Conclusion to the Special Issue-School Psychology and Indigenous Peoples: Critical Perspectives and Indigenous-Led Approaches

Abstract

This special issue of the Canadian Journal of School Psychology is the first of its kind, with a focus on the intersection of school psychology and Indigenous Peoples within the Canadian context. Contributing articles grapple with approaches to training for Indigenous graduate students and practice with Indigenous communities that are responsive while negotiating the discipline’s ethics. Many specific examples of effective practice, involving Indigenizing and decolonizing elements are outlined for trainers, researchers, and practitioners. In this commentary article, the contributing articles are reviewed within the framework of a First Nations school psychologist’s reflections regarding training and practice.

The purpose of the special issue of the Canadian Journal of School Psychology was to focus on the intersection of school psychology and Indigenous Peoples in Canada. These contributions to the literature certainly challenge school psychologists to examine conventional practice, training, and ethics. Importantly, several meaningful collaborations with communities are shared, with specific examples of school psychology practice and training incorporating decolonizing and Indigenizing elements.

My name is Melanie Nelson and I am humbled and grateful to be involved with this important work. To conclude the special issue, I offer the perspective of one First Nations school psychologist regarding training and practice in school psychology with Indigenous people. Given the importance of self-location (Aveling, 2012), I will briefly introduce myself prior to continuing. My maternal grandmother was born into Seabird Island First Nation in Agassiz, British Columbia (BC). She married into Samahquam First Nation, which is between Lillooet and Harrison lakes in BC. My maternal grandfather was a member of Squiala First Nation in Chilliwack, BC, and my paternal grandparents were French Canadian and Danish. Prior to school and applied child psychology, I was a teacher of inclusive education and Indigenous education. My experience as an educator involved teaching in mainstream, adapted, modified, and alternative education programs. I have taught students of all ages, from kindergarten to grade 12 (K-12), as well as adults. I also held positions at classroom, school-wide, and district levels.

I am from an Indian Residential School Survivor family, which has shaped me as a person and led me into education. As a youth, I struggled significantly with behavior and attended an alternative program in Coquitlam, BC for a time in Grade 10. I repeated Grade 10 in Kamloops, BC where I lived for much of my youth prior to moving to the Lower Mainland, BC. I attended four schools from k-12 and met only one Indigenous educator during that time. The Indigenous educator was a support worker at the school I attended in Grade 11. Meeting her impacted my connectedness to school; I bonded with her immediately and visited her as often as I could because I felt she understood what I was going through. She was not a counsellor but our relationship was more therapeutic than any other I had experienced. Additionally, she offered a connection to culture in school, which had not been present prior.

Practice

Culture in schools is important for Indigenous youth for many reasons: a sense of belonging (Appanna, 2011; Prest et al., 2021; Rogers et al., 2022), increased retention (Aikenhead & Elliott, 2010; Rogers et al., 2022), and more positive behavior (Brayboy & Castango, 2008) to name a few. Tabor et al. (2023) describe the strength associated with culture in a classroom experiencing difficulty with school engagement in Kainaiwa (Blood First Nation) in southern Alberta. They noted the ways Indigenous artists shared their practices (e.g., hip-hop, drum making, beadwork etc.) and how this engagement with Indigenous art, with a particular emphasis on connection to culture, was healing for youth. In addition to increasing enjoyment in the classroom, the use of discovery learning through art was also helpful for youth to manage daily difficulties, find new ways to express themselves, and create their own stories outside of deficit narratives (e.g., focus on diagnosis and what the child cannot do).

Similarly, in a school on a reserve in northern Saskatchewan, the community’s strong culture and language were built upon in ways that brought transformational change, including improved academic outcomes, increased staff and student capacity to manage complex issues (e.g., depression), and the incorporation of the values, language, and cultural perspective of the local people into instruction (Andrews et al., 2023). Teacher retention in the school, as well as teacher effectiveness with respect to planning, implementing, and assessing learning improved. The classroom was enriched with Indigenous values, and mental wellness was improved for both youth and teachers. In other work, Gone (2022) also found that strengthening connection to culture may improve wellness and connection to community, emphasizing the need for school psychologists to advocate for the inclusion of Indigenous ways of knowing in schools.

