The document provides background information on the Torres family which consists of father Jose, mother Martha, son Aaron (17), and son Miguel (12). Aaron has known for a long time that he is homosexual but has kept it secret from his family out of fear of disapproval. The document discusses cultural considerations and strengths when working with Hispanic families. It also examines potential primary problems of chronic stress for Aaron related to his family's response and his internal conflicts regarding self-acceptance. Secondary problems could include religious conflicts and fear of discrimination. The document recommends culturally appropriate evidence-based intervention strategies such as a strengths-based perspective and narrative approach to help Aaron disclose to his family and support basic human rights.

1. CASE STUDY:
THE TORRES FAMILY
Jennifer Neill, Kelly Rodriguez, Laura Tanner and Tiffany
Zehender
SOWK 7325 - Family Stress, Functioning, and Social Support

2. Family Background Information
The Torres Family




Father: Jose, 48
Mother: Martha, 45
Son: Aaron, 17
Son: Miguel, 12
Jose and Martha moved to the United States twenty years ago. They established
themselves in southern California and both worked until Martha became
pregnant with Aaron. Martha has since been a stay at home mom. The family
takes pride in their culture and they are surrounded by friends and family. They
are active in the local Catholic Church and never miss a church service. Aaron
plays in the band and has a close group of friends, Miguel is involved in sports
and is very social. Aaron has known for a long time that he was homosexual and
has kept it a secret from his family. He knows that his family will disapprove but
he is ready to talk with them, in hopes that they will accept his lifestyle.
Studies have shown that sometimes culturally diverse groups have favorable
attitudes toward gay people because they have also experienced discrimination
(Herek & Gonzalez-Rivera, 2006).

3. Structural & Intergenerational
Differences and Acculturation

Cultural Considerations When Preparing to Work with a Hispanic
Family
 Cultural Identity



Barriers to Care
Level of integration
Support System



Religious/Spiritual
Family/extended family
Friends
Barriers to care and the client’s level of integration into their existing
community are factors in providing quality care (Berdahl & Torres-Stone,
2009). Many Hispanic immigrants see language barriers as a limitation
and it can be an additional source of stress (Ornelas, Eng, & Perreira,
2011).
There tend to be strong cultural, familial and religious ties in the Hispanic
culture. Family can include the immediate family, extended family, as well
as close friends of the family. Religious worship and spirituality are also
seen as sources of emotional support among Hispanic communities

4. Structural & Intergenerational
Differences and Acculturation
(continued)

Self Awareness



Cultural Competence
Social Diversity
Cultural Sensitivity
When working with the Hispanic population, service providers should be
aware of their own cultural competence as well as their ability to be
culturally sensitive, this includes recognizing strengths in other cultures,
building a knowledge base of cultural issues and maintaining an
understanding of issues facing diverse groups (NASW, 2008)
When working with a family of a different culture, it is also important to be
aware of personal values and beliefs and ensure there are no
misunderstandings about the needs of the clients and that personal
beliefs are not imposed on the client (Bitter, 2009)

5. Family System Assessment
Initially, when beginning to work with a family, it is important to learn
about their family structure, strengths, resources, and support
systems. The therapist would want to know the extent of the family’s
cohesion, how well they adapt and how they’ve approached problem
solving in the past. These factors are important and can determine
how the family copes with the news of Aaron’s homosexuality.
Research has shown that families who have had a tight cohesion,
have adapted to changes in the past and have had to use problem
solving skills are more apt to respond positively to their child who has
just come out to them (Willoughby, Doty & Malik, 2008).

6. Family System Assessment
(continued)
Strengths
Lack of cultural competency can result in ineffective services offered to the family. Learning
about the clients culture and what is seen as a strength and weakness is important to
successfully working with them. Within the Latino culture there are specific roles that each
family members may take on. This could differ from one family to the next. Family roles are
the foundation of strength for many Latino families.




