Past research on Black clients' utilization of therapy focused on the barriers that prevent Black clients from attending therapy and the reasons for these barriers. However, few studies have been conducted that focus on how Black clients attending therapy actually experience these barriers. This study utilized both Likert and open-ended questions to examine the obstacles 16 Black clients face in their attempts to attend family therapy. The most frequently identified obstacles were related to concerns over family member response and cultural barriers to therapy. Participants also reported concerns about racial and/or cultural differences and a lack of understanding by non-Black therapists. The implications of this study addressed how to effectively meet the therapeutic needs of Black clients.

Previous research on African American clients' participation in family therapy has concentrated on dropout rates and utilized a deficit, problem saturated perspective. Few studies have been conducted that address how African American clients overcame barriers to family therapy. The present study utilized phenomenological methodology to explore how African American clients overcame barriers to therapy and provides suggestions for successful engagement. Findings indicate that a common barrier was the stigma attached to therapy. Participants described qualities that facilitate resilience as contributing to their abilities to overcome barriers. The findings suggest changes therapists can make to respond more effectively to African Americans.

The purpose of this article is to educate Marriage and Family Therapists about the history of the profession and to call attention to the troubling history of eugenics as it pertains to current ethical practice. The eugenics movement sought to increase the marriage and reproduction of healthy, white people, while implementing a system of institutionalization and sterilization to deter the reproduction of people of color, people with disabilities, and anyone determined to be “undesirable” by eugenicists. The helping professions, including Marriage and Family Therapy arose during the years when this took place, and contributed to the implementation of eugenics in a variety of ways. Founders of the field of Marriage and Family Therapy, including eugenicist Paul Popenoe, also known as the father of marriage counseling, played a key role in linking eugenics ideals and practices with Marriage and Family Therapy. While other professions, and indeed other organizations of all types, have worked to understand their participation in the promotion of eugenics ideals, and have issued apologies along with commitments to function ethically in the future, Marriage and Family Therapy has yet to do so. This article is a call to reckon with our history, to understand it, to educate and to practice ethically in the future.

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