In light of the many connections between school, psychological assessment, and colonization, I find many psychologists want to know how to conduct assessments in a culturally responsive way. While they may feel ready to take steps toward reconciliation, it is crucial to recognize that the truth about what happened to Indigenous people must be understood before they can approach reconciliation. Further, many do not realize they must examine themselves in order to think about reconciliation (Canadian Psychological Association and The Psychology Foundation of Canada, Task Force on Responding to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Report, 2018). Dmytro et al. (2023) share their experiences learning about the culture and true history of Indigenous people in Canada, as individual clinicians and as a team of school psychologists in an urban school district in BC. Important contextual information is provided, including departmental and district initiatives, activities taken up for learning, and steps taken to develop relationship with local Indigenous communities. They also explored challenges they encountered, to help other teams consider their respective situations and possible actions. The authors acknowledge the need for Indigenous youth mental health to be addressed in schools, particularly youth in foster care, and for access to more culturally responsive procedures. They also demonstrate understanding that ongoing community care is important, given their offer of ongoing service to the described community organization over time.

One aspect of Indigenous youth mental health, which has been prioritized by many communities, is addressing Indigenous youth suicide. I’ve recently been fortunate to collaborate with clinicians in northern areas of Canada, and the topic is at the forefront of my mind again. McVittie and Ansloos (2022) interviewed educators to learn about supports needed in schools to attend to suicide and the role of school psychologists in prevention efforts. Suicide rates vary by community and, contrary to the historical belief that suicide is individual in nature, it must be understood within the context of system-level distress such as lack of access to housing, healthcare, and mental health support, as well as over-representation of Indigenous youth in out-of-home care. Educators called for increased knowledge of experiences of Indigenous people, mentorship regarding cultural safety, and consultation with school psychologists regarding mental health and suicide prevention. Work with Indigenous youth should be strength-based and healing-focused, including the use of culturally relevant interventions. Finally, the safety of having an Indigenous person leading education regarding suicide and mental health with Indigenous people may result in youth being more open to talking about suicide.

I’ve had psychologists ask me how I practice within our discipline’s ethics while being responsive to communities. As an Indigenous person, attending to relationship is inseparable to who I am, yet our ethics seem to limit the nature of relationships. Being well-positioned to provide culturally responsive care to her community, McDougall (2023) shared her autoethnography to explore the inappropriate restriction the profession of psychology places on dual relationships in Indigenous communities. She shared her unfamiliar experience of having clients without a prior relationship, which is out of alignment with Indigenous ways of relating to others. Given her work is based on building relationships, in a context where the possibility of finding a youth with whom she did not have a prior relationship was close to null, the rules in place to “protect” her from personal attack invalidated her years of relationship-building, and the possible imprudence of avoiding dual relationships, especially in remote areas. Maintaining ongoing open communication, making processes explicit, and engaging with Elders are recommended.

Training

Golson et al. (2023) conducted a broader review to determine gaps in the school psychology literature regarding Indigenous people. Their study offered that research should be collaborative and done in consultation with Indigenous people to ensure studies are helpful to the community (i.e., as determined by them) and there is an urgent need for larger and more varied samples of Indigenous people. Suggested topics for research expansion included consultation with communities, addressing mental health, barriers to assessment, and the impact of culture through the assessment process or intervention services. Clinicians should participate in ongoing learning to develop more responsive practices. Training programs should recruit Indigenous graduate students and make efforts to retain them, Indigenous research approaches should be valued, there should be an increase in the number of opportunities for Indigenous graduate students, Indigenous faculty must be recruited into training programs, and Indigenous researchers should lead articles about Indigenous populations.

Some articles examined how school psychology training can be more responsive for Indigenous psychologists. In previous research, Ansloos et al. (2019) share the outcome of a collaboration between Indigenous psychologists that was initiated to better understand the possibilities for addressing Indigenous mental health and the advancement of training of Indigenous psychologists in Canada. Indigenous people were under-represented in faculty positions and as graduate students in training programs. Instruction also lacked Indigenous pedagogies and was decontextualized. Approaches to training in psychology largely excluded information regarding how to address the unique needs of rural and northern communities. The high need to incorporate Indigenous ways of knowing and challenges related to accessibility were also apparent.

Ansloos et al. (2019)’s study resonated closely with my personal experience. There were no Indigenous faculty or students in my program during my MA or PhD, nor were Indigenous pedagogies used. While I understand school psychology is rooted in western thought, there are ways the environment can be made more familiar and responsive to Indigenous students. For example, Indigenous pedagogies help us make meaning through sharing stories (Iseke & Brennus, 2011), pedagogies can decolonize learning (Marker, 2011), and encourage connecting with communities and learning from the land (Hare, 2015). The use of storytelling in academic courses may facilitate connection of course material to student lives, exposure to other cultures, and positive encounters with the learning environment (Golafshani, 2023). Indigenous scholar Davidson and her world-renowned father (Davidson & Davidson, 2016) describe Haida pedagogy, which includes elements not typically embedded in western programs such as spirituality and the connection between one’s heart and mind. Indigenous pedagogies may offer a more holistic learning experience for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students alike.

