Multiculturally Informed Therapy: Accompanying First Nations People of the Western Hemisphere

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Multicultural Informed Therapy: First Nation Peoples

Multicultural Informed Therapy:

Accompanying First Nations People of the

Western Hemisphere

Paul Peterhans, M.Div.

Seattle University

4/22/2014

Author Note

Paul Peterhans, M.Div. Theology Chair, Seattle Preparatory School

Enrolled in Doctorate of Ministry Program with an

Interdisciplinary Focus

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Correspondence for this article should be addressed to Paul

Peterhans, M.Div.,

Theology Chair, Seattle Preparatory School, 2400 11th Ave, East

Seattle, Washington 98102

Contact: [email protected]

Introductory Comments

This paper is the first of two, exploring Pastoral Therapy

with a First Nations Peoples focus. This first paper examines the

unique needs and cultural contexts and characteristics of North

American Native Peoples and ways in which pastoral therapy and

the various “treatments” associated with this “discipline” might

assist in the healing process. It is individual in focus and

first considers the my self-understanding within a multicultural

reality. It is accompanied by a second paper….

This second paper examines the social systemic and

structural realities of an “ethnocentric monoculturalism” that

both underlies the pastoral therapeutic field and its practices

and how these impinge and impact the effectiveness (or not) of

these practices and the therapeutic relationship. Implicit in

mailto:[email protected]

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this examination is a decolonial critique along with a deeper

reflection on the underlying causes (mostly collective in nature

from my perspective and examination) of such an ethnocentric

monocultural worldview. Additionally, I investigate what caring

for one’s “soul” might look like not only from the perspective of

the individual therapist but more so from the perspective of an

entire culture or communities. This latter pint is most important

since within an indigenous worldview the healing of one

(individual) requires the healing of the other

(communal/collective). And I believe it is true of all individual

and communities – planetary and otherwise.

(10/25/14)

Context – Self-Understanding within Multicultural Reality

I am not a therapist per se. I am an educator – a

therapeutic educator, if you will – and I identify myself as a

contemplative-decolonial educator – one who cultivates a curative

(Moffett, 1994), therapeutic and healing environment and

experience for adolescent students – as well as adults on retreat

and in spiritual direction. The central focus of my educational,

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“therapeutic” work is the spiritual – and in particular, the

contemplative (that is, transformative) – dimension of the gospel

(gospel as dharma, as a spiritual, transformative force alive in

all creation whether seen or unseen). I characterize the

“spiritual” as the deepest dimension of all life – requiring of

us a deep listening and “receptive apprehension” of what is, as

it unfolds within us, around us, and in all “things.” It is to

shift one’s “referent point” from oneself to an “ultimate

dimension” (or ultimate reality – Usen in Apache and Athabascan

worldviews {Weaver, 1998}), that is the “ground of being” and the

source of everything that is. In this “way of being” everything

is interconnected and “kin” – everything and everyone is equal

and possesses intrinsic value and “utility” (or purpose if you

will). This “worldview” informs my life and my work as a

spiritual, therapeutic educator. As such, anything – language,

policies, systems, behaviors, mental constructs, narratives, etc.

– that militates against and/or undermines the spiritual life and

growth of all creation (and most especially humans and in

particular those on the “margins” of dominant cultures – wherever

that may be on this planet) will become the subject of the

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contemplative, de-colonial critique I employ as the necessary

truth-telling partner to the spiritual practices and teachings I

offer in my classroom and “counseling/spiritual direction office”

(McCaslin, 2005; Darder, 2012; Peterhans, 2012; Battiste, 2013).

That said, I often find myself in a therapeutic relationship –

whether one-on-one with a student (or colleague) or within the

context of the classroom. Therefore, I endeavor to design

curricula and create “constructivist classroom” environments that

provide balance for the students and a sense of freedom from the

limiting constraints of the modern educational system, as well as

for open space for students to construct their own meaning.

I am a white, middle-aged, middle-classed, hetero-sexual,

Roman Catholic male, born and bred in the Northwest Suburbs of

Chicago in the 50’s and 60’s in “wonder bread” neighborhoods. I

teach in and am Chair of the Theology Department in a privileged

(elitist?) and prestigious college preparatory Catholic, Jesuit

high school in Seattle – hardly the center of multicultural

consciousness. The student demographics are largely white,

middle/upper-middle and upper socio-economic classes. It is not

always a comfortable place for non-white students. And the

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institutional culture is overwhelmingly male and white (or

European in the words of Russell Means – Peterhans, 2012) and

definitely “leaning” towards the neo-liberal globalized

capitalistic and modern-colonial matrix of power in terms of its

educational teleology and overall orientation (Hobgood, 2000,

Mignolo, 2011). In the de/post/anti-colonial perspectives, I am

everything that is wrong (imperialistic) in the world. And I am

okay with that apparent fact; aware of my limitations and the

need to diminish in that manner and learn nearly everything all

over, from the beginning. I am also aware of the privilege

afforded me as a result of all of my socio-economic, racial,

sexual, and religious markers. And I seek out ways to use that

privilege for the benefit of those who are oppressed and/or on

the margins of society and the planet – whether residing in the

U.S. or elsewhere in the world, whether human or one of the many

millions of other species and earth-systems. I hesitate saying

where I am in one of the three “white racial identity development

models” as outlined in Counseling the Culturally Diverse (Sue and Sue,

2013). I leave that to others to judge. Still, being where I am

at this stage in my life is indeed a unique “place” to be – if

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one is open. It is my intention to learn from and be in dialogue

with various cultural approaches and world-views, and I do so

from a more interior perspective in terms of a transformation of

consciousness that I believe needs to occur for the necessary

social transformation(s) and multicultural consciousness and

practices (therapeutic and educational) to transpire (Cajete,

1994; Howard, 1999; Darder, 2002; Wilson &Yellow Bird, 2005;

Mignolo, 2011; Peterhans, 2012; Hooks, 2013). I am interested in

an “ethics of transformation.” That is, I believe I have been

given an ethical imperative and responsibility to undergo a

transformation of consciousness vital for the establishment of a

truly multicultural context to be long-lasting and sustainable

(Peterhans, 2012).

