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APA Psychotherapy Training Videos are intended solely for educational purposes for mental health professionals. Viewers are expected to treat confidential material found herein according to strict professional guidelines. Unauthorized viewing is prohibited.
In Working With African American Clients, Dr. Thomas A. Parham demonstrates an African-centered, culturally based approach that can augment any therapy with African American clients. Dr. Parham's approach honors spirituality, interconnectedness, and self-knowledge, and is aimed at treating the client holistically—that is, without dividing a client's issues into affective, cognitive, and behavioral factors. In this session, Dr. Parham works with a young woman who, because of a felony on her record, has been unable to find paying work in a job she is passionate about. Her frustration has led to her feeling depressed, and the only factors keeping her from giving up are her religious faith and her desire to give her daughters a better life. Dr. Parham works to help this client see the value in therapy, recognize her strengths, emphasizing her wisdom, faith, and intelligence, so that she may realize that she may already be prepared to make changes in her life.
Dr. Parham's African-centered approach takes into account the influence of race in psychotherapy, especially in the creation of the therapy framework. Because the American version of psychotherapy was first developed by people of European descent, a Eurocentric lens may not give an accurate view of African American clients—in fact, this lens may diagnose pathology where none exist.
Thomas A. Parham, PhD, is a family man who resides in Southern California with his wife Davida and daughters Kenya and Tonya. Dr. Parham is assistant vice chancellor for Counseling and Health Services, director of the Counseling Center, and an adjunct faculty member at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). Prior to his current position, he served as director of the Career and Life Planning Center and the Counseling Center at UCI. Before returning to UCI in 1985, Dr. Parham held an appointment on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania.
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