White is a colour too

What is it about?

Due to the ever increasing mobility of people moving between countries there is a growing cultural diversity within therapeutic encounters between therapists and their clients. Literature on cross-cultural therapy traditionally focuses on the culture of clients. However, the importance of including the culture of therapists has become more important recently. Drawing on research about the experiences of migration for therapists, as well as well as the author's own experiences, this paper uses migration as a metaphor for thinking about cross-cultural training and practice within family therapy in Britain. It highlights the findings in the research on racism in the family therapy community. The author argues that white is a colour too that , white therapists should not leave thinking about and addressing cross-cultural issues in family therapy to their black and ethnic minority colleagues, but should actively engage with the risks and uncertainties of cross-cultural learning and practice. Ways to achieve this are suggested. The personal life experiences of therapists can be used to help therapists connect more to the experiences of their clients.

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Why is it important?

White therapists should not leave the thinking about issues of diversity to their black and ethnic minority colleagues. They should take personal responsibility for thinking about and doing the hard emotional work of engaging with diversity, and should take the relational risks of addressing diversity within their relationships with colleagues and clients. Not trying to leave their own experiences behind when entering the therapy room, but rather drawing on these experiences to help them relate to issues of diversity, seems helpful.