Relationship is Everything: Holistic Approaches to Aboriginal Child and Youth Mental Health

Abstract

This article addresses topics related to Indigenous holistic well-being including, 1) Indigenous perspectives on Aboriginal child and youth holistic mental health; 2) Factors undermining Indigenous well-being; 3) Process and curriculum for training to support mental health practitioners working with Indigenous children, youth and communities; 4) concrete applications and participant feedback. To begin, it is important to explore the following question: What is holistic mental health for First Nations, Métis and Inuit children and youth? In outlining this training curriculum we hope to contribute to a broader conversation about supporting and enhancing the well-being of Indigenous children and youth in Canada.

The Roots of Practice: An Anti-Colonial Critical Discourse Analysis of Western Nature-Based Mental Health Therapies

“…Moreover, positivist social scientists "prefer precise quantitative data and often use experiments, surveys, and statistics [to] seek rigorous, exact measures and 'objective' research" (Neuman, 2011, p. 95). Therefore, within positivist research studies, aspects of self, such as spirituality, are rationalized and categorized as "objects" to measure health and wellbeing (Bruyere, 2007;Carriere & Richardson, 2013;Nesdole et al, 2014). Consequently, by minimizing the importance of spirituality in practice, current modalities of nature-based therapies are ignoring a core aspect of self for long-term healing (Bruyere, 2007;Carriere & Richardson, 2013;Nesdole et al, 2014).…”

“…Researchers studying nature-based therapies place emphasis on finding "evidence" to support a singular reality for "mental health" experiences (Neuman, 2011). Therefore, since spirituality and religiosity are difficult to measure, spiritual health is often viewed as inferior to other health markers that are more quantifiable (Blay et al, 2008;Bruyere, 2007;Carriere & Richardson, 2013;Meyercook & Labelle, 2008;Nesdole et al, 2014;Unterrainer & Lewis, 2013). As a result of minimizing the importance of spirituality, positivist researchers are effectively denouncing spirituality as a core aspect of self and wellbeing (Baskin, 2011).…”

“…Evidently, although colonialism is an instigator of modern social work's valuation of dominance, capitalism and individualism (Baines, 2011), I also want to recognize individual complexities by using a variety of theoretical sub-frames in this study. For example, not only will I employ an Indigenous lens to decolonize the purposes of nature-based practices (Absolon, 2016;Ball, 2012;Baskin, 2011;Bruyere, 2007;Carriere & Richardson, 2013;Hart, 2009;Meyercook & Labelle, 2008;Nesdole, Voigts, Lepnurm, & Roberts, 2014), I will also use a feminist and critical queer theory lens to examine the patriarchal influences in gender-based healthcare systems (Gray, 2007;Grote, Zuckoff, Swartz, Bledsoe, & Geibel, 2007;Jones, 2014;Meyercook & Labelle, 2008;Poon, 2011), an anti-racist and intersectional lens to re-centre the voices of racialized and marginalized bodies (Grote et al, 2007;Jones, 2014;Lynn, 2006;Poon, 2011), and an anti-sanist lens to shift the discursive mechanisms which define people who have been labelled and psychiatrized by the Western "mental health" system (Gray, 2007;Grote et al, 2007;Meyercook & Labelle, 2008;Nesdole et al, 2014;Poole, 2011;Poole et al, 2012;Teghtsoonian, 2009). Therefore, although this research study will be primarily informed by an anti-colonial stance, aspects of other critical lenses will be used to identify any gaps in this study as well as other areas for further research.…”

The Roots Of Practice: An Anti-Colonial Critical Discourse Analysis Of Western Nature-Based Mental Health Therapies

“…Therefore, when we re-focus the discussion on current approaches to "mental health" practices, critical social science researchers argue that the depoliticization of "mental health" masks the root causes of psychological "illnesses" (Poole et al, 2012;Teghtsoonian, 2009). Specifically, the overwhelming emphasis placed on individual attachment styles (Bettman & Tucker, 2011;Harper et al, 2007;Tucker et al, 2013) ignores the systemic barriers which further oppress and limit the inclusion of marginalized groups (Absolon, 2016;Carriere & Richardson, 2013;Meyercook & Labelle, 2008;Nesdole et al, 2014;Teghtsoonian, 2009). Shifting back to the literature reviewed for this research study, I began by conducting a general search for academic literature on nature-based therapies in North America.…”

The stingray: Opening new pathways to healing and growth through alternative and holistic social work methods.

“…LGBTIQ2 folks, newcomers, people with disabilities and youth. (Chan, Ng, Ho & Chow, 2006) and child welfare work (Carriere & Richardson, 2013). While I aimed to draw primarily from research discussing holistic practice as it pertains to clinical social work practice, due to the limited availability of such research it was necessary and advantageous to incorporate findings from studies in other areas of social work, as well as in psychotherapy.…”