PENT: Counselling

"Exploring Indigenous Social Justice is an edited text, comprising 17 chapters, in which Dr. John G. Hansen (Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Saskatchewan) has compiled an extensive, international, and impressive examination pertaining to the what, where, and how of Indigenous social justice issues" by Amazon Books

Aboriginal peoples in Canada have diverse cultures but share common social and political challenges that have contributed to their experiences of health and illness. This collection addresses the origins of mental health and social problems and the emergence of culturally responsive approaches to services and health promotion. Healing Traditions is not a handbook of practice but a resource for thinking critically about current issues in the mental health of indigenous peoples. Cross-cutting themes include: the impact of colonialism, sedentarization, and forced assimilation; the importance of land for indigenous identity and an ecocentric self; and processes of healing and spirituality as sources of resilience.

A thorough background to the developmental, cultural and special mental health needs of Native American Indian and Alaska Native clients is provided in this volume. The author′s practical guidance will enhance helping professionals credibility and the establishment of rapport when working with these client groups.

Eduardo Duran--a psychologist working in Indian country--draws on his own clinical experience to provide guidance to counselors working with Native Peoples. Translating theory into actual day-to-day practice, Duran presents case materials that illustrate effective intervention strategies for prevalent problems, including substance abuse, intergenerational trauma, and internalized oppression. Offering a culture-specific approach that has profound implications for all counseling and therapy, this groundbreaking volume: Provides invaluable concepts and strategies that can be applied directly to practice. Outlines very different ways of serving American Indian clients, translating Western metaphor into Indigenous ideas that make sense to Native People. Presents a model in which patients have a relationship with the problems they are having, whether these are physical, mental, or spiritual. Includes a section in each chapter to help non-American Indian counselors generalize the concepts presented to use in their own practice in culturally sensitive ways.

Floyd Twofeathers has always trusted his mom, a traditional healer, and his dad, hereditary chief of their band, to take care of the people on their reserve. But a lack of educational and career opportunities, medical support and counselling has left young people feeling that they have no future. As suicides pile up, Floyd finds that his friends and kids he knows are taking their own lives because they feel that they have no future ― but his father refuses to listen to Floyd's attempts to find a realistic solution. When Floyd's father is overwhelmed by the situation and succumbs to alcohol and depression, it is up to Floyd to turn around his community's descent into crisis before it's too late.

Set in a situation of suicide contagion among young people in Aboriginal communities, this novel follows one teenager's determined efforts to help his friends and his community find solutions.

American Indians have a cultural tradition which differs markedly from that of Western societies. Known as the Harmony Ethos, traditional (aboriginal) Indian cultures rely heavily on intragroup cooperation not only between humans but with all elements of nature. In contrast, Western societies tend to socialize their members to be competitive and independent regarding interpersonal relations while, at the same time, assuming a position of superiority regarding all other aspects of nature. This is known as the Protestant Ethic. Theories and techniques of counseling are, for the most part, grounded in the values of Western societies with therapists and counselors assuming that all their clients have been socialized within the Protestant Ethic. Unmodified, these clinical assumptions rarely apply to traditional American Indian clients. This book provides examples of culturally-relevant clinical adaptations as they apply to the largest Indian groups in the U.S.--the Navajo, Cherokee and Sioux. It also addresses the most severe mental disorders afflicting American Indians today--those of substance abuse and fetal alcoholism. This book provides historical and cultural foundations relevant to the traditional Navajo, Cherokee and Sioux, giving a basis for the culturally-specific clinical adaptations that are presented here. The unique therapy adaptations include cultural bibliotherapy for children and youth; a PanIndian synthesis of substance abuse therapy for Indian youth; survival therapy for Plains Indian adults and the use of the Navajo Beauty Way clinical model.

