Person Centred Therapist: Choosing a therapist feels different when the field wasn't built for you
Why do so few Black couples try therapy? Matthew Johnston on cultural competency, the therapy field's quiet whiteness, and what actually helps. This week's episode is a solo deep-dive with Matthew Johnston, MBACP-accredited psychotherapist based in Nottingham and London, on cultural competency in mental health, the specific pressures Black and Brown couples face, and the mental health case for building a healthy long-term relationship. About the speaker Matthew Johnston is an MBACP-accredited person-centred Psychotherapist with over a decade of experience across schools, universities, local authority, and private practice, specialising in anxiety, depression, relationship difficulties, and stress. As a therapist with extensive experience working with Black clients, he focuses in couples work on communication, infidelity, rebuilding trust, and attachment, and is particularly known for exploring the role of faith and therapy and the hesitations Black couples face when considering it. He offers online sessions and works out of Nottingham and London. Chapters 0:00 - Intro 1:30 - What Matthew actually does: communication, infidelity, trust, attachment 5:00 - Cultural competency: what it is and isn't 9:00 - Why short courses don't build it 13:00 - Same quality of care, regardless of who's in the room 17:00 - The mental health case for long-term relationships 22:00 - Why long-term commitment is harder to model now 27:00 - Idealised love vs the reality of building something 32:00 - The extra weight Black and Brown couples carry 37:00 - Eurocentric beauty standards and the toll on Black women 42:00 - The accumulation of daily discrimination and what it costs a relationship 47:00 - Why therapy is still seen as an 'alien concept' in some communities 52:00 - Media portrayals that discourage help-seeking 56:00 - The predominantly white therapy field 1:00:00 - Even within your own community, judgment can travel 1:03:00 - What Matthew looks for when couples come in 1:07:00 - Making informed decisions about starting a family In this episode Matthew opens on cultural competency, and where the field gets it wrong. Short courses do not build competency, however well-intentioned. What actually builds it is a lifetime of exposure to different cultures, genuine interest in how other people live, and the personal work of understanding your own defaults. He is direct on the basic principle underneath the whole discussion: Black and Brown clients deserve the same quality of care as anyone else, and the field cannot pretend otherwise. From there the conversation moves to relationships. Healthy long-term partnerships are one of the most durable mental health investments a person makes, and there is a body of research linking them to better wellbeing and even longer life expectancy. The problem is that many people arrive in adulthood without a working template. They grew up in single-parent households, or their parents' relationship did not model something worth copying, and the idealised version of love they absorbed from culture bears little resemblance to the daily work of maintaining a real one. The middle of the episode is the hardest and most useful. Black and Brown couples carry a set of pressures that most therapy training does not name. Black women face pressure to conform to Eurocentric beauty standards, and negative stereotypes about their attractiveness shape both how they are treated and how they perceive themselves. The accumulation of small discriminatory encounters over a working week is its own kind of weight, and it lands in the relationship even when neither partner meant it to. Matthew is direct: this is not something to work around. This is the actual material of the therapy for many of his clients. The close is about access. Therapy still gets labelled an 'alien concept' in some Black and Brown communities, reinforced by media that portrays Black mental illness only in extreme or criminal ways. The field remains predominantly white, and even choosing a therapist from within your own community is not a guarantee against judgment. Matthew closes on what he actually does in the room: help couples build the skills to make clear, informed decisions about their relationship and about starting a family, without pretending the pressures around them are not there. Resources mentioned Matthew Johnston - https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/counsellors/matthew-johnston MindFriend (the platform): https://mindfriend.com/ MindFriend Pro: https://mindfriendpro.com/ Support if you need it Black Minds Matter UK (free therapy for Black individuals): https://www.blackmindsmatteruk.com/ Melanated Minds: https://www.melanatedminds.co.uk/