Counseling Disorders: A Narrative Analysis

The continuous trauma that they endured has negatively affected the mental health and physical health of the population. Native Americans are at higher risk for depression, physical/sexual abuse, domestic violence, substance abuse, and mental health issues (McLeigh, 2010). Native American youth are three times more likely to commit suicide than the average population. Native Americans in general are twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression and five times more likely to have alcoholism. Colonization not damaged natives mentally, but also brought harm to their physical health as Europeans brought diseases (measles, chicken pox, smallpox, etc) to America (McLeigh, 2010). In order for this population to be served to treat their many medical and mental health issues brought on by years of trauma, policies must be implemented to help Native Americans specifically. However, the reality is that natives mental health needs are often ignored (Gone, 2004). There have been policies that have attempted to meet the needs, but much more is needed. In the most recent action towards improving mental health services for natives, the Affordable Care Act of 2010 permanently gave authorization to the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (Ross, Garfield, Brown, & Raghavan, 2015). This policy will be discussed and analyzed to examine further needs for services in this

Domestic violence has a relationship with same social determinants of health mentioned in “Bad Sugar”, which shows how oppression and hopelessness affects the American Indian community in more than one way. American Indians are already oppressed by American society with having

As a counseling student, it is very important to formulate a counseling theory tailored to ones’ own personality and beliefs. A counselor may choose a single theory to model when practicing therapy or pick and choose components and techniques from various theories, otherwise known as eclecticism. No theory is considered right or wrong. Understanding the different therapeutic approaches are important to effective counseling, however, counselors must also understand their own personal value, view of human nature, human behavior, counseling techniques and the purpose and goals of counseling. Understanding these components along with the different theoretical approaches will provide the counselor with a 9 knowledge of their own counseling, orientation and is essential to not only the productivity of counseling but the growth of the counselor as well.

Myths, legends, and folklore from the various Native American tribes that once inhabited the current day United States have puzzled and intrigued anthropologists, sociologists, and historians alike. These stories, meticulously passed down from generation to generation through the sacred art of storytelling, open a window into the past. Through this window, one can witness the cultures, belief systems, and lifestyles that thrived before European settlers ever set foot upon American soil. Although these tribes, numbering in the five hundreds, were both linguistically and regionally diverse, their stories still contains key identifying factors that typify Native American oral literature ("An Introduction"). The characteristics

The Native American culture is the original culture of the United States. Members of Native American tribes live throughout the country. “There are an estimated 4.9 million persons, in 565 federally recognized tribes who are classified as American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AI), alone or in combination with one or more other designated racial classifications. This demographic group compromises 1.6% of the U.S. population” (Horowitz, 2012). Wisconsin is home to the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago), Ojibwa (Chippewa), and the Potawatomi tribes (“American”, 2014). It is important for nurses within this state, as well as any other state, to understand the Native American belief system in order to provide a quality healthcare experience. Nurses are the primary point of contact in the healthcare setting. Client advocacy is one of the nurse’s major roles. Therefore, the nurse should have the highest level of diversity understanding for the cultures within the local region.

I am writing you today as a young woman concerning the lack of attention towards the violence against women in retrospect to the Native American population. The fear of being a victim of assault as a young women is prominent within the society in which we live today. However, there is some relief in the fact that there are resources available at my disposal if I was to experience assault. Yet, there is a large portion of women that do not have that reassurance, and the likelihood of them experiencing assault is even greater than my own. This portion of the women population is Native American women. I will admit that the severity of the issue in concerns with the native population is something that I just recently became aware of. et I have

Alvord Practiced at Gallup Indian Medical Center where she stood out from her peers. She realized that all of her peers are Anglos and she was the only Native American. Although she is Native American she is not seen as such from her Native American Patients because of her modern medical practices. Alvord felt conflicted for her Native American background by practicing western medicine. She realizes that trust is the most difficult aspect when having Native American patients. Since the doctors are mostly Anglos it is difficult to communicate to the Navajo patients. Alvord realized this conflict and bridged the patient-physician gap by speaking Navajo and touching the patients. Since Navajo’s believe in touching, singing and feeling as a major

