PSY646

Field, M. (2022). Decolonizing healing through indigenous ways of knowing. In M. F. G. Wallace, J. Bazzul, M. Higgins, & S. Tolbert (Eds.), Reimagining Science Education in the Anthropocene (pp. 121–134). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79622-8_8

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 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, and the needs of the present, and lays foundations for the future to work towards restoring integrity and prompting balanced care.

Ojelade, I. I., McCray, K., Meyers, J., & Ashby, J. (2014). Use of Indigenous African Healing Practices as a Mental Health Intervention. Journal of Black Psychology, 40(6), 491–519. https://go.openathens.net/redirector/nu.edu?url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0095798414533345

The current study used a qualitative design informed by indigenous research methodologies to describe how indigenous African healers and their clients address Western-defined mental health problems.

General format. (n.d.). Purdue OWL® - Purdue OWL® - Purdue University. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html

Case studies | Online resources. (n.d.). Online Resources |. https://study.sagepub.com/cac7/student-resources/chapter-5/case-studies

Borges, P. & Tomlinson, K. (Directors). (2017). Crazywise – Rethinking madness: Psychosis and spiritual awakening. [Film] Green Planet Films

This video serves as an example of moving from a Western Eurocentric perspective on mental illness to a Holistic paradigm around understanding struggles with mental health. https://go.openathens.net/redirector/nu.edu?url=https://video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/crazywise-rethinking-madness-psychosis-and-spiritual-awakening

References
Daybreak Therapy and Training. (2017, September 1). Holistic Psychotherapy and Integrative Mental Health [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzHrne5N-qM

Provides an overview of the holistic approach to psychotherapy and mental health. It explains how this approach considers the whole person, including physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being, in order to achieve optimal mental health and well-being. The video also highlights the importance of integrating various therapeutic and techniques to create a personalized treatment plan for each individual.

Nguyen M. (2020, July 8). A Holistic Approach To Mental Health For Beginners [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zhee7WP6dU

This video provides some tips for beginners who are interested in incorporating a holistic approach into their own mental health practices.

Maller, D., Butler, J., Hoeber, G., and Deksen, (2019). Western holistic counseling. In P.E. Dunn (Ed.), Holistic Healing: Theories, practices, and social change (pp. 83-105). Canadian Scholars

Grayshield, L., & Del Castillo, R. (2020). Indigenous ways of knowing in counseling: Theory, research, and practice. Springer.

Cristobal, K. A. (2018). Power of touch: Working with survivors of sexual abuse within dance/movement therapy. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 40(1), 68–86

Chaudhury, P., & Banerjee, D. (2020). "Recovering with nature": A Review of ecotherapy and implications for the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontiers in Public Health, 8, 604440

Harris, A. (2013). Gendlin and Ecopsychology: Focusing in nature. Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies, 12(4), 330–343.

Hooley, I. (2016). Ethical considerations for psychotherapy in natural settings. Ecopsychology, 8(4), 215–221.

Yoga: The divinity of grace.(2016). Benoy K Behl Films. https://go.openathens.net/redirector/nu.edu?url=https://fod.infobase.com/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=128488&tScript=0

Yoga is the challenging study of consciousness itself, understanding one’s body, understanding one’s emotions, understanding one’s mind and beyond that, understanding one’s true self. Conquering the fretful disturbances of the world around, great thinkers researched deep into the self. This was an epic project, spread across many centuries. A science of life was developed. To help us to know ourselves better. To help us to attain the peace and joy which can be found within. Yoga quite literally means to unite our self with the higher self, which is in us and is all pervasive. It means to join the subject with the object. To do this, we have strip away the many layers of momentary sensory perceptions, which assail our senses. These keep us forever bound to the material world. Our perceptions must be detached from the external world, to look within.

The Sacred Science is a groundbreaking documentary that captures an unprecedented glimpse into the ancient healing practices of the Amazon rainforest’s medicine men, or shamans, whose unique knowledge of indigenous plants and rituals is threatened by deforestation, modernization and ecotourism. The region’s traditional healers have knowledge of a vast catalogue of natural plant medicines and practices that have been time-tested for centuries, but are little-known outside the rainforests and may soon be lost forever. A large number of the synthetic medicines we know today were discovered in these rainforests. However, less than 5% of Amazonian plants have been examined for their healing potential. The Sacred Science follows eight people from the developed world with a variety of common and serious ailments who embark on a challenging, one-month healing journey into the heart of the Amazon jungle. Working with a handful of shamans experienced in the harvesting and preparation of traditional plant medicines, as well as ritual exercises, these men and women seek to overcome Parkinson’s disease, cancer, alcoholism, diabetes and depression. Ultimately, five of the patients return with measurable improvements, exceeding the expectations of many. Never before has such a candid, in-depth account of these traditional practices been caught on film. The Sacred Science is a provocative call both to look deeper into these traditional methods and their potential benefit to humankind, as well as to preserve the forests and ancient cultures for the treasures and knowledge they possess.

Root, M. P. P., & Duran, E. (Directors). (2007). Healing of the Soul Wound: Native American Psychology and Its Implications for Multicultural Theory and Practice. Microtraining Associates. https://go.openathens.net/redirector/nu.edu?url=https://video-alexanderstreet-com.eu1.proxy.openathens.net/p/16YXxz8E0

This video, from Microtraining Associates, focuses on Native American psychology and its implications for multicultural theory and practice.

Nsamenang, A. B. (2006). Human ontogenesis: An indigenous African view on development and intelligence. International Journal of Psychology, 41(4), 293–297. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=pbh&AN=20917093&site=ehost-live&custid=natuniv

Views on development and intelligence mirror mainstream Euro‐American ethnocentrism and are presented as being applicable to all of human diversity. In contrast, an African worldview visualizes phases of human cyclical ontogenesis of systematic socialization of responsible intelligence in participatory curricula that assign stage‐appropriate developmental tasks.