Maria Luz Identity Development Model

Identity Development Model and Stage

Maria Luz recently emigrated from a small village in Mexico. She is struggling to adjust to her new life in the United States. She is managing her previously held beliefs about what life would be like in America, to the stark contrast of her new found reality. Maria presents clinically to be in the Racial/Cultural (Minority) Identity Development Model Stage 3-Resistance/Immersion. Her tale of coming to America is harrowing. Having been raped by the hired “coyote” who was supposed to deliver her safely to her husband in Colorado. She was left in California, penniless. She had a rough start and now has trauma to sort through, in addition to becoming acclimated to America. She is now ambivalent about her
She has become increasingly aware of the dominant cultures failures and weaknesses. She is yearning for her small fishing village where you can get food just by picking it off a communal tree. She resents having to go to the grocery store just to get something to eat. She is displaying increased appreciation for her culture and a decreased appreciation for the dominant culture. Daily rituals and geographical differences are surfacing for Maria. She is in a two bedroom apartment with six people. She dreams of being a homeowner one day and realizes that her dream may never become a reality. She is discouraged. Maria is suspicious of the mental health process of therapy. Fear of her illegal status being exposed is enough of a natural deterrent for most illegal immigrants to stay away from mental health professionals. Maria is anxious and slightly depressed. These are common symptoms for immigrants. As one study showed, familia, or family in Spanish, can support and help ameliorate the struggles an immigrant most commonly goes through, but when you have left your family of origin, the symptoms can become exacerbated. “Williams and Berry (1991) suggested that acculturative stress leads to negative emotional states such as anxiety and depression. General models of stress posit that
Upon self-reflection, I believe I am at Stage 6. At least, I would like to think that I am. I have evolved, but there is always room for improvement. I aspire to shed any biases that are still within me. I do not fear racism, and I am acutely aware of its presence. I am open to racial dialogue. I own that I am a person of the dominant culture and that I have white privilege just because of my genes. It is unjust. I believe I am at this stage because I am willing to actively seek more education and awareness. “Loca samasta suky no bavantu,” is a sanskrit phrase from my Ashtanga yoga practice that I hold dear. It means, “May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may my own thoughts, words and actions attribute to that happiness and freedom.” Racial inequality exists, and where and when I can speak up, or call it out, I am willing. I defend that I am at Stage 6 because I have moved through the other 5 stages. I lived in a multiracial and cultural diverse neighborhood in Chicago for five years. I believe that diversity in my neighborhood helped me move through and shed previously held biases and racist beliefs. I was in theatre and worked as an actress. In the theatre circles, I came to know many LGBT persons and have become fully accepting of the people with those sexual orientations. Working now with minority families at the Washburn Center for Children continues to offer me opportunities to learn more about racism,