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ACA Editorial 2006
Bibliography on Marginalisation, Healing, Spirituality, Culture, Indigenous and Colonisation Issues 2007
This bibliography was initiated during late February 2007, following an invitation of the Mi’Kmaq Resource Centre at Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia, Canada, to donate my work to the archive. These works will be housed under the ‘Dr Randolph Bowers Collection’ and this bibliography provides a summary of resources accessed during the time specified below. The terms of reference for this collection are listed in no particular order. Certain terms are listed under the Australian/Canadian spelling and American spelling. The terms are listed as: Aboriginal, Indigenous, Mi’Kmaq, Micmac, Eastern Tribes, Northeast, First Nations, NA Indian, Disability, Gender, Sexuality, Homophobia, Two-spirit, Berdache, Medicine Men/ Women, Shaman, Healer /Healing, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Racism, Prejudice, Identity, Minority, Marginalisation, Marginalization, Healing, Education, Counselling, Counseling, Health, Sociology, Traditional Medicine, Wholistic, Holistic, Spiritual, Spirituality, Culture, Cultural Medicine /Practice /Belief; Research Methods, Qualitative, Grounded Theory, Phenomenology, Epistemology, Ontology, Feminist, Queer, Gay and Lesbian, Standpoint Theory, Critical Theory.
Counselling with the Ageing and Pastoral Care 2006
Studies indicate that the influence of institutionalised religion is waning in most Western nations. In contrast, personal, spiritual, and subjective approaches to faith are on the rise. The latter may or may not relate to traditional Christian frameworks. These trends are most apparent with the aging ‘baby boomer’ population, thus changing notions of pastoral care in many countries. Counselling, as a secular and scientific modality, is well placed to meet the needs of a highly educated and articulate ageing population whose values are, in many ways, representative of ‘post-Christian’ and ‘post-colonial’ worldviews. Exploring the applications of counselling in dialogue with pastoral care for the ageing is a new area for practice and research. This paper explores these issues in light of a wholistic model of counselling that honours how meaning and spirituality are constructed in everyday life through personal and social experiences. This is accomplished through analysis of the social construction of ageing via discursive techniques of difference, also admitting the post-secular. Issues of meaning are highlighted that place ageing, counselling, and pastoral care into wider social and historical contexts. Deconstructing ageing in the postmodern includes articulation of a postmodern transcendental method in critical social analysis, including acknowledgement of theological and philosophical issues. The discussion concludes with suggesting a queer critical social analysis to assist in understanding the politics of ageing.
Counsellor Education and Humanist Colonialism 2009
This narrative reflection emerged during a time of personally reconnecting with Mi’kmaq First Nation culture and heritage while working in the mainstream roles of counsellor educator and educationalist in Australia. The essay expresses turning points along a path of increasing political and social discomfort with the status quo in counsellor education. Paradoxically, and in parallel fashion, as Indigenous empowerment increased the issues that arise also became more difficult. Staying with these questions long enough to see through the fog seemed important. Disconcerting questions arose related to identity, prejudice, and healing in a field where helping is purported to be the chief focus of our work. The essay examines “Aboriginal Australian” constructs of counsellor education as expressions of liberal humanist colonialism. Pathways towards an Indigenous aesthetic are suggested based in a post-colonial model of culturally-grounded and locally-grown expressions that honour Indigenous ways of knowing. A new paradigm for counsellor education is suggested that listens to recent articulations of global Indigenous epistemology, ontology, and cosmology.
Counselling Governance, Standards for Practice, and Competencies in Australia 2006
Diversity in Creation: Identity, Race, Sexuality 2007
This paper reflects theoretically on research in sexual and gender difference in relation to issues of race and identity. Across manifestations of diversity it is observed that issues of identity arise which challenge individuals to come to terms with difference, and to set a course where in they feel empowered to negotiate social environments and to mitigate the politics of difference. The paper explores this theme at the intersections of Metis or Mixed racial identity, two-spirited gender identity, sexual orientation and spiritual/cultural identity from both an autoethnographic and a narrative reflective mode of writing while reflecting on past insights from research studies focused on sexual and gender difference.
