As after-school programming has expanded in the U.S., there has been an increased empirical interest in understanding the impacts programs have on participating youth. Unfortunately, much of the research has focused on certain types of After School Programs (ASPs), primarily addressing tutoring and school-homework, and few have focused on underserved youth. This has resulted in a markedly limited understanding of non-academic ASPs, such as after-school music programs, and the underserved youth participating in them. This study addresses these gaps by exploring the experiences of seven successfully engaged underserved alumni who participated in Notes for Notes, an after-school music program. Building upon the findings from a prior study (Sheltzer & Consoli, 2019), the current study sought to gain a deeper understanding of how alumni experienced key program components, including meaningful relationships with staff, access to previously unavailable opportunities, program accessibility, physical and psychological safety, and freedom of expression. Analysis indicated a synergistic relationship between key elements of the program, staff characteristics, and alumni involvement, which resulted in a successful program experience as described by alumni. Specifically, alumni lauded several elements of the program such as the availability of free resources, the collaboration with the Boys & Girls club, and the safe and practical location. Affirming and supportive relationships with staff were considered crucial by alumni, especially in creating feelings of safety and acceptance. Additionally, engaged alumni described how they overcame barriers to accessibility, benefited from freedom of expression, took advantage of novel opportunities, and were motivated to “pay it forward.” A discussion of the implications of the findings, limitations of the study, and future directions is included.

Help-seeking is the active process of searching for formal mental health services and an important first step to obtaining mental health care. Help-seeking can be influenced by individual, social, cultural, and structural factors that can help to facilitate or obstruct the process. Using a qualitative design, this study examined the lived experiences of eleven Latine parents who sought and accessed mental health services for their children to identify the factors that made their process easier or harder. A multiple case study approach was used to examine the similarities and differences across participants responses. Using thematic analysis, a total of eight themes were identified across the eleven interviews. Five themes were identified as facilitative and three themes as obstructive. The facilitative factors in participants’ help-seeking and realized access to mental health services included the following: Support from Social Networks, Being Persistent, Using Spirituality to Cope, Increase in Mental Health Literacy, and Positive Treatment Experience. Support from Social Networks referred to the emotional and practical support that participants received from their family, friends, spiritual leaders, or mental health professionals in their help-seeking of mental health services. Being Persistent referred to participants tenacity to find the mental health services they needed for their children. Using Spirituality to Cope referred to participants faith and use of prayer to overcome difficult moments in their help-seeking journeys. Increase in Mental Health Literacy referred to participants’ increased knowledge and understanding about mental health and mental health services. Positive Treatment Experience referred to the favorable outcomes and benefits that participant and their children experienced from using mental health services. The obstructive factors in participants’ help-seeking and realized access included the following: Limited Mental Health Literacy, Interference from Social Networks, and Structural Barriers to Treatment. Limited Mental Health Literacy referred to participants markedly reduced mental health background. Interference from Social Networks referred to social networks’ dismal views and reactions about participants help-seeking decisions. Finally, Structural Barriers to Treatment referred to the multiple challenges participants faced to access mental health services for their children. This study findings illustrate how individuals’ help-seeking can be facilitated or obstructed by diverse factors. Importantly, an understanding of these factors associated with help-seeking is necessary to strengthen the overall process of accessing care for parents of children with mental health concerns. Findings have implications for researchers, clinicians, educators, and policy makers committed to improving racial and ethnic minority populations’ access to formal mental health services.

Language plays a central role in how individuals relate, communicate, and connect with others, as well as in self-understanding and expression (Altarriba & Santiago-Rivera, 1994; Licciardello & Damigella, 2013). For bi/multilingual individuals, language can also influence the development and understanding of one’s cultural identity (Germain, 2004; Lee, 2013; Lu, 2010; Mercuri, 2012). Moreover, it has been posited that language can impact the therapeutic experience and the healing process in psychotherapy. Shared language among clinicians and patients has been found to contribute to developing the therapeutic alliance (Nguyen, 2014) and allow patients to express their emotions and memories better (Costa, 2010; Kokaliari et al., 2013). However, there remains limited understanding of and support for bilingual therapists' cultural and professional identity development journeys (Consoli & Flores, 2020; Johal, 2017; Verdinelli & Biever, 2009). This is especially the case for English-Hindi/Urdu-speaking clinicians in the United States of America (U.S.) and Canada, leaving them an underserved group despite the essential services they provide to one of the fastest-growing minoritized communities (U.S. Census Bureau, 2023).

