Decolonizing Healing Through Indigenous Ways of Knowing

The field of psychology is embarking on a process to interrupt the historical, colonial cycle of harm and beginning to work with and alongside Indigenous communities to understand the healing journey. From an Indigenous lens, healing incorporates more than the physical recovery; physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual healing exists through learning, which occurs along the healing journey. This healing journey has no definite beginning or end, and as we begin to move away from pathologizing healing to a strength-based healing process, the focus shifts to relationships—relationships with self, community, more-than-human, and the land. This chapter proposes that to decolonize Western healing processes, as a field, we must acknowledge the coexistence of learning during the healing journey. Building healing capacity through learning elucidates the understanding of the past, the needs of the present, and lays foundations for the future to work towards restoring integrity and prompting balanced care.

Depression Survivors Among Emerging Adults: Their Healing Journey

This qualitative study explored the healing process of depression survivors among emerging adults with effective coping strategies utilised by them. A semi-structured interview was conducted on participants aged between 18-28 years old. A theme narrating the experience of the depression survivors were identified: The journey of healing - Crawling out of the quicksand. The survivors emphasised that to achieve healing, everything starts from within the self, and they had been putting in a lot of their extra efforts in helping themselves heal. They all went beyond recovery, where their efforts illustrated their focus on healing, thriving, and achieving optimal well-being upon recovery. Significantly, the relevance and applicability of the building blocks of Seligman’s PERMA model of well-being towards those efforts taken were revealed in the study. .

Ode’imin (Heart Berries): the experience of Indigenous academics in social work programs : engaging Indigenous identity and experience

[Para. 1 of Introduction] "Encourage people to learn their own indigeneity, whatever that is. And to be encouraged to go into that. That's part of their healing journey. And that is their responsibility in doing social work because they're doing that for their identity, for their space…" (Stacy). Social work has had a tenuous relationship with Indigenous peoples in Canada. Looking at various periods historically and currently, social work has positioned itself as an alleged ally of Indigenous peoples and yet it is a perpetrator of the horrific conditions and strife that Indigenous peoples face. Issues like cultural erosion, the breakup of families and language loss are all traced in part to residential Schools, 60's scoop and the millennial scoop- which social workers have and continue to play a role in executing (Alston-O’Connor, 2010). On one hand, the Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW) has prioritized "developing stronger connections with Indigenous social workers and communities to better support their issues and pursue shared advocacy goals" (CASW Reconciliation Hub, n.d.). However, Indigenous children continue to be overrepresented in child welfare institutions (Ontario Human Rights Commission, 2018).

Ode’imin (Heart Berries): the experience of Indigenous academics in social work programs : engaging Indigenous identity and experience

[Para. 1 of Introduction] "Encourage people to learn their own indigeneity, whatever that is. And to be encouraged to go into that. That's part of their healing journey. And that is their responsibility in doing social work because they're doing that for their identity, for their space…" (Stacy). Social work has had a tenuous relationship with Indigenous peoples in Canada. Looking at various periods historically and currently, social work has positioned itself as an alleged ally of Indigenous peoples and yet it is a perpetrator of the horrific conditions and strife that Indigenous peoples face. Issues like cultural erosion, the breakup of families and language loss are all traced in part to residential Schools, 60's scoop and the millennial scoop- which social workers have and continue to play a role in executing (Alston-O’Connor, 2010). On one hand, the Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW) has prioritized "developing stronger connections with Indigenous social workers and communities to better support their issues and pursue shared advocacy goals" (CASW Reconciliation Hub, n.d.). However, Indigenous children continue to be overrepresented in child welfare institutions (Ontario Human Rights Commission, 2018).

