Sara E. Schwarzbaum - Böcker

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 the storytellers reveal 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.   Key Features: 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’ own histories Contains a clinical applications section for each chapter that gives readers practical ideas they can apply to clients  Includes a valuable countertransference section that provides clinicians with personal reaction scenarios when working with clients

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. In addition, it is ideal for many practicum and internship courses. A valuable resource for clinicians looking to further their understanding of cultural factors in clinical work, it will also be of interest to any professional in the mental health field who works with a diverse client population.

"I so thoroughly enjoyed your class and I thought the textbook was excellent. The autobiographies were extremely beneficial to me as jumping off points to explore multicultural terms and concepts. Your fair selection of individuals, with such varied and complex backgrounds, made it impossible for any of us to fall into pet political or ideological paradigms - right or left.Thank you again for such a good learning experience."—Victoria Herbert, student at Claremont University"I really liked the textbook. The story format is superb because it allows you enter into ideas and concepts experientially. This tends to make them much more comprehensible and enduring than definitions or third person explanations. It also greatly increased my empathy for certain populations. Rachel's story about the transgender child was extremely powerful in this regard. Finally, stories have a strong convincing quality. It's hard to argue with someone's experience." —Stephen Schubert

"I liked it. I actually enjoyed reading it which I can't always say about grad school textbooks. I thought that it was easy to read and follow. It gave valuable background information which tied in history and current events well. This allowed me to more clearly understand society as a whole. I really liked the vignettes-looking at people's experiences from different cultures, backgrounds, etc... it enabled me to better understand where people were coming from and their wordviews. It gave thorough descriptions of groups, theories, and sociology/psychology concepts. This helped me to better understand people's struggles. —Julie Mcshane"I actually thought it was one of the better textbooks I've had in the program specifically because of the life stories. I always think case studies are very effective because your learning is within a real life context rather than relying on just theories and then trying to apply those theories to actual situations…which can be difficult."—Lorraine Hayes, Northeastern Illinois University Story is one of the most powerful ways to creating meaning. This collection of life stories offers compelling narratives by individuals from different races, ethnic groups, religions, sexual orientations, and social classes. By weaving these engaging stories with relevant theoretical topics, this unique textbook provides deeper levels of understanding on how cultural factors influence identity, personality, worldview, and mental health. Using a content-theme analysis, Dimensions of Multicultural Counseling: A Life Story Approach allows readers to easily grasp the relationship between multiple dimensions and the formation of identity.   Key Features and BenefitsCombines theory and practice as each life story is followed by a clinical applications section, which contain practical ideas for working with clients who have similar stories Allows for easy classroom assignments since each section in the book can be read independentlyDevotes full chapters to topics not found in other textbooks: Oppression and Resilience; Sexual Orientation; Multicultural TheoryOffers useful toolbox activities, which gives students additional resources for further explorationPraise for the authors' precursory work: "Culture and Identity: Life Stories for Counselors and Therapists is a brilliant revolution in our way of looking at culture and identity through an understanding of diverse people's diverse life stories. Reading each character's story helps us learn how distinct each individual life is and how rich and diverse our world is. It packs rich and diverse information derived from firsthand, and intimate stories."  – PsycCritiquesAlso available with this book An Instructor's Resource CD with supplemental materials for each chapter and a helpful internet study site  including podcasts and videos offer further opportunities that examine and apply this mosaic of rich subject matter.             Intended Audience This core text may be used in upper level undergraduate in multicultural counseling, psychology, social work, marriage and family therapy, and human services as well as a text for advanced and doctoral courses on multicultural issues. A valuable resource for understanding cultural factors in clinical work, it will enhance the clinical skills of mental health providers who work with diverse client populations.