Lessons Learned: Racial Enactments in the Treatment Process

Abstract

By means of an extended clinical vignette, this paper chronicles a series of complicated exchanges that materialized as underlying themes of racism emerged in a therapy session. The paper highlights how the practitioner juggled the unfolding dynamics to further the work rather than personalize them and risk derailing the session. Clinical material is provided to highlight these ideas. Reflections on the client's pejorative use of race and the practitioner's interventions that resulted in the reduction of the client's anxiety are discussed, and implications for clinical social work are offered.

Keywords:

• transference
• race
• countertransference
• racism