Training Title:
Cultural Competence: The Immigrant Experience, The Impact of Migration on Families

Clock Hours: 1

Objectives:
After listening to and/or reading this interview, participants should be able to • Review the questions and processes of helping immigrants develop a shared story about their migration. • Explain what the "catching up narrative" accomplishes with immigrant clients. • Identify one of the major differences between the American mainstream culture and the cultures of many immigrants be familiar with a variety of bias categories.

Description:
The domain of clinical practice currently faces a crisis of competence and conscience in the treatment of those clients whose ethnicity, race, or class renders them minority groups in American society. Even with the best of intentions and belief in our own objectivity/impartiality, we unwittingly, even unconsciously impose presumptuous interpretations and interventions on clients’ lives. So, we shouldn’t be shocked to learn that ethnic minority groups are the smallest users of mental health services. Furthermore, when these groups do use treatment, they show the highest premature termination rate of any social group. Something is wrong here! Our clinical training programs need to step up to this challenge. Latinos in the United States constitute a significant and sizable population that mental health professionals must serve appropriately. In her book, Latino Families in Therapy, our speaker in this interview, Dr. Celia Falicov, writes that, “Even when freely chosen, the transition of migration is replete with loss and disarray –there is loss of language, separation from loved ones, the intangible emotional vacuum left in the space where “home” used to be, the loss of community, and lack of understanding of how jobs, schools, banks, or hospitals work. Immigrants are rendered vulnerable, isolated, and susceptible to individual and family distress.” She states that it is impossible to do cross-cultural work without critical cultural and sociopolitical self-awareness on the part of the practitioner, and refers to the term, “Cultural Humility” to describe what this takes.

Approval Bodies