I am intimately aware that the overriding context of the

cultural paradigm in which I am situated is imperialistic,

violent, racist, sexist, classist and ageist. And that our

institutions, language, systems of thought and expression are

rooted in a colonial consciousness that is predominantly male,

heterosexually dominated (thus homophobic) in terms of how the

power structure is constructed – and it is Christian in terms of

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its mythology (though not cosmology – for our cosmology is rooted

in capitalism and the view that creation represents the resources

for the manufacturing of mere stuff for human consumption and

waste). The United States – and all that that means

institutionally, economically, educationally, medically,

religiously, etc. – has been shaped on a Euro-centric (now

Euramerican) weltanschauung. And, unfortunately, much of the

cultural dimension of my Catholic “identity” (Moya & Hames-

Garcia, 2000) has been cloaked and shaped by these very same

realities, especially as this relates to the colonial

consciousness that brought a dehumanizing missionary zeal which

also became rooted in our educational institutions. It is a

reality difficult to ignore and, I believe, lies at the root of

why in the institution where I teach anyway (and most across the

United States), we find it so difficult to smoothly move to a

more egalitarian, mutually respectful (of all forms of diversity

– gender, income, race, learning styles and abilities, etc.) and

truly multi-cultural reality that is a more honest mirroring of

the human species in this planet. This “cultural null curriculum”

is what remains hidden, yet pervasive – hidden to white people

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(especially white males – who hold the majority of power in

nearly all of our social [including religious] institutions) and

pervasive to everyone else – those we refer to as “people of

color.” Thus, there are white people and then there are people of

color – those who hold power and privilege in this culture and

those who do not. Even the term “diversity” in my mind, is

essentially a racist (and sexist, classist, and homophobic) term,

as it refers to those who are essentially outside of the power

structure and outside of the white frame of reference (Howard,

1999; Hobgood, 2000; Richardson, 2000 & 2012; Sue and Sue, 2013;

Peterhans, 2012).

Furthermore, take any one of the realities of our culture –

racism, sexism, classism, even clericalism (if you are a

“churchy” type) if you want – and you will see that these

manifestations of a distorted view of reality are deeply

entrenched in the human psyche and our mental constructs. They

also show themselves on at least three different levels: the

individual/personal (with its conscious, subconscious and

unconscious “thought” patterns and experiences),

institutional/systemic (various socio-cultural systems, family

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systems, thought patterns, language, symbols, etc.), and

collective, especially as this is rooted in the collective

unconscious, inter-generational trauma and “teachings,” and

nature and the universe – each of which can be further subdivided

and classified in deeper and more subtle ways. (This three-part

schematic mirrors nicely, I believe, Sue and Sue’s Tripartite

Development Framework of Personal Identity, though with some

obvious psycho-spiritual differentiations.) These are the

cultural and social manifestations, as well as collective,

ancestral experiences of what Abbot Thomas Keating, OCSO calls

the “false self system” – a compensatory self created and

developed in early childhood as a way of protecting ourselves

from the pain suffered from abuse, neglect and ordinary

distortions passed onto us by our forebears (Keating, 1999). Our

theological term for this is “original sin” (our contemporary

terms are the dysfunctional family and the distorted self). This

false self is so deeply embedded in our individual psyches, our

institutional structures and our collective memory that it

requires both a heroic effort and a disciplined program for

addressing it if we will ever have any hope of dismantling it in

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any reasonable and lasting manner whatsoever. And it is my belief

that we must address these personal, social and collective

distortions on all three levels in order to create the world –

school environments – we say we want for ourselves, our students

and children, and families, of any and all cultures (Cajete,

1994; Thornton, 1998; Thompson, 1998; Keating, 1999; Howard,

1999; McCaslin, 2005; Tisdell, 2007; Nhat Hanh, 2010; Isasi-Diaz

& Mendieta, 2012; Peterhans, 2012).

To know where I am and the psycho-cultural context in which

I am situated is one thing. To know where I need to go is

another. Gary Howard (1999) sums it up nicely, namely that;

I am convinced there is a prior and equally compelling need for White people, particularly White educators in the United States and other nations of the West, to look within ourselvesand realign our deepest assumptions and perceptions regarding the racial marker that we carry, namely Whiteness. We need to understand the dynamics of past and present dominance, face how we have been shaped by myths of superiority, and begin to sort out our thoughts, emotions and behaviors relative to raceand other dimensions of human diversity. It is essential in this inner work of multicultural growth that we listen carefully to the perceptions others have of us, particularly our students and colleagues from other racial and cultural groups…. We cannot fully and fruitfully engage in meaningful dialogue across the differences of race and culture without doing the work of personal transformation. If we as White educators are not deeply moved and transformed there is little hope that anything else will significantly shift…. As important as the inner work of personal growth is, however, it must be balanced with a vision of

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multicultural education as a process of social change and transformation…. The second major theme… is an examination of the role White educators can and must play in understanding, decoding, and dismantling the dynamics of White dominance…. To hold in creative tension these two essential and inherently related themes: the personal transformation of White educators and thesocial transformation of the arrangements of White dominance.

First Nations Peoples of the Western Hemisphere

If the socio-cultural context I have described above is one in

which I am surrounded, then it is the same reality for Aboriginal

Peoples of the Western Hemisphere (Rae, 2005) – especially those

who inhabit the North American continental portion of this

hemisphere. That said, the psycho-cultural reality and context is

quite different – and this makes all the difference in the world.

I have to begin by saying that the value systems embedded in

the cultural worldviews of First Nations Peoples of North America

and that of Euro-Americans is vastly different – indeed,

diametrically opposed in almost every instance (Joseph B. Stone

in Sue et al, 2014; Coyhis, 2009). This creates a unique

challenge for everyone involved, especially for Native Peoples

who find themselves somewhere along the spectrum of “very

Traditional” and “very assimilated;” who many times are from two

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or more tribes (of which there are over 560 federally recognized

tribes in the United States and hundreds more that are not

recognized, most of which are culturally different from one

another); who live in urban centers (2/3) and on reservations

(1/3); and where 50 percent of the urban Indians move back and

forth between the city and the reservation(s). Not only is there

a lot of movement among Indian people, but a large population

don’t know much (and at times know nothing) about their Native

culture due to the U.S. Federal Government’s Termination Policy

in the 1950s and 60s, as well as to the fact that many Indians

were adopted out of Native families during the 1950s through the

1970s (Coyhis, 2009; Sue et al, 2014; American Indian Relief

Council website).

