Immigrant people have positive internal forces to survive in a new environment. Sometimes the symptoms of stress resulting from migration are mistakenly treated as symptoms of deeper psychopathology, particularly when cultural conflicts are part of the stress. Catholic Family Services offers counseling services for Hispanics which are sensitively tailored to fit into their patterns of relationships, enabling Hispanics to make a positive transition into the community and helping the community to accept and appreciate Hispanic cultural strengths. Stressful factors for Puerto Rican families include the inability to speak English or to read and write well in Spanish, change from a rural area to a new climate in an urban setting, the alienation caused by children's schools, and difficulties in employment. Counselors must accept the traditional family role structure and understand that the families do not see themselves as needing counseling. However, families may want help with concrete needs such as finding housing. Besides building a trust relationship with families, two types of groups have proved effective in helping Hispanics. The first type of group offers socialization skills training to children referred by schools, campus, or parents. The second type is an innovative group and outreach program for adults to help overcome stress and promote family and community bonding in newly arrived families of middle school aged children. Many families are able to reconnect with their own competence and resources; others use these groups as a bridge to traditional therapy. (ABL)