Running Head: Cultural Background Paper 2
Abstract
This paper will examine the background of my parents, especially my familial culture and
how this background impacts me both personally and professionally as a counselor. I will
explore how my cultural background influenced the family system patterns found in my family
of origin, my identity development, and the role of culture and social justice in my counseling
theoretical perspective.
Keywords: culture, social justice, advocacy, personal
Personal Background and Identity
I am a 52-year-old Caucasian female. Up until this assignment, I had a modest grasp on
my family’s culture and ethnicity, and I never thought much of it. I have always looked at myself
as a middle-class white female. My father was a Special Agent for the US Border Patrol, my
mother was a jack of all trades and a housewife. My father was of Cherokee and French
European descent. My mother was of German/Irish descent. My Aunt Joyce (my father’s sister)
has traced down a great deal of our heritage and has become a member of the Daughters of the
American Revolution as of late. She is the reason I became interested at all in discovering my
heritage, and I am happy to undertake this assignment.
Growing up, I was exposed early to multiculturalism through my father’s work as a US
Border Patrol Agent. He spoke fluent Spanish, and we would often travel to Mexico on weekend
family trips. I asked him why he chose the Border Patrol as his profession, and he said he did it
to help keep drugs out of the country and to help keep children safe. It wasn’t until I was much
older that I understood that he was working directly with the FBI and the DEA creating and
manning taskforces for the prevention of drug smuggling and human trafficking.
Running Head: Cultural Background Paper 3
My mother was noted for her hot temper. I can still remember the explosive outbursts and
hearing glass, plates and pottery shatter as it hit the wall to which her fury had sent it. Don’t
misunderstand, she wasn’t that way all the time. She was pretty reserved, until the scales got
tipped by that one last pebble. Mom was (and still is) a very organized and hard worker. She was
quick to laugh and make jokes, got very quiet if she was upset, and exploded if she was really
hurt or was pushed too far. Until I read McGoldrick, I just thought that’s the way she was. I had
no idea that this was a cultural phenomenon. It’s interesting to me that I look at other cultures
and ethnicities with great interest, but I never bothered to really explore my own; I guess that’s
why it’s called a blind spot.
I never really had a problem with culture. I always figured people were people, and if I
was good to them, they’d be good to me. The first negative experience I had based on culture and
or racism didn’t happen until 2017. I was working as a nurse in Barrow, Alaska, and one of the
women got angry with me for something and called me a “white girl”. I was taken aback by it,
and at that point, just for a moment, I began to wonder why. I’m ashamed to say that it’s not until
this class and this assignment that the spark to dig deeper has been noticed.
Story telling in my family, especially about family history, is one of my fondest
memories. My father and my Aunt Joyce (his sister) would sit for hours and tell family stories.
Recounting the lives of those who came before us, and we would often drive through the
graveyard where the story telling would somehow seem to make me feel closer to those who we
were talking about. I was talking to my husband about this assignment, and I realized that I think
my family is the only one I have ever encountered that tells stories and passes down family
history, legacy, and experiences verbally. Now that I am thinking about it, it’s fascinating.
Running Head: Cultural Background Paper 4
I can remember taking vacations to the most obscure places over the summer with my
family. We’d travel to towns that were made up of a gas station. No stores, no restaurants, just
the gas station. My dad loved history, especially cowboys and Native Americans. We’d visit Old
Tombstone, Old Tucson, Native American villages in the southwest. His favorite place to drive
through and camp in was the Painted Desert. I could see a particular kind of peace come over
him there was singular to that place. I am not one hundred percent sure why he felt such a
connection to it, but I am honored to have been able to witness such sacred moments. It was
wonderful. Now, looking back from where I’m standing. I’m so thankful for my culture.
My Aunt Joyce has become somewhat of the keeper of the family history, and during my
preparation time for this paper, I was able to interview her about what the culture was like in
their childhood home, and I took that information, and it brought greater understanding to the
culture in my own childhood home.
During the interview, I learned that the primary cultures in dad’s family were Cherokee
and French. His grandmother was Cherokee, and his grandfather was French European. This
makes so much sense now as I cannot think of any other families in my childhood that passed on
verbal history the way my father’s side of the family did. As I read about Franco American
culture, the two came together like tributaries of a river. says that Franco Americans desire to
have warm, supportive families and that when it comes to problem solving, they prefer practical
was to do so like Cognitive Behavioral therapy.
Family is very important to Cherokee and to Franco Americans and in fact, Native
Americans and Franco Americans have a long history of having families together. I am proud to
be a part of that heritage. I looked up Cherokee culture, but there is not much there. Just
Running Head: Cultural Background Paper 5
generalized information, but it still fits my dad’s character very much. I look forward to learning
more, and perhaps I have family still living in the Cherokee Nation.