Additionally, Coyhis (2009) and others (McCaslin, 2005;

Battise, 2013; Clark, 1991 & 2009; Dell et al, 2008; Duran et al,

2008; Fast & Collin-Vezina, 2010; Gone, 2009; Hagerty, 2012;

Heilbron & Guttman, 2000; Hill, Lau, Sue, 2010; Rae, 2005;

Peterhans, 2012; Wilson, & Yellow Bird, 2005; Walters et al,

2002; Thornton, 1998; Sue & Sue, 2013; Sue, Gallardo, Neville,

2014) address the reality of and seek to heal the ailments and

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dysfunctions manifested both as a result of and a precondition

for intergenerational trauma over the five-plus centuries of

oppressive colonization. He and others believe this healing of

intergenerational trauma is a necessary ingredient during this

current era of self-determination and cultural revival in order

for this movement to be strong and to sustain itself over time.

The many forms of “dispossession” – whether by degrees or all

at once – have been well documented by many, many authors in

nearly all parts of North America (notably Forbes, 1979, 2008;

Deloria, Jr., 1969, 1988; Rae, 2005; Hagerty, 2012; Thornton,

1998; Wilson & Yellow Bird, 2005): land, minerals, religion,

language, communal ways of living, children through western

educational strategies (whether Boarding schools or Public

Schools), rituals and cultural ways – the list is quite

expansive. What Coyhis does that is quite brilliant is

demonstrate how traditional peoples grow up in (and as) a

“forest” whose peoples and communal structures and roles are

rooted in a “rich soil” of interconnectedness that includes

Elders’ teachings, ceremonies, spirituality, cultural values and

teachings, language and healing. All of these are largely “place-

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based” and rooted in a particular land that was alive, familiar

like a grandmother and provided all that the people needed. It

gave life to their bodies and their ancestors who were constant

companions. As these were removed – especially the land –

traditional peoples’ lives were growing up from “impoverished

soil” at best, poisoned soil at worse. The interconnected nature

of their life-ways with all of the values associated with them

(grateful and cooperative, humble and generous, curious and in

intimate/familial relationship with nature, rooted in a timeless

nature of reality, grounded in the spiritual/religious dimension

of all life, in communion with the ancestors and the Unseen

Mystery, highly communal, inquisitive, culturally pluralistic and

one that valued Tradition, character, and honor) was not only

severed but decimated (see especially Hagerty, 2012) and in its

place was “offered” (violently imposed) the value system of, in the

first place, various European worldviews and then the American

madness (competitive, restless, and individualistic,

materialistic, self-important, temporally linear, acquisitive,

interfering, distrustful, segmented [i.e.: Religion was a

compartmentalized component of life], controlling, narrow group

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identity and an over-identification with it, literate and one

that highly valued status and freedom). The result is that many

Native Peoples became aimless, rootless, alcoholic, domestically

abusive, depressed, lost, severely imbalanced….

Our people, they suffer from something…. A deep, embedded, genetic depression…. See…. Our people (Lakota) at one time… all Native Americans, had a very strong connection with the Creator, a very strong connection with Mother Earth, a very strong connection with nature, the forces of nature, all living things on this planet; and all of this was taken fromus, like that!!…. And we lost this connection with everything that we had and that’s where this depression comes from; a lot of our people are severely depressed and they don’t evenknow it and this depression is just now clinically diagnosedas the same thing soldiers suffer from when they return fromcombat. (Quoted from a Lakota rider and Viet Nam Veteran in Dakota 38 by Hagerty, 2012).

Worse still, Coyhis believes, is that “we started to sense

from the people that in our families, in our organizations and in

our tribes, we have lost the spiritual way. We have forgotten to

make spiritual laws a part of our daily decisions, for

individuals, organizations and communities alike” (Coyhis, 2009)

In addition to many communities losing their language, land

and traditional lifestyles, this loss of living in and from a

spiritual way is the “gift” of coloniality. Reclaiming them in

such a way that will lead to a “soul healing” will be a gift not

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only to the various communities who take up that “project” but

one to the entire planet – even the “colonists” (Duran,

Firehammer & Gonzales, 2008).

In addition to the immense destruction that the colonial

project of modernity has done to Native Peoples through land,

cultural, language, tribal and family, spiritual and identity

dispossession, I have come to see the ways that western, Euro-

centric epistemologies and education have literally reshaped

indigenous brains and minds. It amounts to another form of

colonization that is perhaps, just as, if not more, insidious

because of how hidden and pernicious it is. I see it in the

people with whom I have come in contact and recognize it in the

critique of Richardson (2000 and 2010), Trudell (Rae, 2005),

Duran (Thornton, 1998), Cajete (1994), Russell Means (Peterhans

2012), and Forbes (2008). I have also seen it exquisitely

described by a West African Shaman of the Dagara Tribe, Malidoma

Patrice Somé (1998), in his book The Healing Wisdom of Africa: Finding

Life Purpose Through Nature, Ritual, and Community. For Somé, “going to

school was a radical act involving the sacrifice of one’s

indigenous self.” It involved the “unbearableness of cultural

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repression.” In a more extensive quote, Somé has this to say

about his forced Western (French) education:

What I learned from my white teachers was considered poisonous, and even dangerous, to me and others. It was as if literacy destroyed the ability to learn the indigenous knowledge that I was trying to reclaim. With literacy had come a logic that was incompatible with the logic innate to the Dagara and other native peoples. It made me prone to doubt, incapable of trust, and subject to dangerous emotionssuch as anger and impatience. Worst of all, my Western perceptions of time were continually disturbing me in a culture in which timelessness prevailed…. Because of the Western consciousness I had absorbed and its grandiose notions of superiority, I was slow to accept any interference or intrusion from an indigenous worldview. It was as if one type of knowledge had colonized my thoughts, with a territorial instinct of the most vicious type. For example, my literacy came with a mind that loved to fit events into its various rational slots, it was prompt to dismiss them as primitive trickery unworthy of civilized thinking. As long as new knowledge did not fit the desired specifications for proper control, my Western-trained mind regarded it as an alien with hostile intention and thereforewould fight against it with patriotic pride. I realize now that what I thought was my civilized mind was in fact a rather narrow mind. The knowledge I had been exposed to in Western schools left a wide range of experience unexplored, and it was up to wise people in my village to help me learn to open up to all realms of knowledge of which I at that time was ignorant.

