Culture and Identity

Culture and Identity: Life Stories for Counselors and Therapists is a collection of autobiographical stories that explores themes of race/ethnicity, immigration/acculturation, religion, and social class. These engaging stories allow readers to understand the significance and influence of culture on identity development, sense of self, family relationships, interpersonal relationships, and life choices. As each storyteller reveals their real life struggles, readers will enhance their understanding of intra-group differences, increase their repertoire of clinical skills, and sharpen their multicultural competency. Each chapter contains a discussion of content themes, along with clinical applications, assessment questions, techniques, and interventions, as well as personal reactions evoked from the stories. The book: "offers autobiographical stories that help readers enhance their own clinical skills since the stories depict real clinical situations "includes theoretical content descriptions for each story to provide clinicians with a comprehensive array of themes they are likely to encounter in their clients' histories "contains a clinical applications section within each chapter that gives readers practical ideas they can apply to clients with similar stories "includes a valuable countertransference section that provides clinicians with personal reaction scenarios when working with clients that have issues similar to those presented in each story "comprises of chapters that can be read independently making it an easy fit for both classroom assignments and readers' preferences. Culture and Identity is a unique, easy-to-read book that demonstrates how cultural factors influence identity and life choices. It is an excellent textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on multicultural counseling focusing on diversity in the fields of Psychology, Counseling, Family Therapy, Social Work, and Human Services. The book is a valuable resource for clinicians looking to further their understanding of cultural factors in clinical work and will also be of interest to any professional in the mental health field who works with a diverse client population.