A Wright Perspective: An evening with Nancy Horanlearnlib
The University of Illinois Alumni Association, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Library Friends and the University Library welcomes a conversation with author of Loving Frank, Nancy Horan. This presentatin was the background for our discussion.
"Dèyè chak timoun gen yon fanmi e yon kilti" - Behind Every Child Is A Fami...Université de Montréal
Working with children and their families across cultures, especially during periods of cultural transition, is a complex and challenging task requiring knowledge of children’s normal growth and change under stable circumstances in their culture of origin and their host culture. While child specialists often express interest in families, differential rates of adaptation among the members of a family confound the perception and origins of children’s problems.
Furthermore, the difficulties of adaptation during times of cultural transition are inadequately conceptualized, poorly documented, and often trivialized as transitional problems of adaptation or ignored altogether under the rubric of youthful resilience. In the vocabulary of psychology, psychiatry and other professional discourses, these problems can be summed up through three complex lenses: children (development), family (attachment, relationships, transmission) and culture (the context for the first enculturation and subsequent acculturations of children).
The author examines several vignettes of children from Haitian families in Montreal experiencing serious mental health problems. The challenges of identifying patterns of cultural adaptation with these children are identified as are the requirements for an approach that is sensitive to all three crucial aspects of their predicaments—healthy growth, family relationships and cultural adaptation.
The features of Cultural Family Therapy (CFT) are outlined to demonstrate its responsiveness to the complex task of working with children across cultures. The clinical tools of CFT are summarized to guide practitioners. Vignettes highlight children coping with psychosis and trauma. The presentation concludes with a summary of gaps in current thinking and practice in working with children across cultures and a call for more studies of children in cultural transition.
Learning Objectives
1. To identify the challenges and rewards of working with Haitian children and families in cultural transition.
2. To present a model for conducting Cultural Family Therapy with families in cultural transition, adapting to living in Montreal.
3. To sensitize clinicians of the need for cultural understanding and review the clinical tools available to guide practitioners in their work across cultures.
References
Di Nicola, V. (1996). Ethnocultural aspects of PTSD and related stress disorders among children and adolescents. In A. J. Marsella, M. Friedman, E. Gerrity, & R. Scurfield (Eds.), Ethnocultural aspects of posttraumatic stress disorder: Issues, research, and clinical applications (pp. 389-414). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Press.
Di Nicola, V. (1997). A stranger in the family: Culture, families and therapy. New York, Norton.
Di Nicola, V. (1998b). Children and families in cultural transition. In Clinical methods in transcultural psychiatry (S. O. Okpaku, ed.) (pp. 365-390). Washington, DC: America