Healing After Gender-Based Violence: A Qualitative Metasynthesis Using Meta-Ethnography

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a significant violation of human rights, requiring specific understanding of how individuals heal and recover after these experiences. This article reports on findings of a qualitative metasynthesis that examined the nature of healing after GBV through the perspectives of female-identifying survivors. Empirical studies were identified by a search of peer-reviewed articles via electronic databases. Studies were included for review if they were available in the English language, reported on qualitative studies that directly engaged female-identifying survivors of GBV, and were aiming to understand the GBV healing journey, process, or goals. After our initial search, 1,107 articles were reviewed by title and abstract and 47 articles were reviewed for full text. Twenty-six peer-reviewed articles were included for the review and were analyzed using meta-ethnography. Key findings included the recovery journey as a nonlinear, iterative experience that requires active engagement and patience. Healing was composed of (1) trauma processing and reexamination, (2) managing negative states, (3) rebuilding the self, (4) connecting with others, and (5) regaining hope and power. “Shifts” or “turning points” are also mentioned which catalyzed healing prioritization. This article aggregates and examines the scientific literature to date on GBV healing and provides articulation of the limitations, gaps in evidence, and areas for intervention. The article considers implications for future research, policy, and practice and, in particular, focuses our attention on the need to expand our knowledge of alternative recovery pathways and mechanisms for healing.

Trauma-Informed Spiritual Care: Lifelines for a Healing Journey

The article describes how primary, secondary, intergenerational and collective trauma are intertwined in our lived experience, especially in times of severe stress, such as the current coronavirus pandemic. An argument is made for personal and collective mourning, and for developing an attitude of curiosity, openness, acceptance, and love toward oneself and others who suffer traumatic stress. The foundational lifeline of trust in God is nurtured by the faith and practice of the church through the witness of Scripture, worship, prayer, song, and mutual caring.

Finding peace in my trauma

In this month's Patient Story, Hannah Phillips writes about her healing journey and how she came to move beyond traditional medicine.

The Healing Power of Storytelling: Finding Identity Through Narrative

This paper describes the power of storytelling in the context of an Indigenous youth collective, whichgathers each week to share their lived experiences and learn song, dance, and lessons through story. Ibegin with my own life narrative followed by an exploration of how the intergenerational transmissionof historical trauma has left many Indigenous youth searching for a connection to their culture. I thendiscuss research that reveals the importance of cultural continuity, self-determination, and engagementin the community to the healing journey of Indigenous youth. Next, I consider oral storytelling as onemethod of knowledge delivery, utilized by Indigenous Nations for thousands of years, that seamlesslyblends cultural learning and thus connection to identity. I detail the creation of a Youth StorytellingCircle which centres teachings from the Stó:lō, Haida, Nisga’a, Salish, and Popkum Coast Salish Nationssurrounding the shores and rainforests of what is now British Columbia. I conclude with reasons whyengaging youth in their wellbeing through traditional practices is of high importance to us all as Indigenouscommunity members.

Irihapeti Ramsden: The Public Narrative on Cultural Safety

The magnificent voices of Indigenous women who want to restore, preserve and extend the beauty of Indigenous culture must be relocated and honoured as the last best hope of escaping the tragic impacts of colonization. This paper started as an exploration of New Zealand Indigenous scholar Irihapeti Ramsden’s extraordinary efforts to imbed Cultural Safety as a foundation for nursing training and unity of purpose for all community helpers to alter the trajectory of colonization and its tragic impacts on Indigenous peoples. It morphed into a celebration of the powerful ‘reflective topical auto-biographies’ or meta-narratives of adaptability and resilience all Indigenous people need to share as we recover and heal from intergenerational traumas inflicted in the name of civilization and racial supremacy. Transformative change starts with self discovery as Irihapeti Ramsden taught her student nurses. Women and children are the most poignant victims of that foolish colonial project and their survival stories can lead all humanity back to respectful and loving sustainability. Indigenous women’s resilience stories need a special space in academic literature. Their enduring women-spirit has always guided this First Nations to be better first as an Indigenous man and more importantly as a human being. Irihapeti Ramsden’s journey to put Cultural Safety out there in mainstream academia began with a powerful reflective inner healing journey. Her life and work was a remarkable gift to all. The title of this paper derives from Section Three of her PhD thesis. It must be shared throughout all the worlds’ spaces in need of decolonization. Her ultimately political meta-narrative to alter ignorance and arrogance within education, government and society is one all Indigenous writers and scholars must study and articulate across often culturally unsafe places and spaces within Canada’s colleges and universities.