Indigenous Approaches to Holistic Wellness

The essays question the ways in which components of the reconciliation, such as apology and witnessing, have social and political effects for residential-schools survivors, intergenerational survivors, and settler publics. It's about the role that music, film, visual art, and Indigenous cultural practices play in and beyond Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian Residential Schools.

Coming Full Circle is an interdisciplinary exploration of the relationships between spirituality and health in several contemporary Coast Salish and Chinook communities in western Washington from 1805 to 2005. The book makes a strong case for the current shift toward tribally controlled care, arguing that local, culturally distinct ways of healing and understanding illness must be a part of contemporary Native healthcare. Combining in-depth archival research, extensive ethnographic participant-based fieldwork, and skillful scholarship on theories of religion and embodiment, Crawford O'Brien offers an original and masterful analysis of contemporary Native Americans and their worldviews.

In this groundbreaking collection, well-known and cutting-edge authors bring to light life with mental illness. These evocative essays, by writers who either suffer from or have close family members diagnosed with mental illness or a developmental disorder, aim to break down the stigma that surrounds one of the most devastating of human tribulations. The anthology drills to the core of compassion and disappointment, transcending hope and sometimes finding beauty in insanity. With a foreword by physician and bestselling author Gabor Maté MD, Hidden Lives gives readers a place to turn and communicates not despair but courage.

Indigenous peoples face certain historical, cultural-linguistic and socioeconomic barriers to mental health care access that government, health care organizations and social agencies must work to overcome. This volume examines ways Indigenous healing practices can complement Western psychological service to meet the needs of Indigenous peoples through traditional cultural concepts. Bringing together leading experts in the fields of Aboriginal mental health and psychology, it provides data and models of Indigenous cultural practices in psychology that are successful with Indigenous peoples. It considers Indigenous epistemologies in applied psychology and research methodology, and informs government policy on mental health service for these populations.

The leading voices in Indigenous literary studies draw upon deep currents of inspiration--both ancient and contemporary--as they reflect upon and powerfully perform the act of re-making the world through language.

Helen Knott, a highly accomplished Indigenous woman, seems to have it all. But in her memoir, she offers a different perspective. In My Own Moccasins is an unflinching account of addiction, intergenerational trauma, and the wounds brought on by sexual violence. It is also the story of sisterhood, the power of ceremony, the love of family, and the possibility of redemption. With gripping moments of withdrawal, times of spiritual awareness, and historical insights going back to the signing of Treaty 8 by her great-great grandfather, Chief Bigfoot, her journey exposes the legacy of colonialism, while reclaiming her spirit.

Journey to Healing is a comprehensive and practical evidence-based resource. It was written to help prepare students and professionals to provide counselling and social services to Aboriginal people with mental health and addiction issues in urban, rural and isolated settings. The guide is intended to serve as a course text for health, social service and justice programs in universities and community colleges. It will also be of interest to social workers, addiction and mental health service providers, and prison, probation, parole and police officers working with Aboriginal communities

Indigenous peoples have shockingly higher rates of addiction, depression, diabetes, and other chronic health conditions than other North Americans. According to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, these are a result of intergenerational trauma: the unresolved terror, anger, fear, and grief created in Indigenous communities by the painful experiences of colonialism, passed down from generation to generation. With passionate argumentation and chillingly clear prose, author and educator Suzanne Methot uses her own and others' stories to trace the roots of colonial trauma and the mechanisms by which trauma has become intergenerational, and she explores the Indigenous ways of knowing that can lead us toward change.

In The Medicine of Peace, Jeffrey Ansloos explores the complex intersections of colonial violence, the current status of Indigenous youth in Canada in regards to violence and the possibilities of critical-Indigenous psychologies of nonviolence. By linking the contemporary experiences of Indigenous youth with broader contexts of intergenerational colonial violence in Canadian society and history, Ansloos highlights the colonial nature of current approaches to Indigenous youth care. Using a critical-Indigenous discourse to critique, deconstruct and de-legitimize the hegemony of Western social science, Ansloos advances an Indigenous peace psychology to promote the revitalization of Indigenous identity for these youth.

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Pete, a young Aboriginal gang member, is sent to jail for killing his mother's boyfriend during a fight. While there, he realizes that he has become a negative influence on his younger brother and decides to turn his life around with the help of traditional Aboriginal healing circles and ceremonies.

Dr. Lori Lambert (Mi'kmaq/Abenaki) writes about the problems of adjusting research methodologies in the behavioral sciences to Native values and tribal community life. Today, Indigenous peoples are developing Indigenous Research Methodologies from stories told by elders. These methods allow researchers to respect Native communities and contribute to their healing and empowerment. Indigenous research is not a new phenomenon. People indigenous to their place have known since time immemorial how their world works. By careful observation, they have always been researchers. In countless Indigenous communities, these story keepers have preserved the knowledge of their community's past.

The Routledge Handbook of Indigenous Wellbeing consists of five themes, namely, physical, social and emotional, economic, cultural and spiritual, and subjective wellbeing. It fills a substantial gap in the current literature on the wellbeing of Indigenous people and communities around the world. It is also a useful resource for non-government organizations to gain insight into relevant global factors for the development of stronger and more effective international policies to improve the lives of Indigenous communities.

UVic Libraries' print copy

Seven Sacred Truths presents a powerful exploration of an Indigenous woman's healing journey. Seeing the world through "brown" eyes, poet Wanda John-Kehewin makes new meaning of the past, present, and future through a consideration of Love, Wisdom, Truth, Honesty, Respect, Humility, and Courage. By sharing her views on these Seven Sacred Truths and what they meant to her growing up, John-Kehewin instigates a therapeutic process of restoration and transformation.

This nonfiction book examines how we can foster reconciliation with Indigenous people at individual, family, community, and national levels.

Edmund Metatawabin tells the story of his years as a child in the 1950s in St. Anne's, one of Canada's worst residential schools, and the healing he found from his alcoholism and PTSD through his reconnection with his Cree culture.

The definitive guide to coastal hikes in eight distinct areas of western Vancouver Island. From the remote beaches of the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail to the rugged surf-swept shore of Cape Scott, Vancouver Island offers spectacular coastal trails for all abilities. Complete with trailhead and campsite information, this guide is indispensable to those planning and choosing a hiking trip.