TPC-Journal-V4-Issue5

The Professional Counselor \Volume 4, Issue 5 516 Conclusion There is a need for research focusing on South Asian American families and a further need for research focused specifically on the issues of South Asian immigrant youth. As the population of South Asian immigrant youth in U.S. communities and schools increases, it is critical to understand the unique needs of these youth who are learning to forge an identity based on their home cultures and mainstream American culture. Because there are differences in the U.S. communities in which South Asians live, researchers also must explore the differences in identity development of South Asian immigrant youth living close to a South Asian community versus those who live in a heterogeneous (non-South Asian) environment. Understanding the South Asian experience in the United States will pave the way for developing culturally appropriate interventions for working with South Asian immigrant youth. Growing diversity in American schools demands that counselors develop culturally appropriate strategies for working with youth from a wide variety of cultures, including those individuals who come from immigrant families. Today’s immigrant families struggle with cultural differences, racism and oppression of earlier generations, but do so in the context of easier access to transatlantic travel and global communication technology (Bhatia & Ram, 2004). Practically speaking, these closer family connections with the home country may create more challenges for adolescents forging an identity while balancing the demands of home and school. The responsibility of helping to enhance the development of these youth falls to counselors along with other school and community personnel, and group counseling is one useful strategy for meeting student needs. Before initiating a group, counselors must explore their own cultural background and biases, understand the culture of the students in the group and, from this knowledge, develop culturally appropriate interventions that highlight culturally relevant and adolescent-specific topics. Through the group described here, the first author attempted to promote the positive development of South Asian girls in her school. The authors’ hope is that these efforts will challenge other counselors to find ways to do the same with the immigrant youth in their schools and clinics. Conflict of Interest and Funding Disclosure The authors reported no conflict of interest or funding contributions for the development of this manuscript. References Ahmad-Stout, D. J., & Nath, S. R. (2013). South Asians in college counseling. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy , 27 , 43–61. doi:10.1080/87568225.2013.739028 Ali, M. (2004). Brick lane: A novel . New York, NY: Scribner. Aoki, G., & Mio, J. S. (2009). Stereotypes and media images. In N. Tewari & A. N. Alvarez (Eds.), Asian American psychology: Current perspectives (pp. 421–439). New York, NY: Erlbaum. Asian American Federation/South Asian Americans Leading Together. (2012). A demographic snapshot of South Asians in the United States: July 2012 update . Retrieved from http://saalt.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Demographic- Snapshot-Asian-American-Foundation-2012.pdf Assanand, S., Dias, M., Richardson, E., & Waxler-Morrison, N. (1990). The South Asians. In N. Waxler-Morrison, J. M. Anderson, & E. Richardson (Eds.), Cross-cultural caring: A handbook for health professionals (pp. 141–180). Vancouver, Canada: University of British Columbia.