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Clinical suggestions for honouring Indigenous identity for helpers, counsellors, and healers: The case of ‘Marsha’
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Clinical suggestions for honouring Indigenous identity for helpers, counsellors, and healers: The case of ‘Marsha’

Randolf J Bowers
Counselling, Psychotherapy, and Health, Vol.3(2), pp.89-104
2007
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Abstract

Public Health and Health Services case study Indigenous counselling
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.

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