Identity Prejudice Healing Mi’kmaq Methods in Counselling 2010
Identity and embodiment are central issues facing Aboriginal people. These issues are explored as sites of multiple meanings and associations related to prejudice and healing. Examples are chosen in the forms of racism and homophobia. Healing of identity is explored from the perspective of indigenous practice in wholistic and traditional Aboriginal medicine. Also, education and coun- selling are used as sites of inter-cultural dialogue. Models of healing in identity are proposed that rely on prior research, cultural awareness, and professional practice in counselling and education.
Indigenous Identity Healing and Counselling Suggestions with Case of Marsha 2007
As a discussion of clinical issues in counselling in an Indigenous and/or multicultural setting, this paper explores issues associated with the healing and integration of race, identity, and empowerment. The issues are highlighted by a case study of a 36 year old, female, lesbian, Indigenous Canadian, immigrant to Australia. A process of values clarification and identity-reframing is discussed through an exercise called ‘Opening a Sacred Circle’. This process may be used in creating space for personal and social acknowledgment, healing, and transformation during a time when issues of reconciliation, social justice, and mobilisation of Indigenous peoples requires practical, culturally appropriate, flexible, and sensitive responses to issues faced in a ‘post-colonial’ environment.
Mapping Competencies for the Counselling Profession in Australia 2011
In the Australian and Asia Pacific contexts, counselling is a fairly new discipline with a decidedly fresh and foundational opportunity to explore the nature of the discipline in generative ways arising from local contexts. This paper proposes to the profession a timely, practical, and integrative model for mapping of core competencies for entry to the profession of counselling psychotherapy. The model arises from an ongoing reflection on contemporary Australian and Asian Pacific contexts after twenty-five years of practice in the human services and counselling sectors and over a decade in tertiary counsellor education.
Mi’kmaq Cosmology and Counselling 2010
This paper explores from a Mi’kmaq and Aboriginal standpoint foundational knowledge in Indigenous therapeutics. Based on an eco-social-psycho-spiritual way of working, the article proposes Indigenous cultural models that open a window to a rich cultural repository of meanings associated with Indigenous cosmology, ontology and epistemology. The three layers of meaning, theory and practice within the symbolic ‘Medicine Lodge’ or ‘Place of the Dreaming’ give rise to ways of working that are deeply integrative and wholistic. These forms of Indigenous theory and practice have much to offer the counselling and complimentary health professions. [Due to the copyright on this publication we do not feel free to share the paper as such].
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21507686.2010.493205
Our Stories Our Medicine Indigenous Healing Methods in Psychotherapy 2004
This Inaugural Address for the Australian Counselling Association Annual Conference 2004 presents a holistic and Indigenous perspective on healing, change, and counselling. Social and political contexts are explored, with emphasis on placing current professional debates in the context of an emerging discipline. The strengths of ACA are highlighted, and a vision for a holistic approach to the culture and politics of counselling is shared.
Shieldwolf and the Shadow as Mi’kmaq Cultural and Celtic Metaphor for Healing and Psychotherapy 2005
This paper speaks from a poetic voice and briefly discusses the untamed nature of metaphor and narrative. Then the story is shared. The tale relates to how healing of identity, after eons of raCism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of social isolation and internalised sorrow, reqUires deep abiding patience. Situated in transpersonal or spiritual space, the story suggests how Indigenous narrative crosses thresholds between realiry and fiction. These are united in an “ontopoetics” of soul, a uniquely postmodern Indigenous sensibility that is also nothing terribly new. The story of Shieldwolf and the Shadow is a contemporary Indigenous tale of the place where transformation is undertaken, without fear, and with every intention that life itself will change beyond our reckoning. It may be possible that past bloodlines can be cleansed and our future restored to justice and peace – at least in some personal and contingent way. What we see in contemporary story is a potential for transformation that has eluded us for generations, and this is an echo of the wisdom of our elders.
Qualitative Research Methods in Counselling 2007
Counselors practice in a wide range of disciplines, but also represent a distinct discipline separate from medicine, psychology, and social work. Particularly in countries like Australia, Canada, and the Asia Pacific nations, as a relatively new field, counseling is taking up the challenges of encouraging a research culture that can both critique and support clinical practice and counselor education. This paper is thus written to support novice counselor researchers, and to inspire an emerging research culture through sharing formative experiences and lessons learned during a qualitative research project exploring minority issues in counseling. Key Words: Counseling, Health, Qualitative, Methods, and Narrative