Indigenous healing can help survivors
Counsellor develops model that blends mainstream and Indigenous practices
In an effort to better serve her Indigenous clients, a Saskatchewan sexual assault counsellor has developed a new model that incorporates First Nations healing practices into mainstream counselling practices.
Corrine Mcarthur presented the new guide at the Sexual Assault Services of Saskatchewan (SASS) Leadership Forum held at the Ramada Hotel from Feb. 6 to 7.
“A big part of it was educating the therapists that were here on the impacts of residential schools and colonization,” said Mcarthur, a sexual assault counsellor with the non-profit Society for the Involvement of Good Neighbours (SIGN).
“A lot of the First Nations clients say that a mainstream counsellor doesn’t understand that.”
The new model is Mcarthur’s response to No. 22 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, which calls on those “who can effect change within the Canadian health-care system to recognize the value of Aboriginal healing practices and use them in the treatment of Aboriginal patients.”
She explained how the sexual abuse inflicted on Indigenous children at residential schools has carried into future generations.
“It’s not just date rape. It’s not stranger rape. It’s interfamilial rape. It’s sexual abuse. We have fathers on daughters. We have brothers on nieces and nephews,” she said. “It’s happening in our communities because so much was broken. There’s no healthy leaders within our communities to step up and say ‘Look, this needs to stop.’ ”
In addition to educating counsellors on the impacts of residential schools, Mcarthur’s model emphasizes the teachings of the medicine wheel, which promotes a balance between the physical, emotional, spiritual and mental aspects of a person.
She has incorporated the medicine wheel as well as other aspects of First Nations’ world views — like the idea that human life and nature are interconnected and the circle as a symbol of power, peace and unity — into the western practice of trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy.
Research into the work of Indigenous scholars in the field of social work and assault guided the development of the new model.
As part of that research, Mcarthur consulted with knowledgeable elders.
“I’ve asked elders from different tribes, different languages, is there a word in your language for sexual abuse?” said Mcarthur.
“No, there isn’t. Maybe there is now,” she was told. It wasn’t until the trauma of residential schools that there became a need for a word like that, said Mcarthur, and as a result of the clash of western and Indigenous cultures she said a multi-faceted and multicultural approach to healing is needed.
“Because this is a contemporary issue, mainstream counselling therapy is needed,” said Mcarthur. “It’s like when an individual goes to a healer for a physical illness, they’re still taking their medication from a doctor. They can’t do one without the other.”
The first of its kind, the leadership forum was created to share sexual violence education, awareness and prevention resources to service providers and community members in the province.
“I think that by me doing that and being the only First Nations sexual assault counsellor in the province, that hopefully the other member agencies of SASS will follow,” said Mcarthur.
She hopes the biggest takeaway from her presentation is how sexual abuse impacts Indigenous communities, and that it inspires people to not let fear keep them from speaking up.
“If they know something ’s going on or they have a suspicion something is going on — report it so that we can start breaking that cycle,” she said.
Mcarthur hopes to have the new model published and available for other counsellors and sexual assault prevention agencies to use by the summer.