Transcript American Principles to Guide Treatment of African American Women

Contours of the United States Residents of
African Ancestry include multiple cultures:
 Caribbean
 Bermuda
 Canada
 South America
 Africa
 American
Principles to Guide Treatment of African American
Women

Longshore and colleagues (1998) suggested six core principles to guide the treatment of
African American Women. These principles are as follows:

1.
1. Substance abuse dependence is conceived as an individual affliction and as a
community disorder rooted in cultural and power disparities between African Americans
and dominant white institutions.

2.
2. The route of recovery is understood as a process that involves the acquisition of
power in the forms of knowledge, spiritual insight, and community health.

3.
4.
3. Discussion of clients’ drug use is framed in a context that recognizes the totality of life
experiences faced by the client as an African American in an unfriendly social/political
environment.
4. An emphasis is placed on the importance of changing one’s environment not only for
the good of the individual client but also for the greater good of the community.
5.
2.
5. A focus is placed on drug use alternatives that underscore personal rituals, cultural
traditions, and spiritual well being.
3.
4.
6. Equality is sought in the therapeutic relationship between counselor and client; there
is a de-emphasize on counselors being socially distant and nondisclosing.
A Poem
“Realization”
“Who am I?
I’m an African American Woman
What makes me strong?
My heritage
What makes me weak?
My fears
What makes me whole?
My God
What keeps me Standing?
My faith
What makes me compassionate?
My selflessness
What makes me honest?
My Integrity
What sustains my mind?
My quest for knowledge
What teaches me all lessons?
My Mistakes
What lifts my head high?
My pride
What if I can’t go on?
Not an option
What makes me victorious?
My courage to climb
What makes me beautiful?
My everything
What makes me a woman?
My heart
What empowers me?
Me
Who am I?
I am an African American Woman”
(Author unknown)
Trends of African American Behavioral Patterns

1. African-American Language – symbolic, highly affective, and given additional flexibility
by considerable amount of highly meaningful body language.
2. Oral Patterns – importance of the oral or spoken communication. Oral communication
remains the predominant means of information transmission within the African
American community.
3. People orientation – Experiences are significant to the degree that they relate to people
in some direct way.
4. Interaction vs. Reaction – interactional pattern of call-and-response characterized by a
litany of sentences from the speaker and responses from the listeners. Dialogue
is interactional.
5. African Thought – thinking and problem-solving which strongly relies on internal cues
“hunches” “vibes” and reactions as a means of acquiring information and
knowledge rather than external cues.
6. Spontaneity – the facility for easy, rapid adaptation to different situations. The
capacity to respond quickly and appropriately to environmental changes.
Core Elements of African-American Culture
Emotions “What We Feel”
Knowledge “What We Know
- Spontaneous
- Natural
- Selfless
- Rhythmic
- Flexible
- Serene
- Unconditional Loving
- Heterogeneous
- Unity through ideology - - Group Oriented Traditional
- Generous
- Communal
- Creative
- Responsible
- Religious
- Industrious
- Persistent
Behavior
“What We Do”
Trend Toward Congruence of
Experience (oneness) Spiritualknown through extrasensory
Material known through senses
Transmitted through cultural
rituals and symbolism process
based in diunital logic
interconnectedness
-Extended Self
- Interdependent
- Familial
- Spiritual
- Collective
- Communal
-Faith undergrids
- Contextually dependent
- Resilient
- Rationally Creative
Self-Identity “Who We Are”