Love, Intimacy, and the African American Couple

This exciting new text on counseling African American couples outlines critical components to providing culturally-sensitive treatment. Built around a framework that examines African American couples’ issues as well as the specific contextual factors that can negatively impact their relationships, it:• Addresses threats to love and intimacy for Black couples• Provides culturally relevant, strengths-based approaches and assessment practices• Includes interesting case studies at the conclusion of each chapter that illustrate important concepts.The chapters span the current state of couple relationships; readers will find information for working with lesbians and gays in relationships, pastoral counseling, and intercultural Black couples. There is also a chapter for non-Black therapists who work with Black clients. Dispersed throughout the book are interviews with prominent African American couples’ experts: Dr. Chalandra Bryant, relationship expert Audrey B. Chapman, Dr. Daryl Rowe and Dr. Sandra Lyons-Rowe, and Dr. Thomas Parham. They provide personal insight on issues such as the strengths African Americans bring to relationships, their skills and struggles, and gender and class considerations. This must-read book will significantly help you and your clients.

"Love, Intimacy, and the African American Couple is designed to help therapists and researchers address African American couples’ challenges related to romantic relationships from a culturally sensitive framework. The text successfully achieves this goal by highlighting current research on the state ofAfricanAmerican relationships, culturally appropriate and strengths-based approaches to working with African American couples, and case examples of African American couples in treatment." -Kiara Wesley, BA and Shalonda Kelly, PhD, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey Piscataway, New Jersey, USA“This book left me alarmed, inspired, challenged, and informed in a way that few clinical books have impacted me. I recommend it highly.” - William J. Doherty, PhD, Professor and Director, Minnesota Couples on the Brink Project, University of Minnesota; Author, Take Back Your Marriage: Sticking Together in a World That Pulls Us Apart“Insightful, culturally-competent, and long overdue! This book will be the definitive resource for clinicians treating African American couples.” - Kevin Cokley, PhD, Associate Professor, Counseling Psychology, African and African Diaspora Studies, University of Texas at Austin; Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Black Psychology“This text is an intellectual manual for how to successfully negotiate challenging terrain in ways that achieve healing outcomes. The insights are penetrating, the strategies are illuminating, and the intellectual horsepower that contributed to this volume is impressive.” - Thomas A. Parham, PhD, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Adjunct Faculty, University of California Irvine"Love, Intimacy, and the African American Couple would be an excellent supplementary text for college-level couples therapy courses. It would also be an important addition to the professional libraries and resources of clinicians serving African American intimate partners. The valuable information shared by the contributing authors and professional interviewees could significantly improve the engagement and retention of African American individuals and couples who are receiving clinical services and could greatly enhance the cultural competence of clinical practitioners." -Ella M. Duncan, PsycCRITIQUES

Katherine M. Helm, PhD, is a Professor of Psychology and Director of Graduate Programs in Psychology at Lewis University, and is a practicing psychologist.Jon Carlson, PsyD, EdD, ABPP, is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Counseling at Governors State University, and a psychologist at the Wellness Clinic in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.