Can You Feel Me Now?

SUMMARY Mental health professionals have long recognized the importance of empathy in individual therapy. Practitioners and researchers continue to identify the complex role race and other aspects of social identity group membership have on client assessment, engagement, and service utilization. Recent applications of racial identity theory and the worldview construct have contributed to an understanding of the dynamics of therapeutic intervention and clinical supervision. This article describes the work of a Black, Haitian, female client and a White, Anglo-Saxon, male therapist at a community-based family service program. The roles of empathy, racial identity, and worldview on the dynamics of the therapeutic alliance are discussed.