I called mom and spoke to her as preparation for this assignment as well. Her mom was
Irish, and her father was German. Grandpa and grandma raised 8 children during the Great
Depression, and he was faithful, stoic, hardworking man. Grandma was the glue that held the
family together, and her domain was the domestic side of things – keeping the house in order,
taking care of the kids, cooking, cleaning, and if a paying job came her way, she did it.
Mom shared a story of when she was a freshman in high school. She asked grandma what
she did with all the free time she had when grandpa and the rest of the kids had gone to school.
Grandma offered to show her, and mom said she had never worked so hard in all her life. She
was up when grandma got up, well before her normal time to get ready for school. Together, they
cleaned the house from top to bottom, washed dishes, got the preparations for dinner ready,
washed clothes and hung them out on the line to dry, and all of this for a large family. Mom said
she gained a whole new respect for grandma that day and never again asked about free time.
This experience and the other information mom shared with me is well reflected in my
reading. Her Germanic roots were reflected in the way she cleaned and handled tasks so
efficiently. It also holds true in the way she raised my siblings and I. She had a hard time
transitioning her parenting style when we became teenagers. Spankings and threats no longer
worked, so she adapted, and we wound up with extra chores, and loss of privileges when we
chose to ignore her attempts to parent us. On the flip side, when we did well and made good
choices, we were rewarded in some way.
I found in my reading, that in my culture on my dad’s side, practical behavioral solutions
are sought after, and we respond well to CBT. I suppose that explains my interest in it. It’s a
Running Head: Cultural Background Paper 6
cultural tendency. “Therapy with Franco American families has a fairly predictable profile:
Crisis brings a need for practical behavioral solutions. We recommend cognitive-behavioral
therapy with set goals. The therapist, by appealing to Franco Americans’ sense of duty, and their
desire to have a warm and supportive family, will in time be able to engage clients in cooperative
problem solving, emotional reeducation, and the development of effective coping strategies.
Therapeutic success with Franco American families should be measured according to tangible
behavioral change and insight or psychic restructuring; the latter is increasingly valued by the
younger generation of clients and by all those who are psychologically sophisticated”
(McGoldrick et al., 2005, p. 553).
In mom’s family, kids were raised on structure. Open expression of emotion was not
something that was encouraged when she was growing up, and everyone had a job. I can see
mom in my reading “We encounter clients who describe their German parents’ love as
demonstrated through dedication to providing practical support and comforts to their children”
(McGoldrick et al., 2005, p. 564). Mom also shared with me some painful things. She said that
when grandma was put on hospice, her siblings got together without her and began to divvy up
grandma’s things. When mom found out she was appalled and immediately went to protect her
mom, and after the funeral, she didn’t speak to any of her siblings for years. I can see the
reflection of her pain when McGoldrick writes, “German families can have an either– or quality
to it. Parents or children may give up their contact with each other altogether, rather than
experience the conflict of negotiating differences” (McGoldrick et al., 2005, p. 565).
On the other side of the house, is the Irish side of mom’s culture. It is not unheard of for
Irish families to be very loyal to their own, but if a betrayal is suffered, they will “cut off
relationships totally” (McGoldrick et al., 2005). Mom is fiercely loyal, but if she feels like she
Running Head: Cultural Background Paper 7
has been betrayed, then that someone is excommunicated. Apparently, in the Irish culture,
dealing with issues is a very difficult thing to do, and so humor is used to ease the blows, and
alcohol is often used as a salve (McGoldrick et al., 2005). Mom was a teetotaler, however, until
just a few years ago when she decided to have a small celebratory drink now and then, and that’s
usually when I come to see her on holidays, we’ll have some fruity little cocktail over a game of
cards in the evening after supper.
As a registered nurse, I have had the privilege of working with hundreds of people from a
myriad of cultures, ethnicities, and backgrounds. Looking at multiculturalism and diversity in
this way, from the inside out, has given me a new appreciation for how important it is to know
and honor my own heritage as well as those of other people. It is vitally important to make sure
the playing field is level for and available to everyone who would like to be on it.
Running Head: Cultural Background Paper 8
References
ACA. (2014). ACA 2014 code of ethics. ACA 2014 Code of Ethics.
https://www.counseling.org/resources/aca-code-of-ethics.pdf
Cherokee Nation. (2024). Culture. Cherokee Nation Culture. https://www.cherokee.org/about-
the-nation/culture/
Cotter, E., & Rose, J. (2024, April 1). Dad’s Roots. personal.
Cotter, E., & Runyan, K. (2024, April 1). Mom’s Roots. personal.
Hays, D. G., & Erford, B. T. (2023). Developing multicultural counseling competence: A systems
approach. Pearson Education Inc.
McGoldrick, M., Giordano, J., & GarcJa-Petro, N. (2005). Ethnicity & Family therapy. The
Guilford Press. 2024, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liberty/detail.action?
docID=406015.
THE HUGUENOT SOCIETY OF AMERICA. (2024). Huguenot history. Seal of the Huguenot
Society of America. https://www.huguenotsocietyofamerica.org/history/huguenot-
history/
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