Indigenous Knowledge And Mental Health

This book brings together Indigenous and allied experts addressing mental health among Indigenous peoples across the traditional territories commonly known as the Americas (e.g. Canada, US, Caribbean Islands, Mexico, Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Brazil), Asia (e.g. China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Indonesia), Africa (e.g. South Africa, Central and West Africa) and Oceania (New Guinea and Australia) to exchange knowledge, perspectives and methods for mental health research and service delivery. Around the world, Indigenous peoples have experienced marginalization, rapid culture change and absorption into a global economy with little regard for their needs or autonomy. This cultural discontinuity has been linked to high rates of depression, substance abuse, suicide, and violence in many communities, with the most dramatic impact on youth. Nevertheless, Indigenous knowledge, tradition and practice have remained central to wellbeing, resilience and mental health in these populations. Such is the focus of this book.

North America’s Indigenous population is a vulnerable group, with specific psychological and healing needs that are not widely met in the mental health care system. Indigenous peoples face certain historical, cultural-linguistic and socioeconomic barriers to mental health care access that government, health care organizations and social agencies must work to overcome. This volume examines ways Indigenous healing practices can complement Western psychological service to meet the needs of Indigenous peoples through traditional cultural concepts. Bringing together leading experts in the fields of Aboriginal mental health and psychology, it provides data and models of Indigenous cultural practices in psychology that are successful with Indigenous peoples. It considers Indigenous epistemologies in applied psychology and research methodology, and informs government policy on mental health service for these populations.

Drawing attention to the ways in which creative practices are essential to the health, well-being, and healing of Indigenous peoples, The Arts of Indigenous Health and Well-Being addresses the effects of artistic endeavour on the “good life”, or mino-pimatisiwin in Cree, which can be described as the balanced interconnection of physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental well-being. In this interdisciplinary collection, Indigenous knowledges inform an approach to health as a wider set of relations that are central to well-being, wherein artistic expression furthers cultural continuity and resilience, community connection, and kinship to push back against forces of fracture and disruption imposed by colonialism. The need for healing—not only individuals but health systems and practices—is clear, especially as the trauma of colonialism is continually revealed and perpetuated within health systems. The field of Indigenous health has recently begun to recognize the fundamental connection between creative expression and well-being. This book brings together scholarship by humanities scholars, social scientists, artists, and those holding experiential knowledge from across Turtle Island to add urgently needed perspectives to this conversation. Contributors embrace a diverse range of research methods, including community-engaged scholarship with Indigenous youth, artists, Elders, and language keepers. The Arts of Indigenous Health and Well-Being demonstrates the healing possibilities of Indigenous works of art, literature, film, and music from a diversity of Indigenous peoples and arts traditions. This book will resonate with health practitioners, community members, and any who recognize the power of art as a window, an entryway to access a healthy and good life.

This book examines a collaboration between traditional Māori healing and clinical psychiatry. Comprised of transcribed interviews and detailed meditations on practice, it demonstrates how bicultural partnership frameworks can augment mental health treatment by balancing local imperatives with sound and careful psychiatric care. In the first chapter, Māori healer Wiremu NiaNia outlines the key concepts that underpin his worldview and work. He then discusses the social, historical, and cultural context of his relationship with Allister Bush, a child and adolescent psychiatrist. The main body of the book comprises chapters that each recount the story of one young person and their family’s experience of Māori healing from three or more points of view: those of the psychiatrist, the Māori healer and the young person and other family members who participated in and experienced the healing. With a foreword by Sir Mason Durie, this book is essential reading for psychologists, social workers, nurses, therapists, psychiatrists, and students interested in bicultural studies.

"Through the understanding that Indigenous Peoples are in the process of rising from the "colonial container", with the goal of individual and collective wellbeing, this edited book will explore decolonizing mental health in order to ad¬vance various possibilities for living a quality life within the present-day conceptualizations of Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being. Part I builds the foundation, our knowledge base, upon which we can talk about decolonization mental health. Part II explores the concept of identity/self. Part III examines empowerment. Part IV discusses culturally specific mental health and wellbeing practices. Finally, Part V looks at political action."--

Bringing together researchers from geographically, culturally, and linguistically diverse regions, Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Research Methodologies offers practical guidance and lessons learned from research projects in and with Indigenous communities around the world. With an aim to examine issues of power, representation, participation, and accountability in studies involving Indigenous populations, the contributors reflect on their own experiences conducting collaborative research in distinct yet related fields. The book is anchored by specific themes: exploring decolonizing methodological paradigms, honoring Indigenous knowledge systems, and growing interdisciplinary collaboration toward Indigenous self-determination. This volume makes a significant contribution to Indigenous community as well as institutional scholarly and practical discussions by emphasizing guidance and questions from Indigenous scholars who are designing studies and conducting research that is moving the field of Indigenous research methodologies forward. Discussing challenges and ideas regarding research ethics, data co-ownership, data sovereignty, and dissemination strategies, this text is a vital resource for all students interested in the application of what can be gained from Indigenous research methods.

On cover & title page:Nations for mental health.

This book discusses the importance of culture and diversity within society through multicultural, cross-cultural, and intercultural encounters while applying psychological effectiveness to manage core competencies. It carefully explains how influential the social environment is to an individual within a society. It seeks to directly affect mental health practitioners’ treatment within practices in accordance to specific ethno-cultural clients; and it seeks to encourage students and practitioners to practice acceptance of diverse groups and multiracial communities. Although understanding various cultural norms and accepting diversity is not always simple, the book promotes a global understanding through identifying cultural benefits within a multiracial, multi-ethnic society, while evoking culturally competent techniques for mental health practitioners.