This quote, in my estimation, sums up cogently the

psychological experience of native peoples from around the world

(and not just from the Western Hemisphere). Somé was able to heal

through the careful and wise guidance of Shamanic healers from

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his people. The traditions, rituals, medicine people, elders,

language, etc, were still intact in his childhood village when he

returned home after running from his French Catholic boarding

school. However, most First Nations Peoples in North America have

not been, and are not now, so fortunate. Their journey to healing

and wholeness is and will be much more arduous and challenging.

Given what has been described as the effect of coloniality and

the fact that it is ongoing and relentless, what sorts of

services and practices might best address the needs of Aboriginal

communities and persons?

Best Practices and Effective Services for Native Populations

Clinical Psychologist, Connie Hunt, describes the difference

in counseling modalities between a Western model and that of a

Traditional Native model. In her words: “Western modalities

assume a power differential. Traditional Native methods largely

promote a parallel model” (Sue et al, 2014). Additionally, she

states that in the case where linguistic, cognitive, and

emotional barriers are likely to impede or delay therapeutic

goals, it is the therapist’s responsibility to acquire greater

skills in order to listen more deeply, pick up possibly-missed

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nuances and to provide essential care and consideration –

especially as these may be directed toward the existence of

behaviorally compromised immunity relative to unresolved grief and

historical trauma. The emergence of a collective energy can be

overwhelming, and a therapist must be mindful of this possibility

and provide for the client/relative’s well-being. In my spiritual

tradition, we call this psycho-spiritual dynamic the “unloading

of the unconscious” and while we focus mainly on the personal

unconscious, I am personally most concerned in both my students

and spiritual directees, the emergent intermingling of both the

personal and collective (i.e.: historical or intergenerational)

unconscious experiences – especially as these might attach

themselves to individuals’ negative mental constructs or

cognitive narratives that might further entrench personal

identification with these potent psycho-emotional “memories” (Sue

et al, 2014; Peterhans, 2012).

When considering best practices and effective services for

Aboriginal peoples, it is important, I believe, to be cognizant

of several central notions and possible responses:

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First, Native peoples value healing, wholeness and balance

over treatment – note Coyhis’s coining of the term “Wellbriety”

over “sobriety” (2009). He demonstrates a beautiful integration

of the 12 Steps and Traditions with Traditional Native values and

worldview (in this case The Medicine Wheel). As Hill, Lau and Sue

(2010) state in the conclusion of their study on integrating

trauma psychology and cultural psychology; “While dominant

understandings of evidence-based practices privilege the flow of

knowledge from the scientist to the practitioner, an Indigenous

reformulation blurs the boundaries among the participants of

knowledge creation…. Involved parties in all localized

communities… engage in collaborative dialogue in the creation and

application of culture-centered traumatologic knowledge…. (Which)

facilitates a decolonizing and transformative process, one that

respects Indigenous communities’ sovereignty and rights to self-

determination” (45).

Second, regardless of the presenting problem, knowledge of co-

morbidity relative to conditions arising out of historical trauma

is essential. It amounts to what some authors refer to as “soul

wound” (Duran et al, 2008; Walters et al, 2002). Indeed, it is

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not only helpful to name the historical trauma (colonization) but

to acknowledge its ongoing affects (coloniality); it is also

vital to name psychological conditions from the language and

metaphors of the cultural frame of reference of native peoples –

i.e.: depression then becomes the “spirit of sadness” visiting a

relative/client (Duran et al, 2008) and so on. In so doing, one

takes into account the relative/client’s sociohistorical context

and then is able to provide a liberatory process embedded in a

culturally appropriate praxis – for instance, use of Talking

Circles, purification rituals, and ceremonies that “call back the

client’s original spirit;” Traditional tribal worldviews,

cultural hybridity, and a concern for a person’s relationship to

the universal cosmology as opposed to “curing a culturally

defined psychological disorder” (Duran et al, 2008; Heilbron &

Guttman, 2000; Walters et al, 2002). And I am firmly convinced that this

can (and needs to be) done within an educational system. In this (a

liberatory, culturally appropriate praxis) and other senses

(telling the story of holocaust and genocide), historical honesty

and truth-telling (a central component of decolonization) are

vital to the healing process (Duran et al, 2008; McCaslin, 2005).

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Third, community-based treatments and resolutions

(interventions – though not a term I like within an Aboriginal

worldview) are central to best practices and the possibilities of

establishing EBTs (Gone, 2009; Walters et al, 2002; Hill et al,

2011; Heilbron & Guttman, 2000; Duran et al, 2008; Dell et al,

2008). As Heilbron and Guttman point out, when utilizing

community-based treatment and solutions, the emphasis is not only on

individual healing but community healing as well. This works in a number

of ways. First, the use of a Healing Circle offers “a safe and

spiritually nurturing environment where unconditional support of

group members (is) evident” and in the case of this study,

provided an atmosphere where group members could “share their

feelings of (sexual) abuse and feel understood by others who

shared those same feelings and experiences. Cognitive therapy

interventions aided this process by initially emphasizing that

members shared similar concerns” (Heilbron and Guttman, 2000).

What followed was the added incorporation of traditional

ceremonies and practices, including a First Nations co-

facilitator. Out of this came profound healing for both the

individuals participating as well as the communities to which

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they belonged – along with an intensifying and deepening of the

group healing of those participating in the healing circle. Other

culturally appropriate “practices” and “treatment” (or “cultural

moderators of traumatic stress and in some cases, substance use)

are an emphasis on family and community – in the case of urban

Indians, it sometimes is important for them to strengthen ties to

the reservation(s) along with urban organizations and support

systems – spirituality and re-traditionalization movements;

connection to land, animals, plants, drumming, songs, etc.

