marcela polanco – författare

Intercultural Counseling: Bridging the Us and Them Divide provides a thoroughly fresh approach to addressing cultural differences that includes a complete reconceptualization of multiculturalism. The text grapples with new forces in the areas of decolonial and intercultural study that expose problems with taken-for-granted counseling activities embedded within Eurocentric-based practice. The book conceptualizes mental health and healing in the terms that diverse communities recognize and embrace and highlights the range of healing practices within these communities. Underpinning the text is the message that providing counseling services is an activity that is simultaneously complex, ambiguous, nuanced, and subtle.Utilizing a postmodern lens and emphasizing a social constructionist approach, the book works to dismantle existing one-dimensional characterizations of cultural difference, as well as personal and professional assumptions related to multicultural practice. It provides readers with a fresh way of thinking that seeks to bridge cultural divides and fully realize the ambitions of the multicultural counseling movement.The book begins with an exploration of the social justice implications underpinning cultural identity politics and the "Us vs Them" divide. In the following chapters, readers closely examine the inherent complexity of culture, historical events and beliefs that have shaped social and political divides, issues of power and privilege, gender as a domain of cultural experience, identity construction, concepts of community, and more. The book has a dedicated section to exploring contemporary expressions of gender, sexuality, and relational identities and practices. The concepts of discourse, positioning, and deconstruction are emphasized throughout to encourage innovative thought regarding cultural diversity.The book includes personal stories that illustrate many elements covered in the text, making the theory and practice of intercultural counseling come alive. Activities are included that encourage readers to apply concepts to their own lives, as well to the lives of their clients.Emphasizing thoughtful and intentional participation in a constantly evolving dialogue, Intercultural Counseling is an ideal core textbook for upper-level undergraduate courses in the helping professions, as well as graduate-level training courses in counseling, counselor education, marriage and family therapy, psychology, and social work.

This volume advocates for justice in language rights through its explorations of bilingualism in family therapy, from the perspectives of eighteen languages identified by the authors: Black Talk/Ebonics/Slang, Farsi, Fenglish, Arabic, Italian, Cantonese Chinese, South Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish, Chilean Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Colombian Spanglish, Madrileño Spanish, Spanglish, Pocho Spanish, Colloquial Spanish, and English. It identifies standard English as the current language most often used across family therapy programs and services in the United States. The book discusses efforts to respond to the rapidly changing linguistic landscape and the increasingly high demand for appropriate therapy services that respond effectively to diverse families in America. It discusses recruitment and training of linguistically diverse family therapists and strategies to promote linguistic equality to support the rights of family therapists, their practices, and the communitiesthey serve. Chapters explore ways to integrate languages in professional and personal lives, including the improvisational, self-taught translanguaging skills and practices that go beyond the lexical and grammatical rules of a language. The book describes the creative use of native or heritage languages to ensure that the juxtaposition of English therapeutic and daily-life landscapes is integrated into family therapy settings. It discusses contextual, relational, therapeutic, and training potential offered by bilingualism as well as the necessary transmutations in theory and practice.This volume is an essential resource for clinicians, therapists, and practitioners as well as researchers, professors, and graduate students in family studies, clinical psychology, and public health as well as all interrelated disciplines.