Essay Sample on Competence With Indigenous Counseling

Introduction

Counselors play an essential role in society. There are different roles and discussions that a counselor should involve his audience in. According to Bishop, Juarbe, and Thumme (2011), there has been a need to concentrate on emphasizing more on spirituality and all the things surrounding spirituality and be there for the support that people require. Counselors may face a lot of hardships as they try to fulfill their role, some of which may be people thinking that they are in favor of some more than others. The counselors still have to carry out their role despite their challenges. Factors like competency, being able to conceptualize their area of discussion, for example, marriage, being aware of the different culture, and having values similar to those in a particular society. It is essential for a counselor to be spiritual, for it greatly influences the manner they conduct their work. This will help them to create a perfect strategy for their work in an original paper as will be discussed in this paper.

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Counselors deal with very many different issues that have become in the society that we are living in. At times they may also end up being affected because they too are humans and have emotions. Bearing in mind about this factor, there is a program termed as the Transforming School Initiative that was introduced to train the counselors. Despite them being graduates, there are different issues that they will have to deal with in the world outside. The counseling initiatives serve as a method of preparing the graduates to be able to handle different kinds of people with varying levels of knowledge. The problem comes up when preparation and practice are different, and it can be changed. This was the reason why the initiative was formed. The counselors should be able to apply acquired knowledge in every type of community they go to. They should have the skill of assessment of who they should tell what. It is crucial that they can fit with the audience they are speaking to (Martin, 2010).

The environments that people live in influence the way that they think very much. To some land is essential, to other livestock and they have to find grazing land for their animals. Similarly, the way that they behave the ideas of survival is based on a particularly limited mode of survival. It is important that a counselor understands the physical outcome of nature to the behavior of humans. Emotional factors based on the natural occurrences like bearing children, spiritual attacks, and change in culture and practices that they have been used to. The kind of treatment as a child is a determinant of the mental health of a child. The counselors should be able to understand that the dynamism in culture and mental health issues are co-related. The aim is to help the people going through the challenges. Therefore the counselor should be able to go deep to the root cause of the problem and support the people to deal with the issues affecting them. Mental health should always be put first for all people (Kirmayer, Fletcher & Watt, 309).

The Possible Challenges of Working With an Indigenous Community

Different communities have different practices that they recognize some have outstanding practices that other communities may not have. Tanner (249) discusses the various social factors that affect the different ways through which communities argue out on problems. At an individual level, the terms given to such practices are different from the names in the community level. There are things like abuse and neglect of children, crimes, abused sexually, domestic violence where there is no uniform term in the various communities for these kinds of issues. Tanner verbalizes this to the term social suffering. The problem arises as a result of having different methods of reasoning which are inconsistent. Difficulties are resulting from lacking a common phenomenon for these challenges that thereafter lead to stress, depression to some and traumatic experiences to others.

According to Tanner (250), terms like the community should be avoided. This is because it brings the ideology of cultural relation to some. It raises some implication of the way people are supposed to live socially with each other. To counter this challenge was a Cree settlement that helped to draw back the group togetherness. There was then a problem because now it went to personal levels. People were trying to find solutions to group problems. There were events termed s healing movements that represent cultural themes. The healing movement goes to the root cause of the problem.

Local control is among the factors that contribute to wellbeing in a community. Having a positive state of mind and thinking contributes to the strong sense in a community. The way towards change and finding solutions to the problems were; treatment, preventing the issues and the process of healing, training and education, empowerment of the community, and lastly bringing ideas together. They are training programs to help in curbing the social challenge Kral and Idlout (318). To achieve the intended outcome solutions to problems that affect the communities, following the healing movement direction, a counselor should adopt a neutral method. The method should seek to find the root cause of the problem other than concentrate on the group or individual assumptions. This will help the counselor not only to help them to discuss the cause of it and the method through which they will manage to handle the challenge at hand.

Advantages of Being an Outsider

Being an indigenous counselor gives the counselor a chance to share the knowledge that they have and also offer a chance to their audience a chance to heal from the challenge that they may be going through. They have a chance to treat the problems from the indigenous communities. This is an opportunity to help others, which has a positive effect on the indigenous people. The counselor has a chance to guide individuals or a group. The sessions are flexible because the counselor is available most of the times to provide services to the people who need them. They have a chance to meet both indigenous and non-indigenous thus giving them a chance to interact with people who they have the same way of thinking with and also other people, therefore, they also have a chance to learn about other people and their cultures (Indigenous Counseling, 2019).

Through conducting indigenous counseling, the counselors can apply the practices in counseling in their real-life situations, and they are in a better position to overcome any challenges that they may be facing. The various techniques of therapy that they help others to understand they are also in a position to apply them when necessary. They can understand the various beliefs and culture and change of times thus can identify the most appropriate therapy depending on the challenge encountered by the indigenous community. Although they are, at times, feel affected by the stories that they hear from the people, they are not afraid to ask for assistance from other counselor friends. Asking for help is a step closer to achieving a solution to counter the problem being experienced (Indigenous Counseling, 2019).

Counselors have an opportunity to help people recover from challenging mental situations in their lives. Though this chance, they are also able to develop themselves and also to obtain ways that they can also deal with their problems. Despite the challenges that they encounter, they remain strong with the belief that it is through helping others that we also get help. Through strong spiritual belief and mental strength and seeking help when they feel overwhelmed, they can deal with the challenges and fulfill the driven passion for helping others.

References

Bishop D., Juarbe E., and Thumme B. (2011). Recognizing Spirituality as an Important Factor in Counselor Supervision. Counseling and Values, Vol 48. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-007X.2003.tb00273.x

Indigenous Counseling, (2019). Retrieved from https://www.uvic.ca/services/indigenous/students/supports/counselling/index.php

Kirmayer A., Fletcher C., Watt R. (2009). Locating the Eco-centric Self: Inuit Concepts of Mental Health and Illness. Chapter 13. Retrieved from https://0-www-deslibris-ca.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/ID/422886

Kral, M., and Idlout L. (2009). Community Wellness and Social Action in the Canadian Arctic: Collective Agency as Subjective Well-Being. Chapter 14.Retrieved from https://0-www-deslibris-ca.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/ID/422886

Martin P., (2010). Transforming School Counseling: A National Perspective. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip4103_2

Tanner A., (2009) The Origins of Northern Aboriginal Social Pathologies and the Quebec Cree Healing Movement. Chapter 11. Retrieved from https://0-www-deslibrisca.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/ID/422886