Critical in the healing process was the cultivation of a

strong Aboriginal or Indian identity. “A positive American Indian

(AI) identity has long been considered important for cultural

continuity, survival, and psychological wellness. In AI research,

identity has been conceptualized within three main frameworks:

demographic indicators, self-concept and self-perception, and

self-identification” (Walters, et al, 2002). Walters, in separate

research cited in this article, designed the Urban American

Indian Identity (UAII) model identifying four domains and five

identity attitude dimensions embedded within them. The four

domains are as follows: 1) Internalization; 2) Marginalization;

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3) Externalization; and 4) Actualization, where one achieves

“integrated identity attitudes and (develops) psychological

buffers that combat residual colonizing attitudes.” And the five

identity attitude dimensions are referred to as PERCS: political,

ethnic, racial, cultural, and spiritual. Strengthening

individuals and communities within these frameworks amounts to

what some authors call “enculturation” or the “process by which

members of a minority group learn about and identify with their

cultural heritage, norms, and traditional values.” As the authors

conclude, “the indigenist stress-coping model provides an

important decolonizing conceptual framework” (Walters et al,

2002).

Gone (2009), conducting his own community-based treatment for

healing the effects of historical trauma takes this notion of

individual and community healing further by suggesting and

exploring the possibility that healing through the use of

“distinctly Aboriginal therapeutic services” provides a more

ambitious political objective, figuring “prominently in a

comprehensive, community-based decolonization agenda.” In his

words, Gone states that “decolonization is the intentional,

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collective, and reflective self-examination undertaken by

formerly colonized peoples that result in shared remedial

action…. The key to decolonization is community emancipation from

the hegemony of outside interests” (Wilson and Yellow Bird,

2005). He acknowledges something I included at the end of the

previous section, where I stated that “their journey to healing

and wholeness is much more arduous and challenging” – “although

the prospects for decolonization in Native North America remain

fraught with challenges, contemporary tribal communities have

made recognizable progress in reasserting authority and wresting

control from settler society governments in multiple domains,

including tribal administration of therapeutic services” (Gone,

2009). The work this study conducted at the accredited North

Algonquian Healing Lodge with native counselors and clients alike

pushed the limits of evidence based treatment (EBT) and

culturally sensitive treatment (CST) due to the fact that

historical trauma (HT) “does not synchronize with the reigning

constructs of psychopathology in content, form, or function…

there are no consensually accepted diagnostic criteria for HT”

(Gone, 2009). That said, a number of practices (and by extension

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treatments) were incorporated in this study that proved

efficacious and therapeutically applicable from an EBP/EBT

perspective: emphasis on disclosure and catharsis of childhood

pain, which mirrored “exposure treatment for PTSD”

(experimentally supported), and the “centrality of the twelve-

step approach to recovery from alcoholism in this setting” (Gone,

2009). Note the culturally specific sobriety program started in

the 1980’s and expanded upon by Don Coyhis to include historical

trauma from residential schools in the 2000’s (Coyhis, 2009).

In addition to these points above, it is vital for any

therapist, or in my case, therapeutic-teacher, to cultivate and

demonstrate authentic culturally sensitive empathy (Chung & Bemak,

2002), something that gets exhausting doing so in an institution

that on almost every level is just the opposite. Cultural

sensitive empathy manifests itself both emotionally and

cognitively (Sue and Sue, 2013) and is strongest when grounded in

six major dimensions. These are as follows:

Understand and accept the context of family and community for clients from different cultural backgrounds.

Incorporate indigenous healing practices from the client’s culture when possible.

28


Become knowledgeable about the historical sociopolitical background of clients.

Be knowledgeable about the psychosocial adjustment that mustbe made by clients who have moved from one environment to another. (This is especially applicable to my students of color who often come out of neighborhoods and “feeder” schools where their race, ethnicity and culture were well represented prior to enrolling at the predominantly white and elitist school environment where I teach.)

Be highly sensitive to the oppression, discrimination, and racism that are encountered by many people and often on a daily basis. (Again, this reality is pertinent to nearly allmy non-white students.)

For those clients who feel underprivileged and devalued, it is essential for effective cultural empathy to facilitate empowerment for clients (Chung and Bemak, 2002). (One of thegreatest challenges in my teaching is connecting non-white students to people and mentors with whom they can culturallyrelate and who can understand their experience going to the school where I teach. Luckily, I have been there long enoughwhere I now have many alums on whom I can call for guidance,mentoring and assistance – not only for current students butfor myself as well – and have on a number of occasions, successfully connected students with alum-mentors to the healing success of said students.)

Finally, I would be remiss if I did not include the EBP of any

counselor (and teacher) of practicing positive regard, respect,

warmth and genuineness as “qualities” of establishing an

emotional bond with a client/relative (Sue and Sue, 2013).

Indeed, I believe that these qualities are what make my teaching

of all my students most effective. If I consider student as

client/relative, my ability to practice and communicate

29


concretely positive regard, enables a student to see her strengths

and positive qualities and aspects; respect reveals that I am

attentive to my student and demonstrates that he is important to

me; warmth is the emotional feeling that enables a student to

realize that she is appreciated and accepted (so vital for any

teenager); and genuineness shows my students that I am real, that

I am willing to go beyond my roles and meet them where they are

(Sue and Sue, 2013). It enables me to “make contact.”

Creativity and working with another’s Strengths

In many ways, a number of the studies, attitudinal

dispositions and practices I have described above are suggestive

of effective practices and creative solutions and/or applications

of practices that incorporate at the same time culturally

sensitive treatment – or rather, healing. In this final section I

want to conclude with an example of a skillful and creative

approach to working with/healing First Nations Youth from solvent

abuse utilizing “horse as healer” as well as to suggest a

potentially creative response within an educational framework

that might lead to empowerment of Native Youth along with an

“other-side-of-the-equation” decolonization of Caucasian Youth.

