草莓污视频导航

Nov. 30, 2022

Treating trauma as ghosts: How finding parallels in Indigenous and western healing can improve mental wellness support

Elders Teaching Series welcomes Piikani Elder Reg Crowshoe on Dec. 7
Treating trauma as ghosts: how finding parallels in Indigenous and Western healing can improve mental wellness support
Piikani Elder Reg Crowshoe Riley Brandt, 草莓污视频导航

The effects of traumatic life events are much like ghosts: the consequences will linger with a person, rarely visible and silently influencing them in negative, haunting ways. Beyond a poetic metaphor, these 鈥済hosts鈥 can take on an important role in the healing process for some Indigenous cultures.

Dr. Reg Crowshoe, a Piikani Elder and cultural adviser at the 草莓污视频导航, says his culture鈥檚 approach to mental health practice involves dealing with the ghosts that represent emotions or sicknesses we can鈥檛 see. He will be sharing his knowledge on intergenerational trauma and mental wellness at the 听on Dec. 7.

鈥淚 would say trauma splits your body from your spirit, and then you start having trouble with emotion,鈥 says Crowshoe, Hon. LLD鈥01. 鈥淎nd emotion, you can鈥檛 see 鈥 you can feel it. Fear, frustration, anxiety, even sickness and so on 鈥 those are ghosts.鈥

Crowshoe says if trauma is left untreated, these ghosts can lead people down the wrong path. He explains that his culture has a protocol for each of these negative emotions, with the community being a key part of recovery.

鈥淲hen your body has no spirit, you might be the smartest man, you know what's right and wrong, you don鈥檛 abuse alcohol or drugs, you know that,鈥 he says. 鈥淏ut, when your spirit is gone, your body follows other bodies that have no spirit and they might go into crime, drinking and alcohol 鈥 That鈥檚 why we have the healing ceremonies of bringing the body and the spirit back together, so you do the right thing, and you can heal.鈥

The image of trauma represented as a ghost can be helpful when those who have been traumatized want to blame themselves, says Crowshoe. 鈥淚t takes away the concept of regret,鈥 he says.

You need to forgive yourself, otherwise, regret is another ghost.

These Indigenous ways of knowing and doing don鈥檛 have to exist in conflict with western medicine, says Crowshoe, adding he sees parallels and urges people to find solutions together 鈥 which includes learning the language other cultures use to talk about mental health. For example, he compares how western medicine works on written, scientific knowledge but Indigenous Elders understand ghosts: 鈥淭he two system languages need to understand each other if we鈥檙e going to solve the problems we need to solve.鈥

Many Indigenous youth are affected by intergenerational trauma, says Crowshoe, who has seen the way that isolation from cultural knowledge stifles their confidence and leaves them struggling with their identity.听

鈥淲hen I was young and I needed help, I didn鈥檛 have any money, but I knew the community was there. So, the old lady next door, she gave me some help,鈥 says Crowshoe. He recalls making his approach by picking some sage and saskatoons, offering them to the 鈥淕randma鈥 to open the conversation: 鈥淪he wasn鈥檛 my blood relative, but 鈥 I told her, this is what I was worried about, and she straightened it out for me.鈥

Crowshoe wants young people to know that no matter how separated they feel from their Indigenous community, they are always welcome back.

鈥淚 think we need to understand, our young people have a lot of grandmas in many of our cultures,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 did that when I was young. They could still do it and the grandmas and grandpas will be glad for it.鈥

As a residential school survivor who was beaten if he tried to use his Indigenous ways of thinking or doing, Crowshoe says he is careful not to impose 鈥渃ultural confusion鈥 on his students when he is teaching. He says he spends a lot of time providing parallels to help understand each other and show young people that both ways of thinking can contribute to a good way of life.

Crowshoe says he feels a lot of pride in sharing his culture鈥檚 stories with university audiences, noting how important it is for students to be exposed to diverse perspectives.

鈥淚 would say the university audience needs to have many different perspectives because that鈥檚 a part of research 鈥 looking at many different things,鈥 he says. 鈥淚f they can be introduced to a concept from an oral system, that will expand their research 鈥 and to be able to visit Elders and access Elders鈥 narratives with mental health, or whatever it is, to be a part of the research.鈥

For Indigenous youth, Crowshoe says his most important message is one of belonging: 鈥淭he ceremonies are still here. Your DNA is a part of these ceremonies. You do have a home here. If you can understand this kind of healing, or preventative health from our cultures, then it鈥檚 there for you.鈥

Event details

Dec. 7, 2022听
12 鈥 1:30 p.m., online听

, the 草莓污视频导航鈥檚 Indigenous Strategy, is a commitment to deep evolutionary transformation by reimagining ways of knowing, doing, connecting and being. Walking parallel paths together, 鈥榠n a good way,鈥 草莓污视频导航 is moving toward genuine reconciliation and Indigenization.