Self-acceptance can be thought of as something that is easily defined. Self-acceptance means we, as individuals, accept all of who we are. This means not only the good aspects but also the negative, such as our mistakes and our shortcomings. Self-acceptance is important because it gives us the confidence and trust we need to believe in ourselves and aids in our abilities to withstand hardships. Self-acceptance means acknowledging our strengths and weaknesses while understanding that both can coexist and play an important role in who we are as individuals.

Something easily defined, however, can be hard to achieve. Many of us struggle with self-acceptance because we may dwell on our mistakes, compare ourselves to others, or think negatively about the situations we’re in. Something that may help many of us achieve self-acceptance involves Mindfulness.

Mindfulness entails being aware of our environment or situation we’re in, meaning we’re engaged and present. Remaining aware and attentive to our body’s physical state of being as well as our emotional state is also important.

Mindfulness objectives that can help us improve our self-acceptance:

1.      the ability to view both objects and situations from multiple perspectives

2.      the ability to shift perspectives depending upon context

So, what does this mean and how is it useful for self-acceptance? In order for us to accept ourselves, we have to stop putting so much emphasis on our shortcomings or mistakes. When we mess up, instead of panicking or dwelling on it, we can shift our perspective. We can acknowledge that we have made an error, we got something wrong, but instead let’s try to remain calm and think, “what can I do to fix this?” or “can this be fixed?” If it is something that is out of our control, let’s take that into consideration too and maybe think “I messed up this time, but now I know what to do the next time.” Shifting of perspective and viewing the situation as separate from who you are as a person are both ways in practicing mindfulness in our everyday lives.

In addition to shifting perspectives, paying attention to our emotions and how our body reacts to certain situations matters. So, let’s think our ourselves as a “work in process” instead of focusing only on the negatives. Being aware of all our qualities, both the positive and negatives, and being genuine in how we present ourselves, can aid in our self-acceptance too. We can acknowledge and always learn from our experiences, and this can help us practice mindfulness every day and hopefully lead to self-acceptance.

—Liliana Campos

Strong social networks are essential for our mental health and overall well-being, and there are many forms of social support that can assist us in our everyday lives.

The four types of social support are:

• Emotional support consists of the support we are most likely to receive from our friends and family, this form of support involves a great deal of love, trust, and care (Guruge et al., 2015).

• Instrumental can be viewed as the actions or assistant you receive from others that may help you in some way.

• Informational support comes in the form advice you may receive from others, which can range from a doctor’s advice to advice or suggestions from people you know.

• Appraisal support can be thought of as the feedback and encouragement you receive from the people in your life.

Lack of social support or social networks can increase stress levels and be harmful for our mental health. This may especially be the case for many immigrant women because they may be more at risk of depression or postpartum depression if they have no social support/networks.

Lack of social support may even add on to additional obstacles they face such as:

• being separated from existing social networks due to having moved away

• discrimination

• communication/language difficulties

• issues with securing employment

• access to services (government, medical, etc.)

• transportation

• inadequate child-care

• family issues

• having trouble adjusting to new living environment

Because immigrant women may be at greater risk for depression and postpartum depression, something as simple as:

• talking on the phone and offering emotional support as well as encouragement (appraisal support) can make a difference in preventing depression (Guruge et al., 2015).

• providing strong spousal support can also help lower the effects of post-partum depression probably because of the emotional and instrumental support they may provide. So, help your partner in any way you can!

Accessibility and Language Barriers:

We can’t underestimate the importance of understanding cultural differences in communication and language, because this can impact immigrant women’s access to necessary services that they and their families can benefit from, such as medical or government services (informational support).

Being aware of these language barriers could make it possible to provide more accurate written information to immigrant women in their language of comfort or through professional interpreters/translators.

Stigma

Because of cultural barriers, mental health is still very stigmatized in certain cultures, and the severity of that stigma can vary from culture to culture. This stigma can affect whether some immigrant women even ask for help to begin with, or whether they reach out to services that may aid their mental health. We should always keep that in mind when trying to provide support and assistance.

Why is this information important?

Because just being aware of the difficulties immigrant women face is the first step for change and improvement for the mental health and overall well-being of these women.

Social support may seem like something so easy or simple to achieve, but that isn’t true for everyone. It’s important to remember that all our experiences are different and so many factors go in to shaping our daily lives.

Keep in mind that all forms of social support lower the risk or effects of depression for immigrant women and are necessary for their overall well-being.

— Liliana Campos