In this instructional video, Dr. Jameca Cooper explains how to locate a therapist who is truly competent in serving clients from diverse backgrounds. She emphasizes that while many therapists claim similar training, cultural competence—understanding and respecting a client’s identity and lived experience—is essential. Dr. Cooper offers two main strategies: (1) conduct thorough online research, including reviewing a therapist’s website for specialties, certifications, and training, analyzing social‑media activity for cues about their stance on social issues, and using targeted directories such as Psychology Today, Therapy for Black Girls, or other niche platforms that allow filtering by demographic focus; (2) schedule an initial session (in‑person or virtual) to evaluate the therapist’s language, vernacular, and overall cultural awareness, and to gauge whether the client feels seen, respected, and comfortable. She advises paying attention to the therapist’s terminology, attitudes toward race, gender, sexuality, and other identity factors, as well as the relational dynamics during the first meeting. The video concludes with a reminder to subscribe to the channel.
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Hi, this is Dr. Jameca Cooper, and today I want to talk to you about how to find a counselor or therapist that is competent in working with diversity. So by diversity, I mean working with individuals who have diverse backgrounds. Not all therapists are created equal. Now, all of them might say that they have the same skills, the same training, but it's very different to work with someone that really sees who you are and knows how to work with your particular issues. So my 2 tips today are really going to help you find someone that you can trust, and someone that you can trust knows about who you are and maybe your group of origin. So my first tip is to do your research. So look on the internet, look anywhere you can find, check out news articles, stories, books, blogs, websites. See if they have a website. If they have a website, usually they're going to list their specialties, their certifications, their trainings, their areas of interest. All that would be on their website. Now, if they don't have a website, you could start to look for social media cues. What is their Twitter account looking like? What types of comments and posts do they make? Um, what things are they tagged and connected to on social media? If they have an Instagram or Facebook page, what type of posts do they make? Are they usually posts focusing on political things, on social issues, on causes for women or against women, for minorities or against minorities? These are the types of things you're going to look for on social media. These could really help you because in general, people tend to post and comment on things that they are interested in, on causes that connect to them. So social media can really give you really, really big clues. I would say that might be one of the things you do first. Other things you can do is check out the website Psychology Today. It is a platform that lists lots of providers all over the country. But one good thing about Psychology Today is that you can filter out by issue. So if you know for sure you're looking for a therapist and you want to make sure they have experience working with LGBTQ populations, you can filter that out on Psychology Today. You can also look for websites like Therapy for Black Girls and similar sites where they list specifically providers that look, um, a certain way. Of course, you want to find people to work with that usually look like you, or at least have experience with people like you. So my second tip is schedule a session. Sometimes you don't have an idea of how someone would work with you until you're in the room with them.. So one of the things you can find out at that time, what type of words and vernacular do they have? Are they using words that are modern words, current words? Like instead of calling Blacks or Negroes, are they saying African American? These type of things matter because it gives you an idea of their thinking, their perspective, their, their worldviews, and things of that nature. Other things you would pay attention to, like in the room with them, are you comfortable? Does this feel right? Do you feel that this provider sees you? Do you feel that they hear what you're saying? Can you tell if they respect your experience? Because I think regardless of your background, you want to find a provider that respects who you are and where you come from. So you have to take all of these issues into account when you're in the room with them. But there's really no other way to tell if someone is competent to work with you or your group. Until you're in the room with them, or virtually until you're on the screen with them. So these are my two tips for how to find a therapist that is competent to work with you and diverse individuals. Make sure you subscribe to this channel. I'm Dr. Jameca Cooper.
