Cheyenne Pease-Carter Discrimination, harassment, narcissism, and bigotry. North Texas Area, Texas

I am saddened and concerned to see such a negative and derogatory report about Dr. Pease-Carter. I have had the privilege of being a client of Dr. Pease-Carter off and on over the past several years and have experienced Dr. Pease-Carter to be the opposite of the accusations made against her in all of our interactions.

As a counseling professional myself, I have found Dr. Pease- Carter to be one of the most empathic, respectful, genuine, and hard working counselors I have had the pleasure to work with either as a client or a colleague. I have experienced Dr. Pease- Carter to consistently monitor, question, and challenge her own potential biases in her professional life generally as well as in her interactions with me throughout our counseling relationship. Many times, Dr. Pease-Carter has been open to discussions with me regarding our professional relationship, goals, desires, and expectations in counseling, and misunderstandings in our communication. Every time that I have initiated a discussion of this sort, Dr. Pease-Carter has specifically discussed with me what she could do differently in our relationship to help me feel more comfortable and to create a safer counseling environment for me. This is in direct contrast to the majority of counselors I have encountered and is one of the things I value most about her.

Dr. Pease-Carter has also been specific with me about her limitations as a counselor and has had no difficulties in informing me of times when she believes that she has reached the limit of her expertise and/or effectiveness. Dr. Pease-Carter readily provides referrals to other professionals in these instances. Dr. Pease-Carter has consistently informed me of the limits of confidentiality as well and has always taken the utmost consideration in maintaining the confidentiality of my information. I fully believe that Dr. Pease-Carter would not break my confidentiality in any way outside of information that is not subject to confidentiality (such as danger to self or others or abuse/ neglect of children, elderly, disabled). One of the core ways that students learn counseling interactions is through use of example and I would be extremely comfortable with her sharing any noteable information about our interactions in a learning environment knowing that she would not discuss any information that would break my confidentiality. Professional counselors are required by law as well as ethical code to report any potential abuse or neglect of a child to CPS. If a client informed Dr. Pease-Carter of his use of drugs during a session, she would have no choice but to report that to CPS. Furthermore, Dr. Pease-Carter would be required to report any client (male, female, Caucasian, Hispanic, African American, etc) who shared this information with her.

Dr. Pease-Carter has a strong sense of ethics and has always worked hard to preserve the counseling relationship above all else in my experience with her. Dr. Pease-Carter strongly values the worth of all individuals and strives to understand and respect individual differences in beliefs, culture, religion, and gender. Dr. Pease-Carter consistently seeks to understand and accept my belief system and viewpoints rather than placing her views upon me. Dr. Pease-Carter also uses humor, encouragement, and normalization in a therapeutic way to create healing. As a professional myself, I have high standards for counseling professionals. I refer my own family and friends to Dr. Pease-Carter whenever possible due to her high ethical and professional standards.

This is sad to see African American people fighting amongst themselves.

Aren't there enough bigots and prejudiced people willing to put you and your community and your culture down?

If you want to go after anyone, why are you all not raising an outcry at that toxic Gangsta Rap nonsense that makes your young men look so bad and gives them rotten role models in the first place.
 
I have seen little African American boys come into the library and the only experience  with a nale role model was gangsta rap videos on "You Tube." You coud tell the way those kids were wnting to touch thosevideos that they were hungry for a father in their lives.

Your  Jesus enjoined you to feed His Lambs.

Not fight amongst yourselves.

Instead of lofty rhetoric, this is something CONSTRUCTIVE only African Americans can do. Contributes more than that petty academic trivia nobody reads anyway!

Stop sitting around like white liberals who talk much and DO little and help save these young men from jail!

I am the original complainant. And, I'd like to point out that many of the posts are distracting, defensive, and unsympathetic. I believe the most important issue is understanding how discrimination works. Once people understand how discrimination works then they can work together with minorities to resolve the issues. In my experience I was the only male in her classroom. I am also a person of color (i.e., brown with an ethnic last name). I am very liberal. I do not support traditional or conservative customs or values. I do not support religions that follow scripture literally. I believe same-sex marriages are acceptable and respectable. I also believe gays and lesbians are born that way. They are as natural and wonderful as left handed people. They should be respected and their ideas need to be integrated within the majority. Their ideas and opinions are of equal value.

The same inclusive methodology should be applied to blacks, Latinos, males who are independent of group consensus, and dissenters who are often subjugated in colleges and places of business. We live in a constitutional republic in which the minority and freedom of speech are protected by the constitution. The views and ideas of minorities and independent individuals are protected and are of incredible value. I did not experience that in any of my courses at The University of North Texas. I believe the university has problems with institutional discrimination and hegemony. The university needs to make a lot of improvements. Perhaps, the best book on university corruption is titled Profscam: Professors and the Demise of Higher Education.

