The United States has a long history of advocating policies of both extermination and assimilation of Native peoples. This historical context provides an important backdrop for understanding issues of trust/mistrust and the impact of acculturation on Native Americans who often find they have to reconcile 2 cultures. Therefore, counselors must assess a Native American client's level of acculturation rather than making assumptions based on the limited information offered by appearance or other personal characteristics. The Native American Acculturation Scale is presented as an operationalized means of formally or informally assessing a Native American client's cultural identity.One day a long time ago, my father was up in the Smoky Mountains with his grandfather, learning some of the Ways from the old man. They had walked way up into the mountains where they could gather certain herbs and other special things only found in sacred places that are closer to Galunlati (the Sky World). Grandfather was instructing my father to collect certain things as they went and to carry everything that they had found. But this became increasingly more difficult because he only had so many pockets or other places in which to carry things and it became more and more difficult to walk with so much stuff. But the old man was walking along easily and just kept finding more things for them to carry back. Pretty soon, my fathers hands and arms were full and all his pockets too. He was completely loaded down with all of these things and had nowhere else to put anything. But Grandfather just kept on going. Suddenly, the old man spotted a very special stone that was rather large. He asked my father to pick it up, telling him that it was very important, and kept on walking. But my father, who could not pick up the special stone, answered in frustration, But Grandfather, my hands are full . . . The old man spun around and smiled cleverly. Then I guess youll just have to drop something, he said, and kept on going.T he United States consists of one of the most diverse populations in the world. The once popular notion of America as the great melting pot has given way to a growing awareness of the truly diverse and multicultural nature of this pluralistic society (Atkinson, Morten, & Sue, 1993).In the past 20 years, the United States has experienced social, cultural, and demographic changes that continue to shape the nature of American society as a population of many peoples (Herring, 1995). However, historical factors continue to act as a powerful influence on the worldviews and experiences of Native American people. Native American clients represent varying degrees of acculturation that must be assessed by understanding better an individual clients cultural identity. The purpose of this article is to (a) describe the process of acculturation experienced by many Native American people, (b) present a structured format for formally or informally assessing the level of acculturation of Native American clients, and (c) discuss implications for counse...

The adaptation concerns of families of people with head injuries were investigated by administering the Family Adaptation Concerns Questionnaire (FAQ) to 82 primary caregivers of persons with head injuries recruited through the Georgia Head Injury Association. Respondents cited the following as family adaptation strengths: (a) encouragement and support from friends; (b) positive family outlook; (c) availability of a family support group; and (d) family unity, loyalty, and cooperation. Primary family adaptation problems identified included: (a) lack of respite, (b) unavailability of vocational and rehabilitation services, (c) minimal assistance for meeting day-to-day head injury-related needs, (d) inappropriate living situations for the family member with the head injury, and (e) emotional and behavioral problems in the member with the injury. These findings form the basis of a consumer-driven action agenda for public policy, practice, and long-term service provision designed to promote positive family adaptation to head injury.