Therapy With Diverse Couples

Addressing diversity in couple therapy is an effective way to explore the unique concerns and strengths of any couple presenting for therapy.

In this video, guest therapist, Shalonda Kelly, PhD, discusses her approach to couple therapy with a panel of mental health practitioners and students, then demonstrates a couple therapy session with a cisgender, bisexual, interracial couple. During the session, Dr. Kelly works with the couple to address their presenting issue and guides them through an exploration of their cultural backgrounds, pointing out ways culture serves both as a source of strengths as well as challenges in their lives.

Dr. Kelly demonstrates how to join with each individual in the session and create an environment in which they both feel safe to contribute openly.

Watch as Dr. Kelly assists the couple in resolving their presenting problem while exploring the areas of diversity in couple therapy.

Shalonda Kelly is an associate professor on the clinical core faculty at Rutgers University. Her primary research focuses are couples, specifically couple prevention, assessment, and therapy, and racial and cultural issues, including racial constructs such as Afrocentricity, racial identity, and stereotypes.

Dr. Kelly seeks to understand how people of color are affected by experiences of racism and how racial and cultural perspectives affect individual, couple, and family adjustment. She is the editor of Diversity in Couple and Family Therapy: Ethnicities, Sexualities, and Socioeconomics.

Dr. Kelly teaches couple therapy and diversity courses and conducts couple and family therapy and supervision from a integrative cognitive behavioral, emotionally focused, multicultural, and systems orientation. She has a background in urban studies, and is interested in programs designed to have a positive impact on minority communities and families.

APA Videos

• Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy for Relationship Issues
  Ronald J. Frederick
• Couples Experiencing Commitment Uncertainty
  Jesse Owen and Johanna Strokoff
• Cultural Humility in Therapy
  Cirleen DeBlaere and Jesse Owen
• Emotion-Focused Couple Therapy
  Rhonda N. Goldman
• Integrative Couple Therapy
  Ellen F. Wachtel and Paul L. Wachtel
• Integrative Family Therapy With Couples
  Patricia J. Pitta

APA Books

• Couple Relationships in Middle and Later Years: Their Nature, Complexity, and Role in Health and Illness
  Edited by Jamila Bookwala
• The Dynamic of Infidelity: Applying Relationship Science to Psychotherapy Practice
  Lawrence Josephs
• Evidence-Based Psychological Practice With Ethnic Minorities: Culturally Informed Research and Clinical Strategies
  Edited by Nolan Zane, Guillermo Bernal, and Frederick T. L. Leong
• The Marriage Checkup Practitioner's Guide: Promoting Lifelong Relationship Health
  James V. Cordova
• Treating the Difficult Divorce: A Practical Guide for Psychotherapists
  Jay L. Lebow