30


In “Horse as Healer” (Dell et al, 2008) the authors examine

the efficacious healing work being conducted in one of Canada’s

numerous residential treatment centers addressing Native youth

solvent addiction. In this case the article discusses how

Canada’s Youth Solvent Addiction Committee (YSAC) culture-based

model of resiliency (developing traditional teachings relative to

morality, humour, creativity, initiative, relationships,

independence and insight) is put into practice at the White

Buffalo Residential Treatment Center through the example of

Equine Assisted Learning (EAL). The treatment center is located

on the Sturgeon Lake First Nation, near Prince Albert,

Saskatchewan. “The program is based on the concept of living

therapy, which integrates four cornerstones of treatment that

parallel teaching of the medicine wheel – spiritual, emotional,

mental, and physical” (Dell et al, 2008). Nurturing the inner

spirit is foundational in this program which is rooted in First

Nations teaching and healing – i.e.: fasting and sweat lodge,

etc.) In addition to these practices that strengthen a

participant’s inner spirit is the Center’s program of aligning

the youths’ connection to and reliance on the wider community

31


with whom they are in contact outside of the Center and its

treatment program. A decidedly First Nation’s worldview is

thoroughly effective where the Western concept of resiliency is

expanded to include not only the individual but the community as

well – especially as this reflects a “First Nations worldview to

see the world through the collective of community.”

Within a First Nation’s worldview, an individual is at the same time their inner spirit (internal) and relations with their collective community. Resiliency is ‘… a balance between the ability to cope with stress and adversity (innerspirit) and the availability of communal support’…. Specificattention was paid in this case to the historic and contemporary role of the horse within the lives of First Nations people. Both concepts which comprise YSAC’s definition of resiliency – the inner spirit of an individualand their community support – are illustrated using the example of EAL from the intersecting perspectives of White Buffalo’s volatile solvent abuse program, Cartier Equine Learning Center’s EAL program, and Elders’ stories (Dell et al, 2008).

EAL is a hands-on experience facilitating a unique form of

learning. “Given the horse’s superior intuitive nature, direct

interaction with it is a unique experience…. The horse’s

intuitive nature has evolved as a mere function of survival; it

is constantly attuned to its surroundings and the subtle

communication within the herd as a response to ever-changing

32


environments…. Horses (are) highly adaptive… (and) has the

ability to respond intuitively to human behavior and intent,

which results in immediate feedback from the animal…. (This has

resulted in) increasing life skills through hands-on doing, and

has been identified as useful in building communication problem-

solving, and team building skills, as well as enhancing personal

awareness and a sense of self” (Dell et al, 2008).

Three other findings are worth mentioning here. First, many

First Nations believe that “all animals have a spirit whose

purpose is to guide and help individuals. The animal spirit is

integral to survival…. The horse program gives youth some sense

of connection to another life form…. Through the horse, the youth

may be provided with opportunities to reflect on spirit and

identity, and apply an interpretation that is meaningful in their

own growth and self understanding” (Dell et al, 2008).

Second, due to the experiences and background of the youth

entering the program, fear, disconnection with others in the

community, and lack of trust (many are survivors of abuse),

hands-on experiences of nurturing and caring for ones horse have

led to outcomes where youth have been observed demonstrating a

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sense of increased self-nurturance through self-care. “The

connection between self-care and trusting relationships with

oneself and others is a part of the cultural teaching at White

Buffalo” (Dell et al, 2008).

Finally, the youth learn to form trusting relationships with

themselves and others by beginning to learn to trust the horse.

In establishing this trusting relationship, they also learn to

look to others for support in their lives both inside and outside

of White Buffalo treatment center. Since trust has been severely

broken, this is no small matter. Growing in trusting an animal,

then oneself and finally others in the community, a youth slowly

but surely grows in faith and emotional stability.

The authors conclude their article by suggesting five “next

steps” for research to move the field of EAL forward,

particularly as it relates to First Nations community health, and

affirm the compatibility between YSAC’s culture-based model of

resiliency and a Western health promotion approach, stating

further that they complement one another. “Both account for the

individual and community approaches to understanding and

responding to health needs. And YSAC’s model further contributes

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the understanding that the concepts of inner spirit and community

cannot be disentangled from one another, as is commonly done

within a Western worldview. An individual’s inner spirit is

intertwined with family, community, and the land” (Dell et al,

2008).

This notion or truth of “Horse as Healer” was powerfully on

display in the documentary Dakota 38. In 2009, a Lakota spiritual

leader and Viet Nam Vet, Jim Miller, led a group of men and women

on a 330-mile ride on horseback from Lower Brule, South Dakota to

Mankato, Minnesota where they arrived at the hanging site of 38

Dakota ancestors, warriors and leaders on the anniversary of

their mass execution on December 26th, 1862 on orders by

President Abraham Lincoln. The vision for this ride came from a

dream he had in 2005 where he was riding the Great Plains of

South Dakota and just before he awoke he arrived at a riverbank

in Minnesota where he saw 38 of his Dakota ancestors hanged. He

had known nothing of this mass execution and eventually concluded

that “when you have dreams, you know when they come from the

Creator…. As any recovered alcoholic, I made believe that I

35


didn’t get it. I tried to put it out of my mind, yet it’s one of

those dreams that bothers you night and day” (Hagarty, 2012).

At the beginning of the ride, he states that he has “been

through the course” – sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical

abuse, spiritual abuse, spent time in Leavenworth Federal

Penitentiary, has blood on his hands (in fact he realized that

part of this ride was not only for the healing he and his people

need to experience at the colonial hands of Americans, but also

for the 38 Vietnamese he killed during the war). The suffering

held by the other riders is palpable and shared throughout the

film. This ride is as much for them individually as it is for

their families (broken by substance addiction, suicide, domestic

violence, etc.) – as well as the whole of their people. Again,

Jim Miller: “We can’t blame the wasichus anymore. We’re doing it

to ourselves. We’re selling drugs. We’re killing our own people.

That’s what this ride is about; is healing” (Hagerty, 2012). And

healing happens along the way – for Native and Non-Native

individuals and communities alike – especially for those riders

who greatly suffer from PTSD whether from the Viet Nam War or

from the extreme poverty and suffering on the reservations and

36


the weight of historical trauma ravaging their families and

communities. As to the healing significance of the horse in this

ride, one Native man described it thus:

The horse has the six directions that we use in our ceremonies. The two front legs represent the west and the north; the two back legs represent the east and the south. The head points up, the ears point up, represents Watakaya –Up Above. The tail points downward to Mother Earth. When youput those six directions together it creates a sacred centerto bring Wowakon in; the sacredness you can only have with these six directions. And you can pray while you are on yourhorse. You can think about a lot of things. Some people can remember things their ancestors went through. It’s the horseleading the way because of its healing power…. With that Wowakon inside the six directions, you place a man or a woman on a horse; you give it the seventh direction which isthe Chokota – the center of all things – it represents ‘everything-is-related-and-in-balance’ and you put all that together and you move forward, you’re able to create power as you go…. I learned a lot about the 38 plus 2 because while I was on that ride I could really look into the past and by sitting on that horse you realize, you have a lot of time to think…. They say that the Spirits are the ones leading the people. They are the ones taking us through thiscold weather, the elements; you see these elements are a part of life” (Hagarty, 2012).