In face of these attempts to strip American Indians of their cultural and linguistic identity, it is important to note that American Indians and their communities have never been passive. An understanding of how education is experienced is integral in explaining why assimilation and colonial education has failed. The history of American Indian education in the United States is not merely one of endless oppression, but more amazingly, is one of survival, a practice of collective and individual resilience, and resistance. Each historical account gives insight not only about the ill-motivated attempts of the U.S. federal government to educate American Indians, but also details the dedication of American Indians and their communities to maintain their

Paula Gunn Allen’s article compliments and expands on Garcia’s article by revealing the important role Native American women play in their people’s physical and cultural survival. Due to the United States Government’s policies, she strongly believes the Native American population faces extinction, while some tribes have already disappeared. Gunn Allen is passionate in her description of Native American women who are on the front battle lines for the very survival of their children, people, self-respect, value systems, and they’re way of life. Gunn Allen sums up the ongoing struggle beautifully when she shares a personal reflection of , “We bond, we care, we fight, we teach, we nurse, we bear, we feed, we earn, we laugh, we love, we hang in there, no matter what.”

Due to various socio-cultural factors that impede First Nations/Native Americans’ usage of mental health programs and services, their particular needs and characteristics will influence the way assessments, goal setting, and interventions will be utilized when working with a First Nations client. For example, Grayshield, et al., (2015), discuss the historical trauma that Native Americans/First Nations populations have experienced here in the United States. This includes prohibiting Native Americans/First Nation individuals from speaking their language and practicing their spiritual and cultural traditions. Historical trauma also includes the impact of Native Americans/First Nations children being sent to boarding schools and away from their families and cultural traditions. By forcing Native Americans/First Nations communities to assimilate, this caused trauma their mental health and that can also be seen in present time.

In the following paper we will explore the cultural heritage of Stephanie Cotton. During this exploration we will discuss the aspects of Stephanie’s heritage that her family is most proud of, ashamed off, and how her White heritage has resulted in privilege. The following paper will also discusses how Stephanie’s heritage will affect her as a Marriage and Family Counselor, strategies to combat possible bias and micrograssion, and other tools that will facilitate Stephanie being a culturally competent counselor.

Native Americans have long questioned the authenticity of non-native researchers and Social Workers alike. In sum, they just don’t trust them and for good reason. Because of this, it is not surprising that most of the studies and interventions conducted within the ingenious population are incomplete or inconsistent. Many of us have skeletons in our closets, as does the social work profession. Although the primary mission of the social work profession has a dual focus of meeting the wellbeing and needs of people in a societal context, that did not always apply to Native Americans. Because of these historical practices non-native mental health professionals and researchers are acknowledged with skepticism.

Consequently, at the community level with the traumatic impact that has resulted in alcoholism, sexual abuse and the fracture of the American Indian family system, we have lost the benefits of a wholesome community and all they have to offer in cultural diversity and preservation of nature. The side effect of these traumas is; broken homes, dysfunctions and moral decay in communities. In this case, the alarming rate of sexual abuse of children in Native American communities. Whenever, a child is sexually abused, the entire society is affected by the

Duran’s book offers  clinical experience to provide guidance to counselors working with the native people. By taking theory into actual day-to-day practices Duran presents us with information on effective strategies to prevent problems like substance abuse, intergenerational trauma, and internalized oppression. The book has multiple cases from Duran’s research of those who are traumatized due to a historical event. I found this book very helpful in my research because it gives me insight on the cause of trauma due to our western views. The book is written by a psychologist with a PHD which makes this information accurate. The purpose of this book is to teach psychology students and new counselors to treat Native Americans better because they

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between culture and the clinical practice of psychological assessment. Over the past decade, psychologists have come under criticism for maintaining a mainstream cultural status quo in clinical practice. In particular, indigenous peoples throughout the world have pointed out that clinical psychologists, in both research and practice, have not successfully been able to understand or deliver culturally appropriate services due to Psychology's entrenched, Western European, ethnocentric perspective. In order to understand the difficulties that psychologists might face in performing assessments on people of First Nations heritage, a collaborative research project was undertaken