Firstly, I’ve written a section relating to Indigenous Wellbeing on Sharing Culture. I’ve also written a variety of sections on the diverse range of healing approaches that can be used to help Indigenous peoples. I’ve uploaded six pages of these and more are forthcoming.
I’ve started to develop an educational section on Indigenous Healing on Recovery Stories. You’ll see that I’ve set up a special tag at the top of the website.
I hope you enjoy this content and find of it value. For those of you who would like to work through this content via my blogs, here’s the first part of the Understanding Indigenous Wellbeing section:
‘Indigenous Heath and Wellbeing
To appreciate the many ways that society can facilitate the healing of Indigenous people, we must understand the Indigenous view of health and wellbeing. It is different to that of western culture.
Indigenous people have a holistic view of health and wellbeing that incorporates the physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, social and environmental. It does not just focus on the individual, but also on the health and wellbeing of the community.
This view, which has been in existence for tens of thousands of years, is far richer than the western concept of mental health, which comes from an illness or clinical perspective.
This perspective is focused more on the individual and their level of functioning in their environment. It primarily utilises the medical model and is focused on pathology, deficits and symptom management.
The indigenous concept of 'social and emotional wellbeing concept is broader than this and recognises the importance of connection to land, culture, spirituality, ancestry, family and community, and how these affect the individual.' [1]
In relation to the health of Indigenous people of Australia: 'It must be recognised that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have great strengths, creativity and endurance and a deep understanding of the relationships between human beings and their environment.
The centrality of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family and kinship must be recognized as well as the broader concepts of family, and the bonds of reciprocal affection, responsibility and caring. Self-determination is central…' [1]’