Cheyenne's class was perhaps one of the most subjugating and oppressive. Although, I did have a hard time with two other snide professors. Everything in her class was biased and in favor of white females. White females had top priority within discussion. They often dominated the topics with callous disregard to my opinions and feelings. Females of color were also higher on the social hierarchy than I was. I felt like an underclass citizen even though I had paid my tuition in full. Cheyenne even referred to me as "the underdog" which I found to be extremely offensive and degrading. I earned my grades with hard work. I made an A in both of Cheyenne's classes. Unfortunately, when instructors and other people with an agenda get into positions where they can influence large groups a lot of damage and oppression can occur not only to minorities but to people who are independent of groupthink and group dependency.

Institutional oppression is accomplished through techniques like creeping normalcy and workplace mobbing. Workplace mobbing is a combination of groupthink and manipulation with the intent to subjugate dissenters and people of diverse backgrounds. The goals at universities and in workplaces often propagate intensive conformity and homogeneity while using advertising and doublespeak to make people think otherwise. Professor Kenneth Westhues wrote about workplace mobbing in universities. He stated, "The more clever and effective strategy is to wear the target down emotionally by shunning, gossip, ridicule, and bureaucratic hassles, and withholding of deserved rewards. Death by silence describes the initial informal stage of workplace mobbing." (Westhues, Ken 2006,18-19)

Color-blind racism is another problem. Professor Eduardo Bonilla-Silva conducted and published many research articles and books on the disadvantages and detriment of color-blind racism.  It's absurd to be color-blind. It is important to acknowledge and value the color, race, and ethnic background of people in a friendly manner. Minorities come from diverse backgrounds and ideology and all of that needs to be respected because it is of incredible value to our society. It requires that people in the majority remain sensitive and respectful to all people of diversity even gays, lesbians, and atheists. At the end of the day open ended discourse with an intent to learn, propagate civility, and to discover win-win solutions are the top priorities.   

Cheyenne did treat me differently (i.e., hostility). She did tell me in a snide manner while in front of my classmates, "Your work is too good to be yours. I need to keep an eye on you." She then pointed her finger at me and made a nasty facial expression. That is something you never say to a Hispanic person or any other minority. It is extremely offensive and it reinforces negative stereotypes that Hispanic men do not do hard work, are lazy, and are stupid. After several class sessions of that type of snide and offensive behavior I finally confronted her after class. And, she snidely told me "I'm just giving you a hard time." I was going through a difficult time in my personal life at that point. And, she didn't bother to understand me. She didn't understand my background which is diverse. She didn't bother to have empathy or curiosity for me as a person. Where was the support and compassion when I needed it? I felt lonely and miserable. And, I found her behaviors and bad attitude toward me to be very hypocritical and oppressive. I hope she has changed her ways. 

The first start with regard to improving our society is to start reading and implementing friendly cooperation with all minorities and dissenters. Perhaps, the most prolific writer on discrimination is Tim J. Wise. He wrote in his book White like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son, "The first thing a white person must do in order to effectively fight racism is to learn to listen, and more than that, to believe what people of color say about their lives. This may seem obvious, even trite, but I assure you it is more important than it may appear. One of the biggest problems with white America is its collective unwillingness to believe that racism is still a real problem for nonwhite peoples, despite their repeated protestations that it is. Survey after survey for decades has demonstrated the same pattern: whites saying that racial discrimination is pretty much a thing of the past, and people of color saying that it continues regularly and that they have personally experienced it, often several times a month. That whites refuse to believe what people of color say about racism in their own lives and have refused to believe it in every generation, by the way is itself a form of racism: it amounts to saying, "I know your reality better than you know your reality." In other words, you are not, as a person of color, smart enough, or rational enough, or objective enough to intuit your own experiences, so let me tell you what your life is like, rather than having you trust your own lying eyes." (Wise, Tim 2007, 67)

I believe society will benefit from reading the books and watching the documentaries in this bibliography.

Bibliography:

Arnott, Dave. Corporate Cults: The insidious lure of the all-consuming organization. 2000.

Bailey,Gmb. Bridging The Gap: Cointelpro, surveillance, The buzzsaw, gang stalking, and informants.2009.

Brown, Michael. Whitewashing race: the myth of a color-blind society. 2003.

Davenport, Noa, Schwartz, Ruth, and Elliott, Gail. Mobbing: Emotional Abuse in the American Workplace. 1999.

Dawes, M. Robyn. House of Cards -- Psychology and Psychotherapy Built on Myth. 1994.