Using a qualitative design, the study explored the lived experiences of eleven first- and second-generation immigrant bilingual (English-Hindi/Urdu) South Asian American/Canadian mental health providers to better understand their cultural and professional identity development. Moustakas’ (1994) Transcendental Phenomenological approach was employed to gain a deeper understanding of the essence of participants' experiences. A systematic thematic analysis was used to identify the essence and themes of the experiences. A total of six themes emerged to explain the phenomena of cultural identity development among participants, which include changes to cultural identity, development of cultural identity, languages’ role in cultural identity, honoring heritage, South Asian: a functional identity, and valuing connection. A total of seven themes emerged to explain the phenomena of professional identity development among participants, which include blending cultural self into professional identity, incorporated a social justice orientation on bi/multilingual clinical work, use language as a tool in therapy, overall clinical skills benefitted from bi/multilingual professional experiences, felt affirmed and gratified through bi/multilingual clinical work, encountered systemic struggles, and burdened to take initiative.

The findings expand the current understanding of cultural identity development of bi/multilingual (English-Hindi/Urdu) South Asian Americans/Canadians. It provides insight on how to better support this community, including potential ways to expand the current South Asian American cultural identity model (Ibrahim et al., 1997) and recommendations for mental health clinicians working with clients in this community. It contributes to the field’s current literature on bilingual psychotherapists by exploring the understudied community of South Asian American English-Hindi/Urdu-speaking clinicians in the U.S./Canada. The findings from the study provide valuable insights into how to better support such providers, which in turn may aid in increasing accessibility to qualified mental health professionals to serve the broader bilingual South Asian American community. Findings offer an understanding of improving training opportunities and professional support for bilingual mental health providers.

Aims

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Among mixed-status siblings (i.e., an undocumented sibling and a U.S. born citizen), the difference in immigration status may serve to strengthen or diminish the quality of their relationship. This qualitative study utilized a narrative inquiry framework to explore the stories of eight Mexican/Mexican American mixed-status sibling dyads living in the U.S. Joint, semi-structured life history interviews and a timeline were used to elicit each sibling’s perspective on how mixed immigration status shaped their relationship and identity formation, as well as their mental well-being and relationship within the family. Through a restorying process, eight chronological narratives were created for the purpose of capturing the nuanced experiences of these mixed-status siblings. The chronological narratives revealed complex ways in which differing immigration statuses exerted their influence over time (i.e., past, present, future), in different contexts, and various relationships.

Using thematic analysis, four themes were identified across the eight narratives. First, solidarity, frustration, and guilt in the sibling relationship encompassed the positive and negative experiences in participants’ sibling relationship that derive from mixed immigration status. Second, family roles and expectations emphasized the combination of external and internal pressure to take on roles and expectations in the family based on participants’ respective immigration statuses. Third, the sibling experience of citizenship and undocumented identity described aspects of identity formation that emerge in reference to one’s and siblings’ immigration status. Fourth, stress, uncertainty, and relief from deportation and family separation captured the consequences of mixed immigration status on the emotional well-being of siblings.

The study findings underscore how immigration policies may affect the mental health of mixed-status siblings. Strengthening the sibling relationship may serve to buffer the negative effects of such policies. Findings have implications for clinicians, educators, and policy makers working with mixed-status siblings and their families.

Supervision is an essential component in the development of scientist-practitioner psychologists, and currently one of the primary ways that aspiring professional psychologists develop practical skills and receive training in their field. Although research has demonstrated that supervisors utilize diverse approaches, the literature has not yet identified different supervisor personal styles and the effects that these may have on supervision. This study contributes to the understanding of the personal styles of supervisors by adapting the psychotherapy construct known as the personal style of the therapist (PST) to the assessment of the personal style of the supervisor (PSS). The study focused on developing the scale, evaluating its psychometric properties, and identifying broad similarities and differences in supervisory styles. The result is a 34 item self-report scale that evaluates eight distinct dimensions of a supervisor's personal style. The psychometrics of the measure were evaluated, as well as general tendencies in supervisors' PSS and differences based on demographic characteristics. Findings indicate that supervisors sampled tended to: work within a flexible framework; bring themselves into supervision, either by self-disclosing or revealing their emotional states; think about supervisees in their personal time; be slightly more facilitative than didactic; have a slightly more active approach to managing conflict; and view multicultural issues as central to supervision. PSS differences were found based on supervisor's gender, ethnicity, licensure level, supervision model, psychotherapy model, and hours of supervision provided a week. A discussion of the implications of the findings and possible training uses of the PSS-Q as well as the limitations of the study is included.