On Becoming a Black Family Therapist

My mom very often uses the phrase “your past is your present” and when we look at psychology with an Afrocentric lens there is great emphasis on ancestral knowledge from the frame of “I am because they were.” But when it comes to parenting Black kids in the present day how much of bringing the past into the present is helpful and how much is harmful? On today’s episode of Before the Street Lights Come On, with Jamaal, we talk about bridging the gap between past and present in his parenting of two Black kids. Watch complete episode.

This doctoral journey I’ve been taking in counseling psychology has illuminated some interesting truths for me. The first is that the research methodologies I’ve learned about in my classes, mostly quantitative methods are limited in nature for an academic who studies Black people. Quantitative methods are great at measuring and analyzing but are not so great at understanding and describing. And what I feel is most lacking in the research on Black parents’ experiences of being Black parents is a more nuanced description and understanding of our experiences.   For this, and other reasons, I’ve chosen to gear my training towards qualitative research because I notice how much scientific inquiry from this methodology is lacking. How can we possibly claim full understanding of humans, if we do not value investigating them with multiple strategies?   I realize in choosing this path I may never become the most renowned psychologist, yet I must do what is in alignment with who I am ...