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Newspaper clipping of my great uncle Frank aka Hot Dog

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I am an Italian American. My paternal grandma Dolores Lisciandrello came to America when they were 9 years old. My grandpa and grandma both grew up in Chicago. My grandma's dad and her brothers were members of the Chicago Outfit. The Italian way has been a large part of my upbringing and values.

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just a few people in my family at Christmas

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I talked a bit about loyalty but having a big family is something I grew up with. I am comfortable in large settings with lots of noise and chaos. I have 5 aunts and 2 uncles on my dad's side, 16 1st cousins, and my cousins all together have 10 kids. All of these people get together every holiday at my grandpa's house so it is never quiet. This has made me a good public speaker.

My family had children generally young so growing up I didn't think it was bad having a baby as a teenager. My grandma was 17 when she had her first child, my aunt had her son at 14 and my other aunt was 15. I had my son at 18 years old and was pregnant during my senior year of high school. I think my family culture influenced this.

Something that has also impacted my family view is that I do not have much of a relationship with my Mom's side of the family. My mom's dad died when she was 9 and her mom when she was 13 so I never met them. She and her siblings were separated except for my uncle Danny and uncle Donny.

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Mental health is huge in my family and is a part of my values. This is because I was always taught to consider other's feelings and how their lives may differ from mine. I was taught to always respect someone until they give me a reason not to. My advantage to the psychology field is the diverse mental health disorders in my family. My Dad had schizophrenia and paranoia, my aunt has multiple personality disorder, my other aunt has bipolar disorder, my uncle has depression, and my other uncle has autism. My cousins also mostly have a mental health disorder including myself with bipolar type 1 and my sister with bipolar type 2. I have also experienced the suicide of both my uncle Donny on my mom's side in December 2006 and my dad in November of 2023. Due to being around mental health my whole life I am very accepting and enjoy learning why people are the way they are. I live by the golden rule people should treat others the way they want to be treated. Mental health is a huge part of my life for this reason and has shaped my largely into the person I am today.

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Growing up in a big family rooted in Italian values I have learned that I need to provide for my family. I have always been taught women are elegant, powerful, and independent. Today in Italy women have the same legal rights as men and have mainly the same jobs, business, and education opportunities. In Italy, women tend to have a higher level of schooling than men, and women tend to prefer university paths. My grandma would say "Flaunt what you got till you don't got it anymore" and I was taught to never put things in a man's name like bills or cars. I have very powerful women in my family and I am a powerful woman, I get told this frequently. I am told I'm intimidating from my Chicago/Italian accent and that I sound very confident. To me, I have learned women are the highest beings on earth and strong/resilient. I get called a feminist often but in my culture, this is the norm.

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I grew up in a very catholic family. All of my family including cousins went to catholic school. It was an interesting dynamic because my dad was very religious and my mom seemed to just go with it. My mom told me the only reason she got married and converted to the Catholic faith was that my dad's family pressured her as well as those in the church who looked down on her for having little old me as I was born out of wedlock. I went through my communion and remember I peed my pants in 1st grade I was so scared of confession. As I got older and my parents divorced we followed some traditions and not others. I have now brought these to my son making a new culture for our family!

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Loyalty has been a huge part of my life. I was always taught family comes first. No matter what they did like lie, steal, kill, harm doesn't matter; you protect your family. The idea was always centered around blood, and if someone did your family wrong you also had to be against them as you are always on your families side. Due to this there is no one I trust more in this world then my family.

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My family of 4 that I grew up with until 9

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My upbringing was ....well interesting and unlike many others I meet none the less it very much influenced my behavior today. The nature of my immediate family consisted of me, my sister who is 2 years younger, my mom, and my dad. My dad having schizophrenia created a shift in me that I think caused me to become very empathetic. My dad was off and on medication from my birth to my parents divorce when I was 9. My mom was the breadwinner while my dad watched us however he was also nocturnal due to his illness so we were unattended often. This was a big part in why I have a hard time trusting others to help me, my mom had no one and made it so why couldn't I do that. My mom reinforced in me I had to make sure I could survive on my own with no one else. Being preview to so much toxicity and narcissism when I was young shaped many of my behaviors today in being a fixer.