Cultural Identity

Cultural Identity Counseling in Denver

Are you struggling with integrating aspects of your cultural identity, and the impact on your mental health?

Do you ever feel “in-between” or “othered” when it comes to aspects of your identity? Maybe you feel misunderstood or judged by different groups of people in your life, or never real feel “seen”. You feel anxious from the pressure to assimilate and exhausted from compartmentalizing different aspects of who you are. Your family expects you to live by one set of values, which might be totally at odds with your own. Maybe it has been hard for you to open up to therapists in the past who didn’t really get this part of your life experience. You sometimes wonder, “Who are my people? Where do I belong?”

All you want is to really, for once, feel fully seen and understood.

You don’t live with this sense of confusion and isolation. Cultural identity counseling can help.

Start Therapy for Cultural Identity

What is Cultural Identity Counseling?

Cultural identity counseling is counseling that takes a multicultural perspective to consider different aspects of your cultural identity and how they impact your experience of the world. Navigating the different aspects of cultural identity can sometimes lead to overwhelming pressures from yourself or others in your life, feelings of loneliness or isolation, confusion or self-doubt, and struggles with feelings of trust and safety. I come from a multicultural and multiracial background, and am a second-generation American. I understand these pressures, and it is important to me to support and empower others with this life experience through culturally sensitive counseling. My practice is racial justice allied and I provide culturally sensitive therapy. When the pressure, confusion or feelings of alienation start to become too much, cultural identity counseling can help.

Cultural Identity Counseling May be Right For You if You Experience:

Feelings of confusion or difficulty navigating how your race or ethnicity may intersect with other identities such as gender, class or sexual orientation
Difficulty balancing how different cultural identities present in different spheres of your life
Feeling misunderstood, judged or discriminated against by people in your life who identify differently
Feelings of pressure from your family of origin to attain a certain level of success based on the norms in their culture
Difficulty dealing with conflicting values and expectations in your family of origin’s culture vs western culture
Pressure to meet the all the expectations that various groups put on you and feelings of failure if you are unable
Feelings of stress or fear about joining a family of a different culture, religion or race
Pressure to “code switch” or compartmentalize different aspects of your identity in different social situations
Constantly feeling “othered” or misunderstood
Feelings of loneliness or alienation
Feeling angry or burdened by microaggressions, discrimination or stereotyping
A desire to further explore how you identify racially, ethnically or culturally
A desire to further connect to or explore the stories and experiences of your parents or ancestors

Do you come from a multicultural background and struggle with your identity? Finding a culturally competent therapist can be hard. Cultural identity counseling can help. Reach out to start therapy for cultural identity in Denver and Boulder.

Cultural Identity Counseling Can Help

It’s not your fault that you feel this way - the world that we live in often puts pressure on us to be fully in one camp or the other, check this box or that one. Integrating different aspects of your life experience to connect to your own unique sense of identity is possible, and cultural identity counseling can help. In therapy together, we will:

Utilize culturally competent practices to provide a safe and judgment-free zone to process work through your experience, where YOU are the expert
Find ways to set boundaries and communicate in a way that feels true to your personal values while respecting the norms of your culture
Help you find ways to celebrate your various cultural identities and experiences
Help you to experience less overthinking and build confidence to feel more comfortable taking up space with who you are utilizing concepts from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Help you learn to sit with uncertainty and be kinder and more accepting of yourself as you are through mindfulness-based techniques
Help you develop learn relaxation strategies to utilize when you are feeling stressed by various pressures
Suggest relevant books, articles and tools that can help you to gain a deeper understanding of your experience

Through cultural identity counseling, I will help you connect to a sense of authenticity and self-acceptance. I will help you feel freer from pressure, guilt and shame. I will help you build relationships with others in your life that feel balanced and true to your own values. I will help you feel connected to your roots in a way that feels genuine to you. I will help you find a sense of pride in your own unique identity.

Begin Cultural Identity Counseling

You don’t have to live with feeling confused, alienated or misunderstood. You can feel seen and learn to better understand yourself. You can heal from these pressures and connect to the strengths that these aspects of your identity have allowed you. You can finally feel like enough, just being you.

Cultural identity counseling can help you find joy in your cultural identity, like this woman. Finding a culturally competent therapist can be hard. Victoria is an experienced anxiety therapist in Colorado for BIPOC women.

Cultural Identity Counseling FAQs

Culturally competent therapy is therapy where the provider has respect, appreciation and curiosity for people of other backgrounds and cultures. This may look like regularly participating in continuing education and learning opportunities to become better educated on different cultures and belief systems, while also maintaining openness and curiosity towards each person’s individual experience, and refraining from engaging in judgments or stereotyping. Culturally competent therapy avoids taking a “one-size-fits-all” approach to therapy and considers the intersectionality of different cultural factors when trying to understand, empathize or interpret a client’s experience.
Cultural identity can affect mental health in many ways. Lacking a clear sense of cultural identity can contribute to feelings of anxiety, stress and loneliness. Cultural identity can also impact how you perceive and interpret mental health symptoms, the type of help you are comfortable seeking, and the type of coping skills you may use to deal with stress.
A sense of identity is something that we all crave as humans - understanding who we are and what is important to us can help us make better sense of our time on this earth. Identity can contribute to feeling grounded, confident and worthy, as well as the sense of safety that belonging to a certain group can provide.
Each of our cultural beliefs and practices can impact how we understand and deal with signs of anxiety. Some cultural beliefs, such as those that put high emphasis on success, perfectionism or pleasing others, can sometimes increase anxiety, especially if you don’t feel as though you have anywhere to seek support for these pressures. That’s why it is important to find a therapist who is understanding and mindful of the unique pressures that certain cultural experiences can create. Through culturally competent therapy, we can help you find a way to deal with these pressures that balances respecting your cultural norms with staying true to your own values.