In general the nuclear and extended family including friends is classified as
Familismo
The man of the household typically takes on the Machismo role
The women of the household have two terms Marianismo and Hembrismo
(Seipel & Way, 2009)
Torres Family strengths:






Strong family support system
Stable home
Mother is able to stay home with the boys
Father works to provide for the family
Healthy family
Strong spiritual beliefs

7. Family System Assessment
(continued)
Support System and Resources
(McCormick, Stricklin, Nowak & Rous, 2008)

8. Primary Problem(s)

Primary Problems


Chronic Stress Related to Response of Family
Self-Acceptance and Internal Conflicts
Aaron’s feeling of stress could be viewed as chronic stress, as having ongoing
feelings of his parents potential non-acceptance of his sexual orientation (Boss,
2002). Aaron is unable to change his sexual orientation, therefore the best idea
for him is to work through these feelings, and discover appropriate ways to work
towards telling his family.
Aaron is struggling with the idea of self-acceptance based of his feelings of
stress with the idea of telling his parents. According to Shilo & Savaya (2011),
For those working on telling their families that their sexual orientation is different
from their families perceived idea, the family’s recognition and support produced
the highest positive effect on self-acceptance. If Aaron is to receive appropriate
interventions now, this can reduce his mental and physical health as he
continues to grow into a young adult, and beyond, with hopefully avoiding health
discrepancies (Ryan, Russell, Huebner, Diaz, and Sanchez, 2010).

9. Secondary Problem(s)

Secondary Problems


Religious Conflicts
Fear of Discrimination
The Torres’ culture and religion beliefs may act as a barrier to
accepting their son’s lifestyle. It has been known that Latino’s
gay-attitudes are associated with their religious beliefs, these
beliefs help guide their daily decisions (Sermabeikian, 2002).
The Torres family may find struggle in accepting Aaron’s lifestyle
of being gay based on their religious beliefs. There also maybe
be some feelings of sadness, knowing that their son will have
another reason to be discriminated against. While they have
worked so hard to make a safe home for him here in the United
States.

10. Culturally Appropriate Evidence Based
Intervention Strategies: Strengths Based
Perspective
Why use Strengths Based Perspective?
 Identify Strengths
 Build on Strengths
 Empower
 Build Self Confidence
 Focus on Potential
 Develop Healthy Coping Skills
Strengths perspective builds interventions on strengths and deemphasizes
pathology. Positive youth development also emphasizes the values, strengths,
and potential of children and youth, while shrinking the focus on pathology
(Cheon, 2008).
From this perspective, strengths may encompass all contexts of an individual’s
day-to-day functioning such as school, family and peer relations,
spiritual/religious engagement, talents and interests, vocational skills, and
community involvement and can be assessed and integrated into treatments to
enhance clinical outcomes and further facilitate constructive adolescent growth
and development (Harris, Brazeau, Clarkson, Brownlee, & Rawana, 2012).

11. Culturally Appropriate Evidence Based
Intervention Strategies: Strengths Based
Perspective (continued)
The strengths perspective has been identified with social work
practice. It provides a helpful, holistic method of working with children
and youth that recognizes and takes advantage of strengths that are
both broad in their scope, and drawn from clients’ everyday
functioning. Strengths are often thought of as interconnected in the
same way a holistic approach takes into account the ecology of
relationships that interconnect to support the healthy development of
the child (MacArthur, Rawana, & Brownlee, 2011)
Specific to working with the GLBT population, Poulin (2009)
recommends the following ideas for the strength-based perspective:

Seeking the positive within the client

Listening to the personal narrative of the client

12. Culturally Appropriate Evidence Based
Intervention Strategies: Strengths Based
Perspective (continued)
According to Poulin (2009), when further assessing GLBT clients, it is
important to do the following when utilizing a strengths-based
perspective:

Understand the knowledge base of the client in regards to sexual orientation

Learn where the client is at in regards to their own sexual identity
development

Discussing how comfortable the client is with their own sexual orientation

Evaluating other characteristics of their identity that may be important

This idea also focuses on the idea that the clients race, ethnicity, religion,
and class may be other important characteristics to the client, and should
not be ignored.

