Most teenage immigrants tend to fight battles of adolescence whilst facing additional stress of acculturative change, that most of their peers don't have to worry about. Research and studies have shown that adapting to a new cultural environment, discrimination and changing family expectations tend to have very heavy impact on immigrant youths' mental health and identity development. Frabbut's (2006) work on immigrant youths' adaptation helped to show how much self esteem, cultural identity, and emotional support impact one's well-being, despite a bigger social emphasis on linguistic and academic adjustment.
The goal for this resource is to assist youth mental health specialists and school counselors in regards to the experiences of recently immigrated youth. The worksheet and journaling prompts are designed to review and assess their comfort with cultural expressions, social support, family pressures and feelings of belonging. The questions will use a 1-5 rating scale, and will be followed by an open prompt for the client to further express their feelings and experiences. The goal is to have the counselor correctly identify the specific stress pointers in regards to cultural adaptation and identity.
This workbook also contains suggestions for counselors on how to work with clients based on their responses. For instance, how to help a student who has to hide their cultural identity, or how to approach family-related cultural stress. Frabbut's (2006) findings helps us understand the importance for the client to feel greatly valued whilst holding a great value for both the heritage culture, and the new culture.