This qualitative, exploratory study examined the role vocation played for American Indian non-Tribal law enforcement officers in adaptively coping with historical trauma, or Soul Wound. Participants’ views of career in relationship to its perceived congruence with their Nations’ warrior societies and how this vocation may facilitate or constrain the management of Soul Wound or historical trauma issues was examined. For this study, 12 participants were interviewed and data were analyzed utilizing extended case method. Results indicated 11 of the 12 participants believed their vocation was congruent with their Nations’ traditional warrior roles, particularly related to the role’s value of mentorship and modeling well-living for the community. Participants’ interests and satisfaction, as well as facilitating and constraining factors of their roles, are discussed. The authors elaborate on existing theoretical understandings of Soul Wound and coping using the results. Limitations, implications, and future directions are described.
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., Text Rev.). Washington, DC: Author.
2.
Baker, K.G., & Gippenreiter, J.B. (1998). Stalin’s purge and its impact on Russian families: A pilot study. In Y. Danieli (Ed.), International handbook of multigenerational legacies of trauma (pp. 403-434). New York, NY: Plenum Publishing Corporation.
3.
Barker, M.L. ( 1998). Policing in Indian Country. Albany, NY: Harrow & Heston.
4.
Beals, P.H. ( 2000). A grounded theory analysis of conversations with eleven Alaska Native Vietnam veterans. Unpublished master’s thesis, University of AlaskaFairbanks, Fairbanks, AK.
Briggeman, K. ( 2007, March). Keeping a language alive: Co-founder of Blackfoot immersion school in Browning visits UM. Retrieved from http://www.pieganinstitute.org/keepinglanguagealive-co-founderatunivmontana.pdf
7.
Burawoy, M. ( 1991). Ethnography unbound: Power and resistance in the modern metropolis. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
8.
Burawoy, M. ( 1998). The extended case method. Sociological Theory, 16, 4-33.
9.
Byars, A.M., & McCubbin, L.D. (2001). Trends in career development research with racial/ethnic minorities: Prospects and challenges. In J. G. Ponterotto, J. M. Casas, L. A. Suzuki, & C. M. Alexander (Eds.), Handbook of multicultural counseling (2nd ed., pp. 633-654). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
10.
Cashin, J. ( 2001). Trauma and multigenerational trauma caused by genocide and oppression: A comparison of Western and Native American healing methods . Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences & Engineering, 61, 6758.
11.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities. ( 2009). Leading causes of death and numbers of deaths, by sex, race, and Hispanic origin: United States, 1980 and 2005. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf#030
12.
Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2001). Mental health: Culture, race, and ethnicity-A supplement to Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD.
13.
Danieli, Y. ( 1994). Trauma to the family: Intergenerational sources of vulnerability and resilience. In J. T. Reese & F. Scrivner (Eds.), The law enforcement families: Issues and answers (pp. 163-175). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation.
14.
Danieli, Y. ( 1998). Introduction: History and conceptual foundations. In Y. Danieli (Ed.), International handbook of multigenerational legacies of trauma (pp. 1-20). New York, NY: Plenum.
15.
Deloria, V. ( 1999). Spirit and reason. Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing.
16.
Deloria, V., Jr. ( 2001). Power and place equal personality. In V. Deloria, Jr. & D. R. Wildcat (Eds.), Power and pace, Indian education in America (pp. 21-28). Golden, CO: American Indian Graduate Center/ Fulcrum Publishing.
17.
Duran, E. ( 1990). Transforming the Soul Wound. Berkeley, CA: Folklore Institute.
18.
Duran, E., & Duran, B. ( 1995). Native American postcolonial psychology. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
19.
Duran, E., Duran, B., Yellow Horse Brave Heart, M., & Yellow Horse-Davis, S. (1998). Healing the American Indian Soul Wound. In Y. Danieli (Ed.), International handbook of multigenerational legacies of trauma (pp. 341-354). New York, NY: Plenum.
20.
Duran, E., & Ivey, A.E. ( 2006). Healing the Soul Wound: Counseling with American Indians and other Native peoples. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
21.
Eliasoph, N., & Lichterman, P. (1999). "We begin with our favorite theory . . . ": Reconstructing the extended case method. Sociological Theory, 17, 228-234.
22.
Elliot, R., Fischer, C.T., & Rennie, D.L. ( 1999). Evolving guidelines for publication of qualitative research studies in psychology and related fields. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 38, 215-229.
Freeman, B., Iron Cloud-Two Dogs, E., Novins, D., & LeMaster, P. ( 2004). Contextual issues for strategic planning and evaluation of systems of care for American Indian and Alaska Native communities: An introduction to Circles of Care. Journal of American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research, Journal of the National Center, 11(2), 1-29.
25.
Fouad, N.A., & Kantamneni, N. (2008). Contextual factors in vocational psychology: Intersections in individual, group, and societal dimensions. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.), Handbook of counseling psychology (4th ed., pp. 408-425). Chichester, UK: Wiley.
26.
Funder, M. ( 2005). Bias, intimacy and power in qualitative fieldwork strategies . Journal of Transdisciplinary Environmental Studies, 4(1), 1-9.