13. Underlying Tenants of the theoretical
underpinnings of the Intervention: Strengths
Based Perspective

Strengths Based Perspective Helps Individuals Identify Their Own
Strengths


On a broad level, participants described the use of a strengths-based approach
as important in facilitating their engagement in therapy. Several participants
reported that they were not used to hearing what they were good at, and had
difficulty initially identifying their strengths. Many youths adopted the beliefs that
identifying, further developing, and acting from a position of strengths had value
for them (Harris, Brazeau, Clarkson, Brownlee, & Rawana, 2012).
Effective Treatment

Research is supportive of the strengths-based positive development programs.
The most effective, efficient, and even rewarding and joyful approach to problem
prevention is through supporting healthy youth development (Cheon, 2008)

14. Support for Interventions: Strengths Based
Perspective

The Rawana and Brownlee strengths assessment and treatment model
draws on a wide spectrum of strengths that are not limited to those
linked to adversity .The model has been developed with children ages
10-18 and enables them to fully explore their lives to find the positive
characteristics, knowledge, and assets that they can then enhance and
apply throughout their daily experiences (MacArthur, Rawana, &
Brownlee, 2011).

In utilizing strengths based perspective is it skilled and typical in
analyzing the experience of working with sexual minorities (Poulin,
2009).

15. Culturally Appropriate Evidence Based
Intervention Strategies: Narrative Approach
Why use Narrative Therapy?



Allows those involved to listen to the client
To deconstruct and externalize
Alternate stories and re-authoring
For parents that are learning of their child’s sexual orientation may
take time for them to obtain all of the information, as well as adjust
(Saltzburg, 2007).
Narrative therapy works to renovate the clients and families lives, their
relationships with one another, and a sense of self for the person
going through the change. In utilizing this form of therapy, is
encourages a decrease negative interaction in people and their
relationships, works to create an compassionate and helpful
environment, while calling for different ways of knowing oneself and
their families to bring about change. (Saltzburg, 2007).

16. Underlying Tenants of the theoretical
underpinnings of the Intervention: Narrative
Approach

Narrative Therapy would allows the therapist to work with the family
as it pertains to their own culture


It becomes important for the therapist to ask questions to allow real effects to be
explored as it pertains to the culture of the person while also being given the chance
to develop opportunities for re-authoring lives (Bitter, 2009).
Works to create a less susceptible platform for the client and the
parents to externalize conversations in regards to their feelings on
homophobia and heterosexism

Saltzburg (2007) suggests:




Categorize and recognize how homophobia and heterosexism might comprise of their life
Identifying how different practices may diminish their own lives, as well as their loved ones lives
Identify how homophobia and heterosexism have enlisted the family into believing certain agreed
ways of knowing and being watchful as to what others around them do
Allows the client and the family to re-tell their stories to one another
and to develop a different, more positive, ending

In utilizing the aspect of re-authoring this allows the adolescent, as well as their
parents to conceptualize how their family is changing, each parties feelings, and
working to help the parents come to terms with their new family, something that the
client may have already done (Saltzburg, 2007).

17. Support for Interventions: Narrative Approach



In the recent decade, narrative therapy has been gaining noteworthy
recognition as an important involvement in working therapeutically with
youth and families. Narrative therapy is able to offer a responsive way
to help both the parents, as well as the youth to maintain a supportive
family in telling their stories of identity and relationships (Saltzburg,
2007). By incorporating a narrative idea, it allows the gay youth, along
with the family, to tell their stories and learn from each other, rather
than working against each other (Cohler & Hammack, 2007).
“The complexity of issues surrounding the needs of these families
necessitates therapeutic interventions that are culturally sensitive and
recognize the roles of power and privilege in constituting the social
discourse about be LGB” (Saltzburg, 2007).
Narrative therapy, in regards to working with gay youth, gives
individuals within the family system, the ability to work on allowing
understanding for certain ideas that the client or the family may be
having (Saltzburg, 2007).

