THE PRIMARY aim in the initiation of the 15-month nurse-client relationship described in this paper facilitated the process for a psychiatric nurse, educated in an American setting to learn the customs, beliefs and perceptions of colleagues and clients from a different culture. This she did in preparation for her teaching responsibilities in a post-basic baccalaureate nursing degree program in an urban community in West Africa. The nurse achieved her aim through the joint effort of the nurse as primary therapist in collaboration with a psychiatrist from the same cultural setting as the client selected for this study. As a first step the nurse became familiar with the existing facilities and personnel utilized for the care of the mentally ill in the community. This provided her with a framework for viewing the nature of psychiatric illnesses and approaches to treatment and care of disturbed individuals. Following this general orientation, the nurse and psychiatrist selected a Nigerian patient from the psychiatrist’s case load with whom the nurse initiated a one-to-one long term relationship. This experience being the first for the nurse and psychiatrist in a cross-cultural involvement, a discussion about role functions and conduct of the relationship in general ensued. The nurse would help the client to identify and clarify feelings and outcomes of feelings and to examine alternatives for certain interactions and behaviors with others. The nurse and client would explore the here and now in terms of looking at interactions that are gratifying or frustrating for the client. The nurse would look for patterns of behavior that foster or inhibit growth on the part of the client within the context of her particular sociocultural community. The psychiatrist would review data from the therapy sessions and evaluate the content and direction of therapy with the nurse. He would identify barriers or missed cues and raise questions regarding possible meaning of the client’s behavior, interactions and communication. In this particular experience the psychiatrist’s more comprehensive awareness of sociocultural variables provided special points of reference in the collaborative process.