And the healing and reconciliation happens along the way as

the sufferings of individuals, communities and the ancestors are

recalled, brought forth and embraced – suffering from war (in the

form of PTSD), domestic violence, residential school experiences,

alcoholism, white imperial oppression, historical depression and

37


more…. The suffering of individuals is embraced or better,

contained, by the community of riders, healed by the energy of and

sacred ceremony contained in the horses, washed over by the

songs, prayers and rituals – as well as by the welcoming of

native and white communities along the way. It is a powerful

example of “Horse as Healer” and of other indigenist spiritual

and cultural elements, teachings, value system and

characteristics that are so integral to deep, lasting and

profound healing.

As a High School teacher, I have great concern for

Aboriginal youth – both those living on reservations and those

inhabiting urban centers. In suggesting a proposed solution for

healing the invisibility – and all that comes with this

invisibility – of Native people (especially youth) in white

America, along with the suffocating privilege invisibly afforded

to white American youth, I intend to programmatically build on a

line cited at the top of page 20, namely that “an individual’s

inner spirit (i.e.: soul, identity, etc.) is intertwined with

family, community and the land” and offer a proposal emanating

from the heart of this line.

38


A Seattle Weekly feature article entitled “A Future for Rose:

The Story of Seattle’s Invisible Americans” (Driscoll, 2014)

discusses the immense challenges Seattle’s Native Americans face

day in and day out. It speaks to how they are rarely seen or

heard from, how they are not only the smallest minority (though

once were the only population of people residing here), but are

the poorest, least-supported educationally and with the greatest

health care problems. “Sometimes I don’t think they see us,” Rose

(Gibbs, 15 year-old Native female youth) says…. “To not have any

representation that reflects who you are, or honors your culture,

your tradition, your history, it’s really a profound

psychological, oppressive place to be,” says Sense-Wilson, Chair

of Urban Native Education Alliance or UNEA (Driscoll, 2014).

One of the first realities that Seattle’s Native youth are

forced to face or confront in order to change their fortune and

create opportunities for themselves is the sense of aloneness

that has been pounded into them by “politics, policy,

perceptions, and nearly 200 years of history.” Doing so is one of

the aims of UNEA’s flagship program, Clear Sky Program and the

Clear Sky Native Youth Council. Clear Sky and UNEA provide

39


“tutoring, art, a sense of cultural belonging and… a solid meal

to urban Native American kids who need it. As it turns out,

plenty in the Seattle area do” (Driscoll, 2014). Clear Sky held

its first meeting in 2009, largely, I believe out of response to

a growing neglect of Native youth on the part of the Seattle

Public School system. A tragedy really, as Native youth were

extremely well served until the policies and decisions of

Superintendant Goodloe, where a wildly successful Indian Heritage

High School – once housed at the Wilson-Pacific building (out of

which Clear Sky and UNEA now operate two days a week) – was

dismantled and eventually laid to waste from 2000 to 2012. Over

this time period the District withdrew support and resources and

now house the so-called “middle college” (alternative schools

that serve students of all demographics at risk of dropping out)

for Native youth in Northgate Mall. In other words, there is no

specific, culturally appropriate and supportive educational

institution for Native youth – their population is thrown in with

other “at-risk” youth of different ethnic and racial identity.

Ironic at best.

40


The original Indian Heritage High School was created in 1974

and found a home in the Wilson-Pacific school building. By the

mid-‘90s the school boasted 100 percent graduation rate (1994)

and became a national model of urban Native American education.

Under the leadership of Robert Eaglestaff, a Lakota from the

Cheyenne River Sioux reservation, the innovative school provided

public education to Native students while embracing cultural

identity and Native history. It worked – really, really well.

Currently the achievement gap widens, and while that is

important, it is not what I believe to be the most critical issue

at stake. Identity is – as well as a dismantling of the oppressive

white American imperialistic narrative and policies – political,

economic, and educational. As I see it, in order to strengthen

identity, decolonize the educational system – and thus the minds

of Native peoples and youth – and to have any hope of “closing

the achievement gap” there must be a serious attempt to address

what many in the native community are calling for: “Native-

specific curricula, more cultural inclusion, Native language

courses, and – primarily – a return of the District’s Indian

Heritage High School” (Driscoll, 2014).

41


I offer one addendum to the last phrase of the last line –

and I do so for a couple of reasons, both of which are based on

the research I have conducted and described above. First, it is

my dream (perhaps mine alone) to create a school that is

primarily for Native youth (actually for African American youth

as well, who are interested and open to creating culturally

appropriate curriculum from within their communities), but also

open to non-Native youth as well, where the curricula is Native-

specific, culturally inclusive, steeped in a decolonial, non-

Euro-centric – i.e.: non-Western, but indigenous and perhaps

cosmopolitan epistemologies and pedagogies – histories and

curricular trajectories in all subjects; Earth-centered (i.e.:

experientially rooted in nature and wilderness skills, etc.), and

surrounded by and embedded in Native language courses and inter-

spiritual practices and teachings – but mostly especially, Coast

Salish Life-Ways (thus Lushootseed language). This latter point

about inter-spiritual with a central focus on Coast Salish Life-

Ways is critical to this educational experiment; which brings me

to my second point or reason for such a school….

42


In a public school setting, study of religion or

spirituality – never mind actually practicing spirituality – is

impossible. Yet, within an Aboriginal worldview not practicing

and studying religion and spirituality undermines a truly

holistic education and development. And what I am proposing is

the creation of an educational system and curricula that not only

takes this domain into account, but makes it central to the

education itself. Additionally, since we are living in a

planetary community, everyone – students especially – would

benefit from being exposed to multiple approaches to life in the

Spirit and how to live that out in one’s everyday life. Again,

the centerpiece would be a spirituality rooted in Coast Salish

Life-Ways and other First Nations spiritualities – especially as

these might be reflected in the Native population who come from

the urban core – where other non-Natives could join in to the

degree that this would be culturally appropriate. But the main

point is the primacy of Aboriginal spirituality and

cosmology/religion.

