be part of therapy can also set us up for ethical violations which could endanger our licensure. It is important that helping professionals take the time to educate themselves on racial bias and make the efforts to not let bias effect their clients and the therapy sessions.

As counselors, one will interact with many different people from many different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Counseling is no exception to the cycles of racism, despite the education and intentions of therapists who would like to think they would never deliberately act in a racist manner toward any of their clients. Unfortunately, even when a therapist has received multicultural training, racism often is shown unconsciously in the counseling processes. One thing that is important to note is that the responsibility for keeping racism out of therapy is not limited to counselors who feel they consciously display racist tendencies. The responsibly of keeping racial bias out of therapy also extends to the counselors who are unaware of their discriminatory behaviors. This may mean that

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