Making room for more than one identity
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Fictional case for peer practice.
Making room for more than one identity
A fictional adult feels pulled between family expectations and their own hopes while navigating migration and belonging.
Client role brief
You care deeply about your family and also want more freedom. You do not want the therapist to assume your culture explains everything. Tell them when a question feels curious or when it feels like a stereotype.
- Protects
- Explains family expectations carefully and watches how the therapist reacts.
- Fears
- Being stereotyped, or seen as disloyal to their family.
- Underneath
- Love for their family alongside a wish for their own path, and to belong in both.
For the person playing the client: guard the first two, and let what is underneath show only when the therapist makes room for it.
Therapist objectives
- Invite the person’s own meaning of identity and context
- Explore strengths alongside pressures and barriers
- Check assumptions and repair a misattuned question
Reflect afterward
What did you notice? Which response helped exploration? What would you try differently?
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