American Indians & Eskimo Indians

Multicultural Awareness and Best Practices for Native People

Are American Indians and

Alaskan Natives related or

the same?

Areas Highlighted

• Historical Trauma and Current Status• Education• Substance Abuse and Treatment• Domestic Violence• Suicide• Spirituality • Women’s Issues • Youth Issues• What counselors need to know

History of Oppression:

• By the end of 18th century only about 10% of original population remained due to wars and diseases and they lost most of their land

• In the 1830’s more than 125,000 Indians were forced from their homes in many different states and tribes to a reservation in Oklahoma

Five Levels of Cultural Orientation(Acculturation):

– Traditional

– Marginal

– Bicultural

– Assimilated

– Pantraditional

Native Values

• Sharing & Cooperation

• Spirituality

• Non-verbal communication

Current Information• American Indians (AI) and

Alaska Natives (AN) have 565 different tribes

• AI and AN population is 2.9 million in 2010, only 0.9% of total population

• 34% live on reservations, 57% in metro areas

• Only 71% are high school graduates, compared to 80% of US population

• Poverty rate double the US average

Current information

• Injury and violence account for 75% of all deaths for AI/AN between ages 1-19

• AN/AI suffer disproportionately from depression and substance abuse

Educational • High rate of school failure –

academic decline starts in 4th grade

• Middle school aged children

have a significant decline in achievement motivation as academic success does not lead to reward or success.

• Only 11% have a bachelors degree compared to 24% of US population

Substance Abuse• Have highest weekly alcohol

consumption of any ethnic group

• Alcoholism mortality rate 2x that of US population

• In Alaska – 32% of AI/AN women of childbearing age report heavy drinking – leads to disproportionately high % of cases of fetal alcohol syndrome in this population

Successful Drug Treatment Programs:

• Community oriented

• Engage the entire community

• Include Tribal leaders.

Domestic Violence

• Rate of physical and sexual assault is quite high

• AI/AN often sexually abused & assaulted early in life – especially high among lesbian and bisexual women

• Many tribes have acknowledged this and developed community based domestic violence interventions using strategies from Indian culture instead of majority culture

Suicide

• High rate of suicide

• AI/NA youth have 2x rate of attempted and completed suicide than other youth

Positive Features

• Families and the tribe take care of each other • Raise children as a unit

• Tribal connection to nature and spirituality are important elements in this ethnic group

• Sharing

• Cooperation

Two- Spirited

• Lakota: wíŋkte

• Navajo : nádleehé

• Mohave: hwame

Spirituality

• There is no one path or practice for American Indians.

• It is incorporated into every aspect of their lives.

• Community and family ritual is highly important.

• Regard all that is living as scared and on an equal level.

• Giving is among one of the highest regards for a spiritual life.

Lakota Sweat Lodge

Prayer Ties

A Lakota practice of support and prayer.

Women’s Acculturation• AI women continue to

experience the acculturation process in the 21st century.

• Traditional responsibilities and education

• Culturally, gender roles among AI women have evolved

Acculturation Assessment

• Cultural values aid counselors in helping the client to define and examine their cultural and personal strengths

• These may help with identity formation, including spiritual/religious and sexual identities

• It is suggested that for AI clients who are not familiar

with counseling, the acculturation assessment should be bidirectional

AI Women

Tribal and clan membership and values Counselors should inquire about the AI women’s

value for their great responsibilities such as their fight for cultural survival with holding families and tribes

together and ownership of all their property

Acculturation Information collected might include:

• Personal and tribal definitions of traditional and nontraditional activities, beliefs, and values

• Beliefs regarding family roles and religion• Level of traditionalism, acculturation, or assimilation• Clients’ reactions to and experiences with mainstream

society• Preferences for daily language use, meals, clothing, and

music and reading selections• Overall cultural identity, which may include numerous

identities--race/ethnicity, gender, religious and spiritual

Physical and Mental Health

• Counselors must consider the stressors and responsibilities of AI women, coupled with their hesitancy to seek services

• AI women experience health irregularities that did not exist prior to their colonization

• Depression affects 79% of AI women who use HIS mental health services and suicide rates are four times the rates amount all other U.S. women

Effective Counseling Techniques and Communication Styles Needed for AI Women

• Counselors may consider working from a holistic, wellness-based framework.

• Bibliotherapy and narrative therapies.

• Communication styles of AI female clients should be observed closely by the counselor.

• Using silence in counseling

Native American Youth

• Issues concerning the influences of culture in assessments of Native American students.

• What’s not being done?

Academic Performance

What is available presents a disturbing analysis of the academic performance level of Native American (as well as of African and Hispanic American) students in comparison to the majority of middle-class White students.

Academics…

How accurately do the instruments used for assessing academic performance reflect the true knowledge base of the Native American student?

Are there extenuating circumstances that must be taken into account when using standardized assessment tools that may have been developed for a select group of students?

Academics…

Cultural Aspect of Assessment is Important

• Formal tribal approval• Stability of the student

population and teaching force• Accuracy and adequacy of

assessment tools used • Challenges in interpreting the

data.

Considerations

Unknown to a large extent are the influences of culture,

environment, and other factors on a student’s ability to do well on

standardized tests.

In Conclusion:

• Vygotsky tells us the following:The primitive child is a child who has not undergone a cultural development or one who has attained a relatively low level of that development. Children’s primitiveness, i.e., their delay in cultural development, is primarily due to the fact that for some external or internal cause they have not mastered the cultural means of behavior, especially language.

Paradigms

• Eurocentric paradigms focus on individual pathology.

Stressing Model

TRENDS: 2004-2005 2007-2008

BINGE ALCOHOL USE

31.7% 28.0%

ILLICIT DRUG USE 11.1% 10.3%

TRENDS: 2004-2005 2007-2008

ALCOHOL USE

42.8% 47.5%

BINGE ALCOHOL USE

31.7% 28.0%

ILLICIT DRUG USE

11.1% 10.3%

As Counselors We Need to:

– Be alert for problems like abuse and suicide– Help kids determine whether it is cultural values

or unreceptive environment contributing to problems

– Develop concrete goals– Family interventions may need to include more

than nuclear family– Generate possible solutions with client – may

need to include cultural elements that focus on mind, body and spirit

As Counselors We Need to:

– Explore ethnic identity – traditional or mainstream– Understand the history of oppression and learn

about their tribe– Evaluate using client centered listening style

initially then determine when to use more structure and questions

– Look at individual, family, extended family, friends and tribal community if necessary

– Address basic needs first: food, shelter, child care, employment

Discussion Questions• Does the fact that only Black and Chicano

youth are the only minorities with cultural sociological research bother you in any way? Why?

• This article suggests using a holistic, wellness-based counseling approach, are there any other counseling approaches that would seem appropriate for this cultural group?

• Does anyone know where the phrase “Indian Giver” came from?

• Why are the American Indians and Alaska Natives stressed? Can you identify some stressors of the American Indians and the Alaskan Natives? How can these circumstances change?

• Some American Indians want to abolish Columbus Day and instead have a holiday that honors indigenous people. It bothers these young Indians that people believe that Christopher Columbus discovered America when there already were indigenous people living there. What would you think if we changed that day to honor the indigenous people? Would it replace Columbus Day or be an additional holiday?