Part of my reason for suggesting such a format is that

indigenous people around the planet have been and continue to be

43


forced to live in two worlds – one of their own choosing and the

other not of their own making. For decolonial studies,

epistemology and psychology to truly take root and disrupt Euro-

centric ontology, epistemology and pedagogy that are the

underpinnings of coloniality and Western hegemony and

Imperialism, while at the same time, laying the groundwork for “a

matrix of alternatives where we exit economic totalitarianism in

order to re-open the way to multiple histories in which each

human group, each society would define its own civilization, its

own culture, its own values, re-appropriating or re-inventing

them;” Whites of all European descent need to begin to live in

“two (or more) worlds” as well. Elsewhere I have called this

“project” a-coloniality (Peterhans, 2012) after Serge LaTouche’s

notion of “de-growth” developed in the documentary The End of

Poverty?: Think Again (Diaz, 2010) as well as in his book Farewell to

Growth (2009). Essentially, I believe it means that we must not

only delink from the “religion of economics” as a driving force

and teleological focus in education and all societies, as well as

from the structures that support them, but we must also dismantle

various forms of Euro-American privilege as these manifest

44


themselves in terms of sexual orientation, race, gender,

relationship with the Earth and other species, as well as in

terms of whiteness and social power. Living immersed in an

Indigenous world would be good for everyone.

Discussion

My final thoughts are basic and simple. It’s time to change

the social arrangements so that everyone has a place at the

table. It is also time to change the underlying psychological

framework, likely amassed over centuries and millennia of

intergenerational experiences and ancestral accumulation, as well

as day-to-day personal encounters. I believe that the personal

narratives that we hold, told over and over again from the

generations of family and “clan” storytellers, hold the key, if

only in beginning stages, to beginning to change the current

socio-cultural arrangements. According to Duran, Firehammer and

Gonzalez (2008), “Culture is a part of soul…. When the soul or

culture of some persons are oppressed, we are all oppressed and

wounded in ways that require healing if we are to become

liberated from such oppression. (It) is important to realize that

we have all been on both sides of the oppression/oppressor coin

45


at different points in our lives. It is also important to become

aware that a clear path toward healing must be undertaken by

individual counselors (teachers – anyone really!) as well as by

the mental health professions (educational systems) as a whole if

we are to realize new and untapped dimensions of our individual

and collective health and psychological liberation. In taking the

healing path, counselors (educators) will be able to provide

individual clients and the world community with much-needed

understanding of the way toward liberation and the fullness of

life in a manner that promotes harmonious interactions within the

overall web of the life-world.” Since, as they say, we are “all

part of a culture and not separate from it,” it seems like a good

time to be about the business of creating – or perhaps, re-

creating – a global culture that is reflective of reality; a

reality that is diverse, self-organizing (self-determinant) and

communal in nature. In other words, it is time that we all are

about the business of following the “healing path” because

whether we are oppressor or oppressed, each has deep

psychological and spiritual suffering underlying these different

but interrelated conditions. It is time we each open to the

46


“other” and create social conditions that will contain, sustain

and help each other flourish – right where we are planted.

But opening up to the other and creating social conditions

and structures that are more conducive to a flourishing human

diversity are not enough. In the contemplative spiritual

tradition in which I am situated, we speak of submitting to or

entering into the dynamic process of the Divine Therapy. This

requires deep trust and pure faith (via John of the Cross) to

submit to the profound psycho-spiritual healing initiated by the

Ultimate Mystery, the Divine Indwelling. In this spiritual

schema, we are willing to be alert to the unconscious or hidden

motivations in everything we do. Thus, we admit that more than

likely we are all “infected” with some type of emotional, social,

psycho-spiritual “disease” – or what we now call the human

condition – that manifests and has manifested itself personally,

systemically, and collectively over the millennia. Acknowledging

this reality – or “potential” if one is not yet ready to admit to

being a member of the sickest species on the planet (Keating,

1994) – is vital if any true and lasting healing is to take

place. Thus, according to Keating (1999):

47


If we don’t face the consequences of the unconscious motivation – through a practice or

discipline that opens us to the unconscious – then that motivation will secretly influence

our decisions all through our lives…. One needs a willingness to be exposed to the

unconscious. This requires courage and persistence. We can’tcall up the unconscious at

will…. When we are not thinking, analyzing or planning and place ourselves in the presence of God in faith, we open ourselves to the contents of the unconscious. We should do this gradually so as not to be overtaken by an overwhelming explosion of emotion…. The unconscious needs to be respectedand approached with prudence…. Contemplative prayer starts modestly, but as soon as it begins to reach a certain intensity, it opens us to the unconscious. Painful memories that we have forgotten or repressed begin to come to consciousness. Primitive emotions that we felt as children and that we have been compensating for may come to consciousness…. The divine therapy, like Alcoholics Anonymous, is based on the realization that you know where you are and that your life is unmanageable. We may be able to lead a relatively normal life, but there is no experienceof the true happiness that comes from letting go of the obstacles to the awareness of the divine presence. Spiritualawareness is designed by God to become our normal awareness.

The unfolding and deepening of the contemplative spiritual

process of the divine therapy, I believe, mirrors nicely the

“spiritual” life-ways of First Nations Peoples of the Western

Hemisphere. A profound spiritual program and path is essential to

not only dismantling the false self system and healing the

western psyche that is foundational to the colonial project that

48


manifests itself in all its racist (etc) expressions as these are

embedded institutionally and systemically, but it is also

supportive of nearly every Aboriginal worldview. If we are to, in

the words of Duran et al, “promote harmonious interactions within

the overall web of the life-world,” then a contemplative

spiritual vision and praxis will be indispensable for both healer

and healed, oppressor and oppressed, for everyone concerned. It

will be indispensable for cultivating a consciousness (a

transcultural consciousness) that is capable of listening to and

appreciating every culture, ethnicity and life-journey.

49


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Multiculturally Informed Therapy: Accompanying First Nations People of the Western Hemisphere

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