It’s not easy to come to the United States as an immigrant; harder as a political refugee; harder without money and harder still as a minority within a minority. It wasn’t an easy path for a 14 year old thrust into a strange environment, but tenacity paid off and Dr. Bosch is now an internationally-recognized authority on post-traumatic stress. Isora’s experience as a black Cuban woman has provided her with increased sensitivity to the cultural aspects of traumatic experiences. She feels that
the difficulties we face because of our race in some cases and our ethnicity in others may create a great deal of confusion in regard to our sense of identity. This often leads to feelings of isolation, sadness, low self-esteem, fears of closeness and sometimes the inability to develop a sense of sisterhood with other women of color.
She realized that mental health professionals often overlook race and ethnicity and therefore miss areas where clients need help. Isora later put this knowledge to good use as she became the only mental health professional to successfully help the survivors of the Happy land fire in the Bronx. She understood that this primarily Honduran population would only be open to help linked to their religious and cultural beliefs and involved both the Church and local Santeria practitioners to reach out to the families.
Isora’s family came to the United States as political refugees long before the Mariel immigration. Although her father had been a banker and her mother a teacher, they arrived with nothing and had to start from scratch. Isora recalls making an arrangement for herself with an Italian bakery to get their leftovers,taking the principal into giving her a bus pass, haunting church bins for clothing and sifting through piles of shoe samples to find something that matched.
Her family had always stressed the importance of education, so Isora, despite limited fluency in English, managed to stay on the honor roll in school and eventually to receive a masters degree in Industrial Psychology and a doctorate in Adult Learning and Leadership, and, later, an masters in Clinical Social Work.
Although Isora likes to consider herself as retired, new projects keep flowing to her. For the past decade, she has been actively involved in providing stress management services to individuals affected by the events of 9/11.
Isora has never shied away from a challenge. And she never misses the opportunity for an adventure or a moment of pleasure. She’s organized trips to Portugal and Holland to celebrate her birthday. She’s likely to pull out her guitar and entertain party-goers with Flamenco songs.
In celebrating Isora, I celebrate all the women who never give up; who keep trying; who take risks; who speak up. In this week, as we remember the events of 9/11, it seems to be appropriate to recognize all the people who are still are helping others deal with the aftermath. And as we look ahead, it makes me feel inspired to know that tenacity pays off.