FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
The importance of family and the sense of well-being that comes from family connectedness is a core value that is shared by Latino cultures around the world. There are also norms, such as the man in the family being the primary bread winner, that differ significantly from those we share in the United States. As a result of these fundamental differences, it can be difficult for Latin immigrants to assimilate in America without experiencing emotional stress that sometimes leads to negative behavior like drinking or drug abuse.
Now the premiere Latino behavioral health and human services organization CLUES will release the first book to ever address these very important concerns, MY FAMILY, MY SELF: The Latino Guide to Emotional Well-Being (Hazelden Publishing; June 2014; $14.95). In the book, the experts at CLUES share success stories from several Latinos they have helped during their thirty years of community service, like Esperanza, who discovered that people labelled her simply as Mexican or Latina before getting to know who she was as a person when she first moved to the States. Now she sees her “bi-cultural” identity as a gift and a worthy challenge. In fact, she attributes her strong sense of self today to her experience living as a Mexican woman in the U.S.
MY FAMILY, MY SELF also offers guidelines and advice for what CLUES has determined are seven different areas that encompass the common problems shared by Latino families. They are:
- The challenging topic of personal identity
- Family and its support system
- Emotional harmony after experiencing intense, unfortunate events
- Alcoholism and addiction, including children and substance abuse
- Understanding financial stability such as budgeting and using credit
- Adapting as a first-generation immigrant and what it means to be “bi-cultural”
- Drawing strength from spirituality
MY FAMILY, MY SELF with a strong balance of story-telling mixed with guidelines learned from decades of experience, will help Latino immigrants feel more emotionally secure and grounded in their values as they build new lives immersed in American culture.
Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES) has been serving in Minnesota for over thirty years and is the leader in providing behavioral health and human services to the Latino community. Its chemical health, mental health, employment, language, financial, and other human services under its family-coordinated care model have set national standards for working with multicultural populations.
ABOUT HAZELDEN BETTY FORD FOUNDATION:
The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation helps people reclaim their lives from the disease of addiction. It is the nation’s largest nonprofit treatment provider, with a legacy that began in 1949 and includes the 1982 founding of the Betty Ford Center. With 15 sites in California, Minnesota, Oregon, Illinois, New York, Florida, Massachusetts, Colorado and Texas, the Foundation offers prevention and recovery solutions nationwide and across the entire continuum of care for youth and adults. It includes the largest recovery publishing house in the country, a fully-accredited graduate school of addiction studies, an addiction research center, an education arm for medical professionals and a unique children’s program, and is the nation’s leader in advocacy and policy for treatment and recovery.