A Journey to the Past: Promoting Identity Development of African Americans Through Ancestral Awareness

Genograms are familiar tools used in counseling as a means to explore an individual’s family system. With advancements in technology, more sophisticated avenues have been introduced to further explore family systems, history, and ancestry. African Americans in particular benefit from these new enhancements as a means to explore core identity development. This article introduces the ancestral identity model which serves as a compass for counselors in exploring client identity development using familial and ancestral connections.