With the wind and the waves: a guide to mental health practices in Alaska Native communities

Abstract

The following model for mental health professionals working within Alaska Native communities maintains four guiding principles fueling its infrastructure. Embodied within its framework is its particular emphasis on non-Native practitioners working alongside village-based personnel coupled with the need to understand and accept Native people for who they are, working with them on an individual and community level. Following my experience on the ocean with the wind and the waves, it recognizes and emphasizes mental health professionals going with what is given in a Native community. Further, although my reference to "mental health professionals" is often intended for non-Native mental health providers, this does not exclude Native mental health providers due to these reasons: 1) some American Indian providers who move to Alaska to practice in rural/remote Alaska villages are not familiar with Alaska Native culture or the history of trauma experienced by Alaska Native people; 2) for a variety of reasons (e.g., raised outside of Alaska and not connected to the culture), some Alaska Native providers may not be familiar with their culture or history; this is not uncommon since most of the Alaska Native history is not taught in school but rather through Elders and the practice of oral tradition.--Provided by publisher.