You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
First-generation, low-income (FGLI) students are striving to make achievements that were not available to their parents. In doing so, these students are transcending the circumstances of their birth to rise in social class and status. This involves losses related to the cultural traditions they were raised in, which occur while navigating the foreign and inhospitable environment of college, institutions which were designed and structured for continuing-generation students of middle- and upper-class backgrounds. The psychological needs of FGLI students must be met with a depth orientation which embraces the dynamic, fluid, and intersecting aspects of their identity and helps the student explore, understand, and move through emergent bicultural experiences. Utilizing three clinical discussions, I shall explore how first-generation, low-income college students contend with multiple struggles in school, including a developmental transition into a bicultural identity. These cases illustrate the complex interaction of multiple intersecting identities and existential challenges which lie beneath a student’s initial presenting concern when entering therapy, demonstrating the importance and impact of depth therapy.