"I so thoroughly enjoyed your class and I thought the textbook was excellent. The autobiographies were extremely beneficial to me as jumping off points to explore multicultural terms and concepts. Your fair selection of individuals, with such varied and complex backgrounds, made it impossible for any of us to fall into pet political or ideological paradigms - right or left.Thank you again for such a good learning experience."
—Victoria Herbert, student at Claremont University


"I really liked the textbook. The story format is superb because it allows you enter into ideas and concepts experientially. This tends to make them much more comprehensible and enduring than definitions or third person explanations. It also greatly increased my empathy for certain populations. Rachel′s story about the transgender child was extremely powerful in this regard. Finally, stories have a strong convincing quality. It′s hard to argue with someone′s experience."
—Stephen Schubert

"I liked it. I actually enjoyed reading it which I can′t always say about grad school textbooks. I thought that it was easy to read and follow. It gave valuable background information which tied in history and current events well. This allowed me to more clearly understand society as a whole. I really liked the vignettes-looking at people′s experiences from different cultures, backgrounds, etc... it enabled me to better understand where people were coming from and their wordviews. It gave thorough descriptions of groups, theories, and sociology/psychology concepts. This helped me to better understand people′s struggles.
—Julie Mcshane

"I actually thought it was one of the better textbooks I′ve had in the program specifically because of the life stories. I always think case studies are very effective because your learning is within a real life context rather than relying on just theories and then trying to apply those theories to actual situations…which can be difficult."
—Lorraine Hayes, Northeastern Illinois University

Story is one of the most powerful ways to creating meaning. This collection of life stories offers compelling narratives by individuals from different races, ethnic groups, religions, sexual orientations, and social classes. By weaving these engaging stories with relevant theoretical topics, this unique textbook provides deeper levels of understanding on how cultural factors influence identity, personality, worldview, and mental health. Using a content-theme analysis, Dimensions of Multicultural Counseling: A Life Story Approach allows readers to easily grasp the relationship between multiple dimensions and the formation of identity.  

Key Features and Benefits


Combines theory and practice as each life story is followed by a clinical applications section, which contain practical ideas for working with clients who have similar stories 
Allows for easy classroom assignments since each section in the book can be read independently
Devotes full chapters to topics not found in other textbooks: Oppression and Resilience; Sexual Orientation; Multicultural Theory
Offers useful toolbox activities, which gives students additional resources for further exploration

Praise for the authors′ precursory work:

"Culture and Identity: Life Stories for Counselors and Therapists is a brilliant revolution in our way of looking at culture and identity through an understanding of diverse people′s diverse life stories. Reading each character′s story helps us learn how distinct each individual life is and how rich and diverse our world is. It packs rich and diverse information derived from firsthand, and intimate stories."  – PsycCritiques

Also available with this book
An Instructor′s Resource CD with supplemental materials for each chapter and a helpful internet study site  including podcasts and videos offer further opportunities that examine and apply this mosaic of rich subject matter.            

Intended Audience

This core text may be used in upper level undergraduate in multicultural counseling, psychology, social work, marriage and family therapy, and human services as well as a text for advanced and doctoral courses on multicultural issues. A valuable resource for understanding cultural factors in clinical work, it will enhance the clinical skills of mental health providers who work with diverse client populations.