Mixed Blessings: A Guide to Multicultural and Multiethnic Relationships, written by two intercultural psychotherapists with over fifty years experience between them, explores romance and relationships across cultures, and gives practical guidance on that can be used at home.

Due to globalization, technology and the ease of 21st century travel, multicultural and multiethnic marriages have exploded worldwide. The US leads the world as the country with the most diverse population (more ethnicities, religious practices, and languages spoken in the home) with Brazil a close second. There has been a 28% rise in the number of multiethnic couples in the United States in the past decade, and over 15% of all new marriages in 2010 were between spouses of different races/ethnicities. Little, however, has been written about the challenges of navigating a relationship that has roots in multiple cultures.

For the first time, two leading mental health professionals have partnered to broaden and deepen the discussion of multicultural impact on relationships. Mixed Blessings: A Guide to Multicultural and Multiethnic Relationships goes beyond exploring racial/ethnic differences to include the effects of migration, appearance, social class, spiritual/religious and cultural practices on modern individual, couple and family dynamics.

Tips from their book, Mixed Blessings, reveal:

• what questions to ask yourself when friction arises in your multicultural relationship;
• how to handle the stress of being in a family that may not welcome your differences;
• strategies to handle people that stare at you and your partner wondering about you;
• guidance for couples dealing with social class differences in their families of origin
• insights for professionals who work across cultures, and anyone who may have multicultural loved ones.

Mixed Blessings: A Guide to Multicultural and Multiethnic Relationships is a new book written by marriage and family therapists Rhoda Berlin and Harriet Cannon, who have between them over fifty years of professional experience specializing in multicultural relationships. Mixed Blessings explores the multicultural experience and gives practical guidance on what this can mean and how it can impact people’s lives and relationships in subtle and often unnoticed ways.

Harriet and Rhoda are available for presentations to community groups, educational institutions, as well as professional health care and other professional organizations. For further details about Mixed Blessings or presentations on multicultural and multiethnic relationships, please contact:

Harriet Cannon: ph 206.780.3843 Rhoda Berlin: ph 206.919.5771
Email: mixedblessingsllc@gmail.com www.mixed-blessings.com

Harriet Cannon, M.C., LMFT, LMHC and Rhoda Berlin, M.S., LMFT invite FIGT educators, intercultural trainers and other interested members to join us in Umbria, Italy June 24-29th 2014 for a seminar 'The Migration Story: Exploring the Heart of Multicultural Life in Therapy. For more information and to register see www.italyseminars.com