“Where are you from?” is a

question I’ve always dreaded.

Young Latinos Between Two CulturesYolanda Peña, MS.

Community Counselor

Each person write one

question on the piece of paper you want to know from people in this room. The questions can range from funny to serious.

Just Relax Before We Start

The answer is: I don’t know!

I was born in Caracas, Venezuela and lived in Venezuela until my family and I moved to Miami, Fla., when I was six. My formative years were spent in the United States so I am most familiar with American culture. To Latinos, I am not a “real” Latina. I’m a Gringa. To Americans, I am not a “real” American. I’m too brown.

Ana Maria Defillo

“Where are you from?” is a question I’ve always

dreaded.

TCKs

Stereotypes / discrimination:

http://www.latinodecisions.com/blog/2012/09/18/how-media-stereotypes-about-latinos-fuel-negative-attitudes-towards-latinos/

School dropout Poverty: http://

www.irp.wisc.edu/faqs/faq3.htm Culture Shock

Plus…..

Pressure To Be Bicultural

• Ambivalent situation for our young Latinos• Hispanic female teenagers have one of the

highest teen suicides rates in the United States• Stigma of mental illness• The Latino community also lacks mental health

professionals equipped to deal with its specific needs.

It’s hard because the things that our parents taught us,

they’re not the same as what our teachers or the things that are outside are teaching us right now, so we have to kind of live with it, we have to change but keep what our parents taught us in some way. [Fernandina]

Call it the friction of two cultures. There’s a friction between “I’m Mexican and I want my traditions to continue being valid” and “I’m American and I want my traditions also to continue being valid.” And when there’s no agreement between the two, that’s where the conflicts [with parents, teachers, and peers] begin.[Carlos]

Fernandina and Carlos’s Feelings

Pressure To Be Bilingual

http://users.elite.net/runner/jennifers/thankyou.htm

What Can You Do With This Information?

Questions or Comments?

http://www.latinodecisions.com/blog/2012/09/18/how-

media-stereotypes-about-latinos-fuel-negative-attitudes-towards-latinos/

http://www.irp.wisc.edu/faqs/faq3.htm http://

mhcaucus.napolitano.house.gov/reports/Critical_Disparities_in_Latino_Mental_Health.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3139460/ www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/07/2013721

7262714490.html

http://latina-voices.com/ www.pewhispanic.org http://users.elite.net/runner/jennifers/thankyou.htm http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3169195/

References