Gone, J.P. ( 2004). Mental health services for Native Americans in the 21st century United States. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 35(1), 10-18.
29.
Gone, J.P. ( 2008). "So I can be like a Whiteman": The cultural psychology of space and place in American Indian mental health. Culture & Psychology, 14, 369-399.
30.
Gone, J.P. ( 2010). Psychotherapy and traditional healing for American Indians: Exploring the prospects for therapeutic integration. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 38, 166-235.
31.
Gone, J.P., & Alcántara, C. (2007). Identifying effective mental health interventions for American Indians and Alaska Natives: A review of the literature. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, 13, 356-363.
32.
Hill, C.E., Thompson, B.J., & Williams, E.N. (1997). A guide to conducting consensual qualitative research. The Counseling Psychologist, 25, 517-572.
33.
Hines, A.M., Merdinger, J., & Wyatt, P. ( 2005). Former foster youth attending college: Resilience and the transition to young adulthood. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry , 75, 381-394.
34.
Holm, T. ( 1994). The national survey of Indian Vietnam veterans. American Indian and Alaskan Native Mental Health Research, 6(1), 18-28.
35.
Holm, T. ( 1996). Strong hearts, wounded souls: Native American veterans of the Vietnam War. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
36.
Johnson, M.J., Swartz, J.L., & Martin, W.E., Jr. (1995). Applications of psychological theories for career development with Native Americans. In F. T. L. Leong (Ed.), Career development and vocational behavior of racial and ethnic minorities (pp. 227-250). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
37.
Juntunen, C.L., Barraclough, D.J., Broneck, C.M., Morin, P.M., Seibel, G.A., & Winrow, S.A. ( 2001). Native American perspectives on the career journey. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 48, 274-285.
38.
Kanuha, V.K. ( 2000). "Being" Native versus "going" Native: Conducting social work research as an insider. Social Work, 45, 439-447.
39.
Kothari, U. ( 2001). Power, knowledge, and social control in rural development . In B. Cooke & U. Kothari (Eds.), Participation: The new tyranny? (pp. 139-152). London: Zed Books .
40.
Lincoln, Y.S., & Guba, E.G. ( 1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
41.
Massey, A. ( 1998, September). The way we do things around here: The culture of ethnography. Paper presented at the Ethnography and Education Conference, Oxford, UK.
42.
McCormick, R.M., Amundson, N.E., & McLean, H.B. (1997). A career-life planning model for First Nations people. Journal for Employment Counseling , 34, 171-179.
43.
Miles, M.B., & Huberman, A.M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
44.
Miranda, G.E. ( 2004). Reading between the lines: Black-White heritage and transracial adoption. African American Research Perspectives, 10, 174-187.
45.
Morrow, S.L. ( 2005). Quality and trustworthiness in qualitative research in counseling psychology. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52, 250-260.
46.
Trimble, J.E. ( 2000). Social psychological perspectives on changing self-identification among American Indians/Alaska Natives. In R. H. Dana (Ed.), Handbook of cross-cultural and multicultural personality assessment (pp. 197-222). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
47.
U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau. ( 2004). Current Population Survey, 2004 annual social and economic (ASEC) supplement. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/apsd/techdoc/cps/cpsmar04.pdf
48.
U.S. Department of Defense. (n.d.). Native Americans and the U.S. military. Retrieved from http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq61-1.htm
49.
Van Velsen, J. ( 1967). The extended case method and situational analysis. In A. L. Epstein (Ed.), The craft of social anthropology (pp. 129-149). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
50.
Walters, K.L., & Simoni, J.M. ( 2002). Reconceptualizaing Native women’s health: An Indigenist stress-coping model. American Journal of Public Health, 92, 520-524.
51.
Whitbeck, L.B., Adams, G.W., Hoyt, D.R., & Chen, X. ( 2004). Conceptualizing and measuring historical trauma among American Indian people. American Journal of Community Psychology , 33, 119-130.
52.
Yeh, C.J., & Inman, A.G. ( 2007). Qualitative data analysis and interpretation in counseling psychology: Strategies for best practices. The Counseling Psychologist, 35, 369-403.
53.
Yellow Horse Brave Heart, M. ( 1998a). The American Indian Holocaust: Healing historical unresolved grief. Journal of the National Center for American Indian and Alaska Native Research, 8(2), 60-82.
54.
Yellow Horse Brave Heart, M. ( 1998b). The return to the sacred path: Healing the historical trauma and historical unresolved grief response among the Lakota. Smith College Studies in Social Work, 68, 288-305.
55.
Yellow Horse Brave Heart, M. ( 1999a). Gender differences in the historical trauma response among the Lakota. Journal of Health and Social Policy, 10(4), 1-21.
56.
Yellow Horse Brave Heart, M. ( 1999b). Oyate Ptayela: Rebuilding the Lakota Nation through addressing historical trauma among Lakota parents. Journal of Human Behavior and the Social Environment, 2, 109-126.
57.
Yellow Horse Brave Heart, M., & DeBruyn, L.M. ( 1998). The American Indian Holocaust: Healing historical unresolved grief. American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research , 8(2), 60-82.
58.
Yin, R.K. ( 1989). Case study research: Design and methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
