Developing Spiritual Competency with Native Americans: Promoting Wellness through Balance and Harmony
- 1 October 2008
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services
- Vol. 89 (4), 615-622
- https://doi.org/10.1606/1044-3894.3816
Abstract
Native Americans tend to hold culturally unique beliefs about the origin of problems and the ways in which those problems can be ameliorated. For most Native American tribal communities, spirituality is interconnected with health and well-being. Accordingly developing some degree of spiritual competency is essential for work with Native American clients. Consequently this paper discusses the relationship between spirituality and health, highlighting the roles that balance and harmony play in fostering health and well-being in many tribal cultures. Also discussed are common spiritual beliefs and practices, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, areas of potential value conflict, and practice suggestions to enhance spiritual competency when working with Native Americans.Keywords
This publication has 13 references indexed in Scilit:
- Activism and American Indian IssuesJournal of Progressive Human Services, 2000
- Psychotherapy with Native Americans: A view into the role of religion and spirituality.Published by American Psychological Association (APA) ,2000
- Does the Worm Live in the Ground? Reflections on Native American SpiritualityJournal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 1999
- Tribal and Shamanic-Based Social Work Practice: A Lakota PerspectiveSocial Work, 1999
- Traditional American Indian family systems.Families, Systems, & Health, 1997
- Valuing Spirituality Among Native American PopulationsCounseling and Values, 1996
- Counseling Native Americans: An introduction for Non‐Native American CounselorsJournal of Counseling & Development, 1991
- Counseling Intervention and American Indian TraditionThe Counseling Psychologist, 1990
- Wounding the Spirit: Discrimination and Traditional American Indian Belief SystemsHarvard Educational Review, 1988
- Community mental health services to minority groups: Some optimism, some pessimism.American Psychologist, 1977