I agree with Ansloos et al. (2019) that training must include more relevant information for rural and remote communities. Recognizing each community has their own challenges, including easier access to substances in urban communities (G. Oleman, personal communication, February 24, 2020), it is vital that programs consider addressing how to work with rural and remote Indigenous communities in effective and responsive ways (McDougall, 2023). When visiting schools in northern areas of Canada, I heard teachers and administrators talk about the unfathomable and heart-breaking lack of resources, including significant teacher shortages, lack of specialized training in staff, and inability to fill open positions for specialty positions, including school psychologists. It is imperative we find innovative ways to collaborate with communities regarding their priorities, advocate for improved conditions for Indigenous youth, and challenge the structures that maintain power hierarchies in place (Canadian Psychological Association and The Psychology Foundation of Canada, Task Force on Responding to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Report, 2018).

The connection between power, education, community and wellness was addressed by Bernett et al. (2023). Based on their review of school psychology training concerning Indigenous people and survey of doctoral level school psychology programs in Canada, the authors consider the ways Indigenous people in general and Indigenous school psychologists are being encouraged (or not) to engage in education. Concerning school psychologists, they pointed to many aspects that may enhance encouragement: the inclusion of Indigenous languages, integration of culturally relevant academic and wellness resources, consultation with local communities regarding desired support and protocols, the use of culturally relevant interventions, respect for diversity while practicing specificity in interactions and writing, learning about youth sexual and gender identities within a cultural context, and contextualizing Indigenous students within their experiences and family history of Indian Residential School attendance. These measures concern elevating strength.

Relatedly, one submission to the current special issue exemplified strength-based approaches to training graduate students in Canada. Day (2023) used a culturally-grounded Two-Eyed Seeing approach to research with Indigenous graduate students who attended Canadian mainstream, Indigenized, and Indigenous-centered counselling programs. Interrelated themes determined from individual storytelling were recombined to tell a unified story consistent with Indigenous values. Relationality, care, and critical engagement were highlighted. Relationality, which include cultural learning and exposure to diverse Indigenous knowledges and how to be a good person, stood out in the narrative. The importance of care when creating cohorts, and courses that critically explore various aspects of and contributions of colonization to the current day, were suggested for implementation. Additionally, cultural humility, mandatory Indigenous courses, and implementing interviews for entry into programs were suggested.

Exposure to varied cultural knowledges, improved sense of belonging, and suggestions for admissions were also described by Robinson-Zañartu et al. (2023) in the context of a multi-year school psychology program at San Diego State University where the majority of enrolling students were students of color. The faculty had committed to diversification of school psychology and of their enrolling students decades prior, and one outcome of their efforts was federal funding for each student to attend the program. Other positive outcomes were the focus on equity issues for research in the program and the diversification of their faculty. Multiple strategies contributed to the development of this program including connection to others (i.e., family, role models), navigation of cultural fields (i.e., Indigenous, graduate school), equitable admissions and financial support, seeing oneself in the program (i.e., many same-ethnic students, sense of belonging), and continuous supervision in the field.

Funding Structures

In order for innovative change to come to fruition in practice and training, funding bodies must shift their understanding of what constitutes an ideal assessment with Indigenous people within the constraints of the western structure. Importantly, funding structures must support relationship development, as effective assessment with Indigenous people is dependent on a foundational relationship (Dingwall et al., 2013). Communities who contract psychologists, and the psychologists who are hired have a responsibility to prioritize learning. Psychologists can be guided to use local protocols to request time with Elders to learn more about community culture and experiences. Learning may involve storytelling or invitation to ceremony such as sweat lodge. Openness to other ways of knowing is important in order to learn. Communities need resources to provide opportunities for psychologists and to compensate psychologists for time spent in community.

Professionals being mentored by community members to understand the culture has been successful as ILLasiak Domoff et al. (2023) discuss. The authors describe a strength-based, community-led project completed in the Northwest Territories with a focus on defining success using holistic Indigenous perspectives regarding learning based on the community-adapted Inuit Lifelong Learning Model (Canadian Council on Learning, 2007). The creation of an ensemble mentorship, such as when teachers are matched with Indigenous persons from the community, and younger students with more experienced peers, is recommended for learning. School psychologists can provide guidance regarding navigating western educational structures, demonstrate sincerity in their relationships, respect that communities know what is best, and challenge persisting inequities in society.

