Skip to main content
ABCT 2025 59th Annual Convention Main banner
Psychology Tools Ad
Final Program


Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Presentation Icons
Recorded Session
Recorded Session
Ticketed Session
Ticketed Session
Evaluation ViewAttendees 7

Panel Discussions

Parenting / Families

South Asian Communities from a Western Lens: Considerations for Navigating Family Relations and Mental Health Concerns Using Culturally-Responsive Methodologies

Panel Discussion 31 - South Asian Communities from a Western Lens: Considerations for Navigating Family Relations and Mental Health Concerns Using Culturally-responsive Methodologies

Sunday, November 23, 2025
10:00 AM - 11:30 AM CST
Location: Bolden 4, Level 2
Earn 1.5 Credit
Keywords: Families, Community-Identified Problems, Underserved Populations
Recommended Readings: Somerville, K. (2019). Intergenerational Relations and Gendered Social Surveillance of Second-Generation South Asians. Canadian Ethnic Studies 51(3), 95-115. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/ces.2019.0022,   Sharma, N., Shaligram, D., & Yoon, G. H. (2020). Engaging South Asian youth and families: A clinical review. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 66(6), 584-592. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764020922881,   Naeem, F., Khan, N., Sohani, N., Safa, F., Masud, M., Ahmed, S., Thandi, G., Mutta, B., Kasaam, A., Tello, K., Husain, M. I., Husain, M. O., Kidd, S. A., & McKenzie, K. (2024). Culturally Adapted Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CaCBT) to Improve Community Mental Health Services for Canadians of South Asian Origin: A Qualitative Study. Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie, 69(1), 54–68. https://doi.org/10.1177/07067437231178958,   ,  
South Asians represent one of the fastest-growing communities in the US, yet a significant gap remains in understanding how to effectively address their unique mental health needs using culturally responsive methodologies. Psychological theories and frameworks, predominantly developed within Western contexts, are often used to capture cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and interpersonal processes without adequately addressing their cultural relevance, leading to limited cultural adaptation. Additionally, the South Asian community is frequently treated as a homogeneous group, overlooking the complexities of family dynamics between parents and children across diverse sub-groups, including intergenerational and intercultural differences.

This panel will explore family dynamics within South Asian communities, focusing on the varying values held by individuals across different generations and levels of acculturation. The discussion will highlight both the strengths and challenges associated with prevalent collectivist values in these communities, while also examining the cultural limitations of Western theories and interventions, which are often rooted in individualist values. Panelists will introduce the Relational Ecological Model (Aggarwal et al., 2023) and discuss culturally adapted interventions for the South Asian community, including Culturally Adapted Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (Ca-CBT), Commit to You, and the South Asian Adapted Trauma Health Intervention (SAATHI). A dialectical approach will guide the discussion, with recommendations that emphasize individual differences to address the nuanced mental health needs of this community.

Panelists include practicing clinicians, faculty members, and students with lived experience and professional expertise in South Asian mental health, representing diverse backgrounds (e.g., age, caste, nationality, and immigration status) within the South Asian diaspora and bringing insights from academic, medical, and clinical settings. This panel will provide information and practical strategies for supporting members of the South Asian community in clinical practice, as well as future research directions to better address this community's mental health needs.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:
  1. Describe unique intergenerational and intercultural family dynamics that affect the mental health of South Asians living in the US and Canada.
  2. Discuss the cultural relevance of Western-based psychological theories and interventions for members of the South Asian community.
  3. Outline individual and group differences in values held by the South Asian community and explore the impact of these differences on mental health.
  4. Specify treatment recommendations that consider both the strengths and challenges of values and worldviews held by the South Asian community.
  5. Detail culturally adapted theories and interventions that address the intrapersonal and interpersonal needs of the South Asian community.
  6. Describe lived experiences of South Asian students and professionals from across the diaspora working in academic, medical, and clinical realms.