Development of a Culturally Responsive Group Counseling Model for Mexican American Adolescents

✍ Scribed by Louise M. Baca; Joan D. Koss-Chioino

• Publisher: American Counseling Association
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 740 KB
• Volume: 25
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0883-8534
• DOI: 10.1002/j.2161-1912.1997.tb00323.x

✦ Synopsis

This article discusses a group counseUng model specifically targeted for Mexican American adolescents with behavior problems including substance abuse. An integrated model is proposed, with the model assumptions clearly articulated and specific therapeutic goals addressed in a culturally responsive manner. Foci of the model are ethnic identity, affective expression, and life choices. Preliminary findings indicate that the youths are retained in the groups at a higher rate than predicted.

To live in the Borderlands means you are neither hispana india negra espanola ni gabacha, eres mestiza, mulata. half-breed caught in the crossfire between camps while carrying all five races on your back not knowing which side to turn to, run from: To survive the Borderlands you must live sin fronteras be a crossroads. -Gloria Anzaldua (1987) This article presents a group counseling model developed for Mexican American adolescents with behavior problems including substance abuse. We have chosen to use the term Mexican American recognizing that other terms for ethnicity are applicable. The model is devised to be culturally responsive because culture becomes the foreground rather than the backdrop for the group process. The intervention focuses on the affirmation and clariflcation of ethnic iden-