From the earliest settler policies to deal with the "Indian problem," to contemporary government-run programs ostensibly designed to help Indigenous people, public policy has played a major role in creating the historical trauma that so greatly impacts the lives of Canada's Aboriginal peoples. Taking Back Our Spirits traces the link between Canadian public policies, the injuries they have inflicted on Indigenous people, and Indigenous literature's ability to heal individuals and communities. Episkenew examines contemporary autobiography, fiction, and drama to reveal how these texts respond to and critique public policy, and how literature functions as "medicine" to help cure the colonial contagion.

Self-determination is on the agenda of Indigenous peoples all over the world. This analysis by an Indigenous feminist scholar challenges the United Nations-based human rights agendas and colonial theory that until now have shaped Indigenous models of self-determination. Gender inequality and gender violence, Dian Million argues, are critically important elements in the process of self-determination. Million contends that nation-state relations are influenced by a theory of trauma ascendant with the rise of neoliberalism. Such use of trauma theory regarding human rights corresponds to a therapeutic narrative by Western governments negotiating with Indigenous nations as they seek self-determination. Focusing on Canada and drawing comparisons with the United States and Australia, Million brings a genealogical understanding of trauma against a historical filter. Illustrating how Indigenous people are positioned differently in Canada, Australia, and the United States in their articulation of trauma, the author particularly addresses the violence against women as a language within a greater politic. The book introduces an Indigenous feminist critique of this violence against the medicalized framework of addressing trauma and looks to the larger goals of decolonization. Noting the influence of humanitarian psychiatry, Million goes on to confront the implications of simply dismissing Indigenous healing and storytelling traditions. Therapeutic Nations is the first book to demonstrate affect and trauma's wide-ranging historical origins in an Indigenous setting, offering insights into community healing programs. The author's theoretical sophistication and original research make the book relevant across a range of disciplines as it challenges key concepts of American Indian and Indigenous studies.

"Thirty years ago, in Wabanaki territory - a region encompassing the state of Maine and the Canadian Maritimes - a group of Native and non-Native individuals came together to explore some of the most pressing questions at the heart of Truth and Healing efforts in the United States and Canada. What price do we pay for the tragic, unresolved, and fraught relationship between generations of settlers and Indigenous peoples of the land? Can the divide be bridged and, if so, how? Meeting over several years in long-weekend gatherings, in a Wabanaki-led traditional Council format, assumptions were challenged, perspectives upended, and stereotypes shattered. Alliances and friendships were formed that endure to this day. The Gatherings tells the moving story of these meetings in the words of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants. Reuniting to reflect on how their lives were changed by their experiences and how they continue to be impacted by them, the participants share the valuable lessons they learned. Themes emerge, such as the mutual benefits that can be achieved by coming together; what meeting in a Talking Circle, surrounded by ceremony, taught the participants; and what Indigenous ways of knowing can teach us all. The participants were given a rare window into one another's lives and, in The Gatherings, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous readers may come to view one another with new eyes. The many voices represented in The Gatherings offer insights and strategies that can inform change at the individual, group, and systems levels. These voices affirm that authentic relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples - with their attendant anxieties, guilt, anger, embarrassments, and, with time, even laughter and mutual affection -- are key to our shared futures here in North America. Now, more than ever, it is critical that we come together to reimagine Indigenous-settler relations."-- Provided by publisher.

A message from Richard Kistabish, Chairman, Legacy of Hope Foundation -- A message from George Erasmus, Chairman, Aboriginal Healing Foundation -- A message from Ian Wilson, National Archives of Canada -- Where are the children? : healing the legacy of the residential schools, by Jeff Thomas, Iroquois (Onondaga) Guest curator -- Don't forget who you are (an interview with Shirley Williams) -- The Aboriginal Healing Foundation and the Legacy of Hope Foundation : helping people heal themselves in the aftermath of the residential school system.
Book for an exhibit which is the result of a partnership between the National Archives of Canada, the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and the Legacy of Hope Foundation. The electronic version is a virtual exhibition presenting photographs largely from public and church archival collections, from as early as 1880 to the 1960s.