From Culture Shock to Cultural Capability: Utilising the Tree of Life

Ohana Support - Powered by Consulting and Soulutions CIC.

Moving between cultures—whether through migration, study, work, or forced displacement—can be enriching and disorienting. This experience is often called culture shock, a psychological and emotional response to unfamiliar social norms, values, and environments. At Ohana Support, we believe that this disorientation does not have to lead to disconnection. Instead, it can be the starting point for cultural capability: a deeper, embodied understanding of self and others that leads to mutual respect, adaptation, and growth.

What is Culture Shock?

Culture shock is more than homesickness. It can affect people physically, mentally, and emotionally. People may feel overwhelmed, excluded, confused, or judged. Everyday activities can suddenly seem difficult, and the lack of cultural cues or community support can lead to isolation, withdrawal, or even mental health challenges.

For many young people arriving at boarding schools or universities, or adults entering UK workplaces from different global contexts, the impact of culture shock is often underestimated. But it doesn’t have to end there.

From Shock to Capability

Cultural capability goes beyond tolerance or diversity quotas. It is about becoming able to engage with, learn from, and work alongside others across cultural boundaries—while staying rooted in one’s own cultural identity.

At Ohana Support, we use the Tree of Life as a reflective and healing framework to guide this journey.

Utilising the Tree of Life

The Tree of Life is a therapeutic and narrative-based model used to help individuals reclaim identity, strength, and belonging.

Here’s how we apply it in a cultural context:

• Roots – Participants reflect on where they come from: their language, family values, spiritual beliefs, and traditions.

• Trunk – This represents strengths, skills, and knowledge that they carry—resilience built over time.

• Branches – Hopes, dreams, and aspirations for the future, including what kind of integration they seek in their new environment.

• Leaves – Significant people who support or have supported them, past or present.

• Fruits – The contributions they wish to share with others, their new communities, or the world.

  
  

Bridging Cultures in Practice

Our culturally capable mentoring and buddying programmes offer safe spaces for dialogue, storytelling, and cross-cultural understanding. Whether supporting young people in education or adults in employment, we help individuals grow into their environments with dignity, while also educating institutions to become more inclusive and culturally capable themselves.

By shifting the narrative from "fitting in" to "growing in," we promote healthier integration and a sense of belonging rooted in mutual respect.

Join us. Let’s move from cultural shock to capability—one tree, one story, one community at a time.

Ohana means family, and no one gets left behind.