Strong Helpers' Teachings, Second Edition
The Value of Indigenous Knowledges in the Helping Professions
By Cyndy Baskin
Timely and accessible, Strong Helpers’ Teachings skillfully illustrates the importance of Indigenous knowledges for students, practitioners, and scholars in the human services. Making space for the voices of many Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars, practitioners, and service users, Cyndy Baskin’s text models possible pathways towards relationship building and allyship. Placing Indigenous concerns and perspectives at the centre of social work disciplines, and through the use of examples and case studies, Baskin covers topics such as spirituality, research, justice, and healing.
This thoroughly updated edition includes new chapters on self-care for helpers, holistic approaches to mental health, and two-spirit experiences and is a valuable resource for those interested in sharing, listening, and teaching Indigenous worldviews and helping practices.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE: STARTING AT THE BEGINNING
Who Are Indigenous Peoples?
Overview of the History of Colonization
The Role of Social Work in Colonization
Fears of Appropriation
Who Is This Book For?
What This Book Is and Is Not About
Indigenous Approaches Can Enrich the Helping Professions
CHAPTER TWO: THE SELF IS ALWAYS FIRST IN THE CIRCLE
Let’s Begin with Me
Help for the Helpers/Self-Care
Protection from Isolation
Turning Anger into Activist Power
CHAPTER THREE: WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO THOSE WHO DO THE HELPING
Terra (Part One)
Suicide Is Not a Private Act
Those You Think Will Understand
Terra (Part Two)
Views on Suicide
Prevention through Relationships
CHAPTER FOUR: CURRENT THEORIES AND MODELS OF SOCIAL WORK AS SEEN THROUGH AN INDIGENOUS LENS
Anti-oppressive and Structural Social Work Theories
Cultural Competency Models
Indigenous Worldviews Guide Approaches to Helping
CHAPTER FIVE: CENTRING ALL HELPING APPROACHES
Being Secure in Who You Are
Sameness or Acceptance of Difference?
Challenges to Incorporating Indigenous Approaches
CHAPTER SIX: FROM AN ETHICAL PLACE
Framework for Writing about Values and Ethics
From an Ethical Place
Moving Away from Individualism
Seven Sacred Teachings
CHAPTER SEVEN: HOLISTIC OR WHOLISTIC APPROACH
The Family and Community
All of Creation
CHAPTER EIGHT: THE ANSWERS ARE IN THE COMMUNITY
Why Community First?
People Know What Is Needed
Wealth of Resources
Helpers as Warriors
CHAPTER NINE: SPIRITUALITY: THE CORE OF INDIGENOUS WORLDVIEWS
How Is Spirituality Defined?
Where Are We Heading?
CHAPTER TEN: MENTAL HEALTH AS CONNECTED TO THE WHOLE
Definitions and Causes
CHAPTER ELEVEN: HEALING JUSTICE
There’s Always a Story
Values Behind the Practices
What Needs to Be Learned?
Power of the Circle
Role of the Helper
The Community Council
Listening to the Youth
Interest in Indigenous Justice
N ot without Controversy
CHAPTER TWELVE: PROUD TWO-SPIRIT PRINCESS BOY
Who Are Two-Spirit People?
How Is Two-Spirit Different from LGBTQ?
Colonization and Its Impacts on Two-Spirit People
One Child’s Story
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: CARING FOR FAMILIES, CARING FOR CHILDREN
Who Said, “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child”?
The Story of Andrea and Charlene
Eliminating the Child vs. the Family Dichotomy
Customary Law and Care
Kinship Structures and Family Group Conferencing
Child Welfare Community Council
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: THE POWER OF PEDAGOGY
How I Teach
Learning through Story
Teaching in Context
Who Teaches Whom?
Healing in the Classroom
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: TAKING BACK RESEARCH
Researched to Death
Holistic and Reciprocal
Control and Ownership
What Non-Indigenous Researchers Can Learn from Us
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: WE ARE ALL RELATED
Connected through Worldviews
Connected through Colonization and Globalization
My Relatives in Brazil
Taking a Stand
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: SO YOU WANNA BE AN ALLY?
What Does an Ally Look Like?
Allyship in the Present Day
Allies and Indigenous Peoples
Not All Allies Look Alike, However
Sometimes It Means Knowing When to Shut Up
Know Yourself First
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT
A Post-colonial Lens
Our Mother Is Counting on Us
What If …
“A Period of Change Is Beginning”
“In this timely and pertinent text that responds to the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Cyndy Baskin offers scholars, students, and practitioners the importance of Indigenous approaches, knowledge, and epistemology in the area of helping. This text provides a comprehensive and affirmative overview in how we as current and potential professionals can respectfully incorporate an Indigenous lens in the field of social work. For Indigenous students and practitioners, this text re-affirms the knowledge, values, and resilience of our lived experiences within our families and communities. Nya:weh (gratitude) for this valuable publication!”
— Bonnie M. Freeman, PhD, Algonquin/Mohawk from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, School of Social Work, McMaster University
“The spirit of Indigenous regeneration in the human services fields is within the pages of this valuable new edition. Baskin speaks to diverse Indigenous and Settler peoples with critical perspectives on decolonizing and respecting Indigenous knowledge across the helping professions.”
— Kirsten Mikkelsen, Indigenous Studies, Department of Arts and Education, Grande Prairie Regional College
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