The Case of Wendy

THE CASE OF WENDY

Text on screen: A Black client, Wendy, talked to her White therapist, Lisa, about challenges in single parenting and going to school. At one point, Lisa repeated several times,

Lisa: "Wendy, it's amazing how well you're doing. I can't believe you were able to get straight A's through all this. You're so incredibly smart."

Text on screen: Wendy eventually replied sarcastically,

Wendy: "Yeah, some of us are."

Text on screen: Later, Wendy talked about not getting a recent job due to racism. Wendy, the client, noted that the therapist began to avoid her eyes and move backward in her chair. Lisa, attempting to reframe the event positively, asked,

Lisa: "Is there a possibility that the person with more experience was hired for the job and it wasn't racism?"

Text on screen: Wendy replied with an openly hostile expression,

Wendy: "Never mind. You don't get it, do you?"

Text on screen: Shocked, Lisa did not know how to reply. Eventually, she veered the subject back to single parenting, attempting to get Wendy to focus on her anger that came in her loud voice and waving hands. At one point, Wendy stated with irritation,

Wendy: "I don't want to talk about my damn feelings, I want to figure out how to handle graduating in this system that's hostile to me."

Text on screen: After the session, Lisa processed her experience with a (White) supervisor, saying,

Lisa: "I think Wendy is just so angry. She seemed really threatening to me."

Text on screen: The supervisor noted the importance of using a certain assessment to check for the presence of any deeper psychopathology, if she seemed "unstable." Lisa noted silently that the assessment course she took marked this assessment as culturally inappropriate for African Americans. Out loud, she voiced uncertainty as to the presence of psychopathology. That hadn't been a question to her at all. The supervisor stated,

Supervisor: "The assessment is a place to start. We have to make sure she's not a threat to her children. Unfortunately, my experience is that Black men often don't stick around to help, so we can't count on the father for much support, I'm sure."

Text on screen: Lisa's final words in supervision were,

Lisa: "I think Wendy could get better help from someone else. Is there another therapist we could refer her to?"

Text on screen: She decided to set Wendy up with an intern who is Asian American (there are no Black interns available). However, it was a moot point, as Wendy did not return for her next session.

REFERENCES

· Malott, K.M. (2010). The Case of Wendy. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Education and Counseling, Villanova University.

CREDITS

Subject Matter Expert:

Crystal Neal

Interactive Design:

Kerry Hanson, Tara Schiller, Patrick Lapinski

Instructional Designer:

Connie Lepro