Ehrenreich, Barbara. This Land is Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation. 2009.

Grupp, Jeffrey. Corporatism. 2009.

Hassan,Steven. Combating cult mind control. 1988.

Hedges, Chris. American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America. 2007.

Hedges, Chris. Empire of Illusion:The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle. 2009.

Kimball, Charles. When Religion becomes Evil. 2008.

Kirsch, Irving Ph.D. Emperor's New Drugs: Exploding the antidepressant Myth. 2010.

Lawson, David. Cause Stalking. 2007.

Lowen, Alexander. Narcissism. 1985.

Lutz, William. Doublespeak. How Government, Business, Advertisers, and Others Use Language to Deceive you. 1989.

Lutz, William. The New Doublespeak: Why No One Knows What Anyone's Saying Anymore. 1996.

Moore, Michael. Documentary: The Big One. 1998.

Nace, Ted. Gangs of America: The Rise of Corporate Power and the Disabling of Democracy. 2005.

Parenti, Michael. God and His Demons. 2010.

Parenti, Michael. The Culture Struggle. 2006.

Redden, Jim. Snitch Culture: How Citizens are Turned into the Eyes and Ears of the State. 2000.

Singer, Margaret. Cults in our Midst. 1995.

Silva-Bonilla, Eduardo. Racism without racists and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America. 2010.

Sykes, Charles. Profscam: Professors and the Demise of Higher Education. 1988.

Westhues, Kenneth. The Unkindly Art of Mobbing. 2006.

Westhues, Kenneth. Workplace Mobbing in Academe: Reports from Twenty Universities. 2005.

Vaknin, Sam. Malignant Self Love: Narcissism Revisited. 2003.

Wise, Tim. Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama. 2009.

Wise, Tim. Colorblind: The Rise of Post-Racial Politics and the Retreat from Racial Equity. 2010.

Wise, Tim. White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son. 2007

Wolf, Naomi. The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot. 2007.

I am very surprised to hear the opinions expressed here about Cheyenne. She is a colleague who, in all my experiences with her, demonstrates compassion, integrity, professionalism, and respect for the dignity and worth of every living being. She goes above and beyond the standard level of care for her clients and students. She does whatever is humanly possible to help others.

What I find saddening is that the person who filed this report did not experience her in this way. I imagine Cheyenne is looking very carefully in this person's report for any valid information that might help her grow as a therapist, teacher, and person. That is who she is--honest, self-reflective, and able to take responsibility for her part in any interaction. Even in this situation in which she is essentially being attacked, she is demonstrating grace, humility, and compassion. I hope I would act with that same kind of integrity under the same circumstances.

I would like to express my sincere confusion for the report filed by "Anonymous, California" regarding Dr. Pease-Carter.  I met Dr. Pease-Carter when I was a graduate student at the University of North Texas and she was a doctorate student program in the counseling education department. 

In the past 5+ years I have known Dr. Pease-Carter (Cheyenne), I have been amazed by her compassion, sincere genuineness, love for life, love for people, and love for providing a therapeutic atmosphere for anyone--not just clients.  In fact, when I started an intervention program at a high school, I called on Cheyenne to be one of my volunteers because I knew she would be the perfect fit for the adolescents I was working with.    She provided an extremely non judgmental environment for the teens.  I remember one specifically begging her to be the cheerleader coach because she was so liked by the girls.  Students would purposely come by my office when they knew Cheyenne was there so they could hang out with her. 

What confuses me most about the report done by "anonymous" is when it is stated he/she "doubts Cheyenne will warn her clients about her narcissistic demeanor or her bigotry."  As a counseling professional, I am fully aware of the meaning of narcissism and bigotry.  Cheyenne is the exact opposite of these things.  She is constantly aware of any bias she has or judgments she might be projecting.  She is extremley rare in the field of counseling for her special ability to monitor her potential projections.  Most counselors that I know do not go to the depths she does in order to prevent harm to clients.  She understands and takes care of the vulnerability people experience in a therapeutic environment. 

When I heard from Cheyenne that she was starting a practice of her own, I immediately requested business cards and information so I could recommend her.  She is somene in the field who I truly admire and can only hope several people are blessed with knowing her.  I would trust Cheyenne with my dearest friend or family member to be their counselor.  I have learned more about myself and how to be compassionate from her.  She is truly a mentor in the field and provides life changing experiences for people through her empathy and encouragment.  I have witnessed these changes in people and highly recommend her as a therapist.

It is very unfortunate to read such a derogatory report on an excellent counselor and educator.  I had the pleasure of studying underneath Dr. Pease-Carter around the same time as the gentleman from California, but my experience proved to be drastically different.