Ethnic Matching in Counselling: How important is it to Ethnically Match Clients and Counsellors?*

Abstract

The short answer to this complex question is “It depends”. It may help to consider the rationale behind ethnic matching. When counsellor and client share the same cultural background, empathic understanding and self-disclosure are more easily facilitated. However, most counsellors and counsellor trainers are white, middle-class people whose values and communication styles may differ from those of ethnic minority clients especially those of lower socio-economic status. Thus white counsellors may unwittingly engage in cultural oppression by imposing Western values on ethnic minority clients. Further, ethnic minority clients, because of a historical exposure to, and current experiences of, racism may have a damaged ethnic or racial identity which would hinder the development of a therapeutic alliance with a white counsellor. Thus understanding the client’s ethnic or racial identity development is important in cross-cultural counselling.