• Are you an immigrant or ethnic minority and are struggling to find belonging?

• Have you been marginalized or treated unfairly due to your racial identity?

• Do you feel confused or misunderstood about your cross-cultural experiences?

• Are you an ex-pat who is overwhelmed re-integrating to life back home?

The Problem

Diversity enriches a community with a variety of unique perspectives on how to do life — food, traditions, family values, relating with others, etc. These experiences can be celebrated and incorporated to help welcome all walks of life.

At the same time, “being different” consumes a lot of energy and can be met with resistance or dismissal from the majority group.

Maybe you moved abroad to create a better future for yourself or for your family. Maybe you were born into an ethnically diverse family and wrestle with whether to “fit in” with or “stand out” from the crowd.

Common multicultural struggles include:

• Finding community

• Homesickness

• Language barrier

• Self-conscious of differences

• Stressors of visa process, other documentation

• Culture shock (or reverse culture shock)

• Unsure of “true” racial identity

• Racial profiling, prejudice

These struggles can increase symptoms of loneliness, anxiety, doubt, or depression. In some instances, poor experiences can be traumatic.

The Path Forward

Growing up as a first generation Filipino-American and as someone who has lived abroad in multiple countries, I know what it’s like to wrestle with each of these struggles.

Your experience is unique. And it’s welcome.

Your ethnic background or cross-cultural experiences are part of what makes you, you. You are not meant to fit neatly into a single box. And you don’t have to.

Topics to explore in therapy include:

• How cultural stressors & obstacles impact you

• Hardships & traumas

• Your story & key cultural events that shaped you

• Family/cultural dynamics & values

• Shame surrounding your multicultural experiences or identity

• Your ideal racial identity moving forward

There are external stressors and obstacles unique to an ethnic minority that hold you back from having the life you desire. Other times, there are negative beliefs, shame, or trauma that hold you back internally. Wherever you are, you are welcome & able to process any and all of these concerns.

You can feel comfortable in your own skin. You can learn to embrace the fullness of your identity — and with that includes embracing your diversity and unique experiences. This is the key to finding a path forward.