Finding My Professional Voice: A Woman of Color's Professional Journey

Abstract

Through a process of self-reflection this article traces my professional development starting with my early training and professional socialization and ending with my current treatment philosophy and clinical practice in my work with women. I emphasize the impact of my gendered upbringing and social position as a woman of color as I chronicle the struggles, and ultimate solutions, to finding my professional voice in White, male-dominated institutions. These struggles included reconciling my cultural knowledge and lived experience with my formal training, and included establishing legitimacy and credibility in my perspectives and expertise. The wisdom of my later years allowed me to liberate myself from the “voices” of theorists, instructors, and supervisors from the past, to become my own authority and to integrate my spiritual values and important lessons learned from being a mother into my work with clients. The process of this transformation is described.

KEYWORDS:

• professional development
• therapy
• women of color