Acculturation Therapy

Acculturation occurs when a person relocates to a new environment. It may be an unfamiliar topic for the majority of the world, but it is a meaningful one for so many.

Acculturation is exciting. It is trying new foods, learning new languages, visiting new places and making new friends. Acculturation is also disheartening. It is homesickness, language barriers, distance from family and social isolation.

Acculturation is a constant experience of “otherness”, an unavoidable feeling of loneliness. Acculturation is an identity compromise, a game of chess; what to guard against and what to sacrifice.

Acculturation is no longer uniquely experienced by immigrants, but also by the racial, sexual and gender minority groups. We live in a nation where “norms” are established based on ethnic hierarchies, and the ones who are different bear the burden of a one-way assimilation for the predominantly white, heterosexual, cisgender majority. This burden gets very heavy over time, and we come up with coping strategies to help us carry the burden. However, not all of these strategies are helpful.

Dr. Psyche is not only an immigrant herself with countless personal stories of acculturation, but also a published researcher in acculturation and acculturative stress. She is fully equipped to support you in your examination of your home culture and your exploration of your host culture, with a goal of creating your very own out of the best of your two worlds.