1. EDUCATIONAL PRESENTATION ON ENGLISH-SPEAKING CARIBBEANS ETHEL E. ROYER HMS GRADUATE STUDENT UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT SPRINGFIELD ©MAY 2010 1

2. AUDIENCE Master’s level human services students at the University of Illinois at Springfield, Illinois. 2

4. To generate awareness of professionals to their mental health challenges.

5. To identify strategies that will promote multicultural competency with this ethnically diverse group.3

6. MULTICULTURALISM Multicultural competence is a term used to describe one’s ability to provide services effectively among many cultures. Cultural competence is described in terms of the individual and an organization’s ability to understand, respect, and effectively serve those in their societies who are culturally different (NOHS, 1996; Lynch & Hanson, 1998; Diller, 2007) 4

7. MAP 5

8. OVERVIEW OF CARIBBEAN 6 (West Indies, 2010)

10. Antigua/Barbuda

11. The Bahamas

12. Barbados

13. British Virgin Islands

14. Cayman Islands

15. Dominica

16. Grenada

17. Jamaica

18. Montserrat

19. St. Kitts/Nevis

20. St. Lucia

21. St. Vincent/Grenadines

22. Trinidad & Tobago

23. Turks & Caicos Islands(Hanratty, 1989) 7

25. Ciboneys

26. Arawaks

27. Kalinago or Caribs

28. 1400s – Arrival of the Spaniards

29. 1500s – Arrival of the African slaves.

30. 1600s – Arrival of the Dutch, English, and French.

31. 1800s – Arrival of Chinese/Indian indentured laborers.

32. 1800s (late)– United States entrance to the region.

33. 1889 - Spain lost her last possession to America in the Spanish/American War.

34. 1960s – 1980s - Most British possessions gained independence 8 (Honychurch, 2006; Hanratty, 1989)

36. Customs influenced by African, Spanish, British, French, Dutch, Asian, and American cultures

37. 80% of the population is of African descent on most islands (except Trinidad where the ratio is equal to East Indians)

38. Other parts of the populations include: European whites, Chinese, Lebanese, Amerindian, mulattoes, and mixed.

39. Majority of the population are Christians

40. Other religions are Hindu, Rastafarianism, Muslim, and unidentified (Gopaul-McNicol, 1993; Central Intelligence Agency, 2010) 9

42. No dominant language

43. Most speak dialects that are a combination of two or more languages (Gopaul-McNicol, 1993; Central Intelligence Agency, 2010) 10

44. FAMILY 11

46. They migrate to the United States voluntarily for economic and education reasons and maintains ties with their island of origin.

47. In1755 Alexander Hamilton of Nevis was the first official record of migration; he became Washington’s Chief of Staff, an architect, and the first Secretary of the Treasury. (Gopaul-McNicol, 1993) . 12

49. The largest group is found in New York, accounting for 1/3 of the immigrant population. Other resettlement cities include: Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, and Washington DC(Potocky-Tripodi, 2002) .13

51. Serial: One or both parents migrate, later to be joined by other family members. This arrangement may last many years.

52. Parental: Only parents migrate. Children are left behind permanently often times for education purposes. There are frequent visits between parties.

53. Family: The entire family migrates together. (Crawford-Brown and Rattray, 2002) 14

55. Mental health: Viewed as punishment for wrong doing or revenge. Family will seek help from support systems or spiritual leaders.

56. Language: although English is the primary language, most speak other dialects.

57. Education: a challenge for both the student and educator in U.S public schools, due to differences in language, accent, learning/teaching styles, misidentification, and so on.15

59. Avoid imposing personal world views upon them.

60. Determine how clients identify themselves rather than assume (Canino and Spurlock, 2000).

61. Learn about the client’s country of origin, family structures, customs, and reason for migration, challenges, and coping strategies. (Pottinger and Brown, 2006)

62. Avoid labeling. The majority of human services professionals are of European descent. To Caribbeans, Europeans have a history of labeling dating back from the indigenous people who first occupied the region, to reclassification when they migrate to the United States

63. Embrace similarities and respect differences. 16

65. To be effective among English-speaking Caribbeans, professionals need to take advantage of their support networks. That may include other family members, distant relatives, friends, spiritual leaders, cultural groups, and so forth.

66. Group therapy can be very effective to address the whole family network.

67. Use scales of measures specially designed to meet their needs.17

69. Did the migrants come from rural or urban backgrounds?

70. Do race, skin color, and educational background have any significance in this family? Explain.

71. Are there intercultural/ethnic marriages in this family? If so, how were these marriages accepted in the family?

72. What range of education is represented in this family?

73. Who was/is the most influential person in this family? Why? (NCCC, n.d.)18

75. What important generational differences in terms of women’s and men’s roles exist?

76. What do members of the family do when someone is ill? What kinds of treatments are used, traditional and modern?

77. How are older members of this family treated differently from younger members, if at all?

78. What languages are spoken in this family? How many and who are dominant in a language other than English? How many and who speak only English? What part has language played in the relationships among people in your family? (NCCC, n.d.) 19

79. CONCLUSION It is my hope that the questionnaire, and this presentation has generated awareness, increase knowledge and understanding about English-speaking Caribbeans, and have improved the multicultural competency of master’s level human services students. 20

81. CIA. (2010). Central Intelligence Agency. The world factbook. Retrieved February 28, 2010 from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html.

82. Crawford-Brown, C. & Rattray, J. M. (2002). Parent-child relationships in Caribbean families. New York: Columbia University Press.

83. Diller, J. V. (2007). Cultural diversity: A primer for human services (3rd Ed.). Belmont, CA: Thompson Higher Education

84. East, G. (2009). Caribbean Americans closer to getting category on census form. South florida sun sentinel. Retrieved December 7, 2009, from http://swdb.berkeley.edu/resources/Census_News/2009/Caribbean_Americans_04_29_09 .htm

85. Evans, H., & Davies, R. (1996). “Overview Issues in Child Socialization in the Caribbean.” In Caribbean Families: Diversity among Ethnic Groups, ed. J. L. Roopnarine & J. Brown Greenwich, CT: Ablex.

86. Gopaul-McNicol, S. (1993). Working with West Indian Families. New York: Guilford Press.21

88. Honychurch, L. (2006). The caribbean people - 3. (3rd Ed.). Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes Ltd.

89. Lynch, E. W., & Hanson, M. J. (1998). Developing cross-cultural competence. (2nd Ed.). Baltimore, MA: Paul H. Brookes, Publishing Co.

90. National Organization of Human Services, (1996) Code of Ethics. Retrieved March 21, 2010, from, http://www.nationalhumanservices.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=89927&orgId=nohs

91. Potocky-Tripodi, M. (2002). Best practices for social work with refugees and immigrants. New York: Columbia University Press.

92. Pottinger, A. M. (2005). Children’s experience of loss by parental migration in inner city Jamaica. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 2005, 75 (4) 485-496.

93. Simcox D. (1995) The Caribbean Immigration Centrifuge: A potent of Continued Immigration Growth.

94. West Indies. (2010). West Indies map and information page. West Indies. Retrieved March 20, 2010 , from http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/caribb/special/westind.htm22