Resource Redirection for Portland Area Couples Who Are Black Americans-Free Couples Counseling in 2019

​First-I will cut to the chase-I am offering free couples counseling for Black American couples who can get to Portland, Oregon at the dates I am scheduled to see clients-current openings on Sundays.  This is not a one time free session offer-my approach is as a trained and experienced Licensed Professional Counselor of the Gottman Method (research informed) that has a usual course of twice a month 90 minute sessions for 3 months.

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How did this offer come to be? 
  At the Race Talks held monthly in Portland, Oregon at a lovely McMenamin's location (currently Kennedy School, 2nd Tuesday night), I learned over the last 6 or more years many things that poked my White bubble open.  One thing I learned about was White people in America resource hogging, although that is not the term usually used. 

What happened in 2018?
  In 2018 I was accepted into the Race Talks Facilitator training, a process that is ongoing while volunteering as a facilitator. Facilitators are needed to follow up each month's topical presentation by local experts, with conversations on race facilitated at the tables of up to 12 attendees each in a room of a dozen tables-sometimes all packed and then some-aimed at increasing compassion, understanding and making change.  I am there because I want to be a part of what makes Race Talks amazing-great conversations on racial topics. I also am there to keep learning how to do this better-be aware of racism in the USA-and what can be done about it, and do it.  I also am learning every month how to be better as a white ally in facilitation, and also keep tuning up racial equity outside of Race Talks.

   Reparations is not the right word for what I wanted to do with my professional services, although it is in the right direction, but it is my working label for this offer.  I want to move more barriers away for Black Americans to get the marriage repair or strengthening which is my particular superpower. Better marriages means lowered stress, better health, and being more freed up to fulfill your own mission. All this is about is looking at what I have to offer-as a licensed professional counselor that specializes in a Gottman approach to couples's success-and making that excellence accessible to couples who are Black, or 1 spouse is Black. Others are welcome to ask about a flexible rate.

​Why is this offer for Black Americans?
   The main reason is the structural racism or systemic racism that is a major component of the United States of America, and has been in action in Portland, OR since it began.

From The Movement For Black Lives- (https://policy.m4bl.org/about/)

"Structural racism — particularly against Black Americans — has shaped the rules of our economy since the founding of the U.S. The combination of slavery, America’s deep-rooted system of racial capitalism, and long-lasting discriminatory institutions have for centuries denied Black people equal access to the wealth created through their labor.

Second, such racism continues to drive unequal economic outcomes and opportunities that are passed on intergenerationally. Today, an entire system of laws, regulations, policies, and normative practices explicitly exclude Black Americans from the economy and from leading safe, healthy, and economically secure lives. In the past, this took the form of Jim Crow and problematic racial and gender exclusions in New Deal social policies; now, the most glaring example is our racialized system of mass incarceration.

In 2011, the median Black household had just $7,113 in wealth, more than 15 times less than the $111,146 in wealth held by the median white household. Today, a mere 42 percent of Black families compared to 72 percent of whites own their homes, driving the historically durable racial wealth gap. At the end of 2015, the unemployment rate for the general population was 5 percent, yet 9.2 percent for Black workers and just 4.4 percent for white workers. The unemployment rate for Black Americans has been roughly double that for whites since at least the early 1970s.

There are also stark racial disparities in education, health access and outcomes, the criminal justice system, and social mobility, among many other arenas of economic security and well-being."

   Free couples counseling by one counselor for Portland area Black Americans is not the change we need on a structural or systemic level -but it is my way of stepping up and making a contribution that makes sense according to what I have to offer. Alternatively, the Reparations couple can make a donation to the charity of their choice.

Every White person can figure out how to leverage their whiteness for the racial equity we need in America.  We can support organizations doing this work to repair and restore in any way we can.  White people, we can step up.