Direct Practice with African Americans Exam

SOWK7160 Dr. Zoe Johnson

Culturally Specific Practice

Clinical approaches intentionally grounded in the historical, cultural, and sociopolitical realities of a particular group rather than universalized models.

Double Consciousness

Du Bois’s concept describing the internal conflict of viewing oneself through both one’s own lens and the lens of a racially oppressive society

Race-Related Stress

Psychological and physiological stress responses resulting from racism, discrimination, and microaggressions

Microaggressions

Subtle, often normalized acts of racism that accumulate and contribute to harm over time

Race Consciousness

Awareness of how race and racism shape identity, health, and lived experience

Cultural Trauma

Collective and intergenerational psychological injury resulting from systemic oppression

Cultural Competence (Traditional Model)

A skills-based, often static framework focused on learning about “other” cultures, frequently critiqued for oversimplification and depoliticization

Cultural Consciousness

An ongoing, critical, and relational process that emphasizes power, reflexivity, and structural analysis rather than mastery

Worldview

A socially constructed lens shaped by culture, history, identity, and power that influences how individuals interpret reality

Positionality

One’s social location within systems of power (e.g., race, gender, class, citizenship) and how this positioning affects knowledge, relationships, and practice

Critical Race Theory (CRT)

A framework asserting that racism is ordinary, embedded in structures, and sustained through dominant ideologies

BlackCrit

An extension of CRT that centers Blackness, anti-Blackness, and the specificity of Black lived experiences across time and space

Critical Self-Reflectivity

A disciplined practice of examining one’s assumptions, biases, and power in relation to others and social systems

Racial Identity Development (Cross’s Nigrescence Theory)

1. Pre-Encounter – Devaluation of Black identity; idealization of white norms

2. Encounter – Event(s) prompt recognition of racism

3. Immersion/Emersion – A strong emotional embrace of Black identity & culture

4. Internalization – Stable, secure identity integrated

5. Internalization-Commitment – Commitment to collective liberation and advocacy

Resilience Framework

• Focus on strengths and protective factors such as family support, community ties, positive role models, and peer-group belonging.

• Use group interventions to foster resilience and collective empowerment.

Justice-Oriented Practice

• Address the structural causes of inequality in assessment and intervention.

• Build client empowerment and emphasize community engagement and advocacy.

Race-Conscious Practice

• Recognize racism and anti-Blackness as ongoing conditions that shape client experiences.

• Understand behavior as a response to context rather than pathology.

Key Principles Across Populations

• Center race, identity, and context in assessment and intervention.

• Prioritize dignity, autonomy, and relational trust.

• Lead with strengths and resist deficit framing.

• Understand the environment as a major contributor to client behavior.

• Integrate micro, mezzo, and macro practice to support individual well-being and systemic change.

Afrocentric Paradigm Principles

• African American experiences are culturally specific, not deviations

• Healing is collective, spiritual, historical, and relational

• Person is understood within community, ancestry, and legacy

Afrocentric Paradigm Assessment & Intervention

Assessment Includes:

• Cultural identity and racial socialization

• Community and kinship networks

• Spiritual and ancestral meaning-makin

Interventions:

• Ritual, storytelling, legacy work

• Family and community engagement

• Reframing resilience as survival, not pathology

Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome & Terror Management Theory

• Historical trauma is transmitted across generations

• Slavery, Jim Crow, state-sanctioned violence, and mass incarceration as ongoing terror systems

• Terror Management Theory: Chronic exposure to death, threat, and dehumanization shapes coping and identity

Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome & Terror Management Theory Direct Practice

Symptoms often labeled as:

• “Oppositional”, “Dysregulated”, “Maladaptive.”

May actually reflect:

• Hypervigilance, Protective Mistrust, Survival-based emotional regulation

Trauma-informed assessments that:

• Expand the timeline beyond the individual

• Normalize adaptive responses

Intervention Strategies:

• Psychoeducation/Socioeducation on historical trauma

• Narrative repair and meaning-making

• Reducing shame by contextualizing symptoms

Anti-Racist Clinical Framework

• Racism is structural, not incidental

• Neutrality is not ethical in racist systems. Our Code of Ethics is clear.

• Power, privilege, and positionality must be named

• Challenging institutional harm

• Partnering with clients rather than ‘treating’ them

• Advocacy as a clinical intervention

SHARP Framework

• Structural oppression

• Historical context

• Analysis of role

• Reciprocity & mutuality

• Power