18. Identification & Resolution of Ethical Issues
An ethical issue that often comes up when a LGBT youth discloses sexual preference to
family members is the desire of the family to “fix” the individual, often seeking out some
type of conversion therapy. In 1973, The American Psychological Association removed
homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. Since then, there has been a shift from
conversion therapy to affirmative therapy, which encourages acceptance (Cramer, Golom,
LoPresto & Kirkley, 2008). Ethically, it’s not appropriate for a mental health provider to
treat homosexuality as a mental disorder, despite the desires and/or opinions of family
members or the individual.
Resolution of this issue comes when acceptance is achieved or at minimum, considered.
The family must understand that homosexuality is not something that can be treated and it
is merely a sexual preference, not the definition of an individual. The role of the mental
health professional is to help the family process through feelings and refocus on the
individual, rather than the label.

19. Recommendations for Supporting Basic Human
Rights
Cultural competency should be a goal of any service provider, despite their
own ethnic background. When there is a foundation of cultural competency,
professionals are able to understand and meet the needs of individuals in a
much more effective and inclusive way, where the client feels as though their
needs are being met, both therapeutically and culturally, thus promoting a more
successful outcome (National Institutes of Health, 2013).
It is important to empower the Hispanic population, to get them involved in the
betterment of their community, to educate them on their rights and promote
success among this highly vulnerable group, to give them a voice in the issues
that affect them directly (Scales, Benson & Roehlkepartain, 2011). Among this
community, there are individuals that have seen tremendous hardship, there is
strength that has gone unseen, there’s perseverance that has gone unnoticed.
There is a great deal of potential in this group to produce leaders, to produce
advocates for future generations, to facilitate change, but they cannot do it alone,
they need advocates now, they need support from their communities, they need
others to believe in them and see that potential in order to transition to that
position of strength within our communities.

20. References
Bitter, J. R. (2009). Theory and practice of family therapy and counseling. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Berdahl, T. & Torres-Stone, R. (2009). Examining Latino differences in mental healthcare use: The
roles of
acculturation and attitudes towards healthcare. Community Mental Health Journal, 45, 393403.
Boss, P. (2002). Family stress management: A contextual approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications.
Cheon, J. W. (2008). Best practices in community-based prevention for youth substance reduction:
Towards
strengths-based positive development policy. Journal Of Community Psychology, 461-479.
Cohler, B. J., & Hammack, P. L. (2007). The psychological world of the gay teenager: Social change,

21. References (continued)
Herek, G. M., & Gonzalez-RIvera, M. (2006). Attitudes Toward Homosexuality Among U.S. Residents of
Mexican
descent. The Journal of Sex Research, 43(2).
National Institutes of Health. (2013). Cultural Competency. Clear Communication: A NIH Health Literacy
Initiative.
MacArthur, J., Rawana, E. P., & Brownlee, K. (2011). Implementation of a Strengths-Based Approach in the
Practice of
Child and Youth Care. Relational Child & Youth Care Practice, 24(3), 6-16.
McCormick, K. M., Stricklin, S., Nowak, T. M., & Rous, B. (2008). Using eco-mapping to understand family
strengths and
resources. Young Exceptional Children, 11(17)
National Association of Social Workers. (2008). Code of ethics of the National Association of Social

22. References (continued)
Poulin, J. (2009). Strengths-based generalist practice: A collaborative approach. (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA:
Cengage
Learning, Inc.
Ryan , C., Russell, S. T., Huebner, D., Diaz, R., & Sanchez, J. (2010). Family acceptance in adolescence
and the health of
lgbt young adults. Journal of Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, 23(4), 205-213.
Saltzburg, S. (2007). Narrative therapy pathways for re-authorizing with parents of adolescents coming-out
as lesbian,
gay, and bisexual. Contemporary Family Therapy, 29, 57-69.
Scales, P., Benson, P., & Roehlkepartain, E. (2011). Adolescent Thriving: The Role of Sparks,
Relationships, and

23. References (continued)
Sermabeikian, P. (2002). Our clients, ourselves: The spiritual perspective and social work practice. Social
Work, 39(2),
178-183.
Shilo, G., & Savaya, R. (2011). Effects of Family and Friend Support on LGB Youths' Mental Health and
Sexual
Orientation Milestones. Family Relations, 60, 318-330.
Willoughby, B. L. B., Doty, N. D., & Malik, N. M. (2008). Parental reactions to their child's sexual orientation
disclosure:
A family stress perspective. Parenting Science and Practice, (8), 70-91.