Based on my experience, funding should also be provided for Elders or cultural support people to be present to support families. Ideally, an Elder would be present in the building or vicinity throughout the assessment. The calming presence may be helpful for families who are apprehensive of the process. In addition, the Elder may offer to smudge, if the practice is relevant to the family, or offer another form of cleanse or prayer to begin and close the process. If an Elder is asked to be present, they should be well-compensated for their time, given they come with decades of their own experience in addition to millennia of years of knowledge passed down through generations. Community protocols regarding compensation should be adhered to, which may include a gift of medicine (e.g., cedar is medicine for people on the west coast of BC) and western financial payment, as would be provided to any highly specialized person who is respected for their knowledge and skill set. Additionally, funding for food to share and gifts of medicine for parents is important. In some communities, myself and other clinicians provided books for the youth we worked with. The idea of exchange is important in mine and other Indigenous cultures.

Additional Thoughts

I am thankful for this special issue as a clinician and as an Indigenous person, and I am thankful for clinicians who read the articles and make meaning for themselves. I am very grateful for Indigenous parents and caregivers who persist despite being caught in a web of western systems that have historically failed communities. I am also very grateful for the generations of Indigenous youth that persist despite historical and ongoing colonization, and those that are reclaiming their culture and language, healing from intergenerational trauma, and attending post-secondary institutions to return to their communities for their betterment. When I reflect on my own experience as a youth, there were a few key teachers that saw past my behavior, recognized my potential, and challenged me to focus on my academics. Their perception greatly influenced how I saw myself and how I performed in school. When I was attending alterative school, I contemplated leaving school early, yet my previous connection with those few teachers helped me see my place in school. It is vital that we commit to perceiving Indigenous youth strengths.

Indigenous youth in Canada demonstrate many strengths including personal attributes such as agency (Hare & Pidgeon, 2011), self-awareness (Bailey, 2020), strong identity (i.e., cultural, academic); and positive self-esteem, approach to learning, and outlook (Rogers et al., 2022). The understanding of strength for an Indigenous person extends beyond oneself to include connection to family (Carrier et al., 2022; Hare & Pidgeon, 2011; Hatala et al., 2020; Salusky et al., 2022), peers (Bailey, 2020; Hare & Pidgeon, 2011), community, and culture (Carrier et al., 2022; Hare & Pidgeon, 2011; Hatala et al., 2020). The community includes the environment for Indigenous people (Ahenakew et al., 2014; Cajete, 1999; Gone, 2008; Korteweg et al., 2010), thus connection to land (Hatala et al., 2020; Salusky et al., 2022) and engagement in sports and physical activity (Campbell et al., 2021) are also sources of strength for Indigenous youth. How can we use this understanding to better support Indigenous youth?

Psychologists are responsible for the promotion of culturally appropriate procedures with a focus on student strengths and the inclusion of Indigenous knowledges (Canadian Psychological Association and The Psychology Foundation of Canada, Task Force on Responding to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Report, 2018). It is first necessary that we, as school psychologists continue to learn about Indigenous culture and experiences in western society (Côté et al., 2022). Although I am Indigenous, I do not know about the unique culture or particular experiences of other communities (Kovach, 2010) and therefore, I approach each family with openness to learning and gratitude for the relationship developed. I follow recommendations for taking steps towards more responsive work (Canadian Psychological Association and The Psychology Foundation of Canada, Task Force on Responding to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Report, 2018) and make ongoing changes to my practice.

In addition to offering food, medicine, smudge (i.e., when relevant), and relationship development to families, I’ve changed my intake questions to include information about cultural practices, which translates to a more holistic representation of the youth during the feedback session. This is tricky, as many Indigenous youth and families have been displaced from their territory or had to leave their communities to access education and other services. The impacts of colonization have resulted in families experiencing varying levels of acculturation, and many have not had the opportunity to engage with traditional knowledge. Additionally, the idea of practicing culture is complex, because there are many elements to Indigeneity in addition to what is typically thought of as culture (e.g., regalia). For example, my mother taught me about Indigenous values (e.g., generosity, being helpful), pedagogies (e.g., she modelled while using little dialogue), and ways of interacting with others (e.g., respect, responsibility).

The questions I ask during the intake, which expand my understanding of the youth and their context, are based on McCormick’s work with Indigenous people in Canada and the definition of spirituality that includes connection to family, community, culture, and land (McCormick, 2000). I am not assessing spirituality, as that is not appropriate. I am trying to learn about student strengths that are not typically uncovered using our background questionnaires, I am showing the families that I am making efforts to increase my responsivity, and I am collecting valuable information, which is helpful for conceptualizing student abilities. I find parents open up when asked about their child’s relationships with family members or what the youth is like when attending community functions.

For example, there is a boy I worked with in the Lower Mainland who was responsible for running ceremonies in collaboration with more experienced members. When I watched him in the Longhouse, he was using flexibility in thought, because Indigenous gatherings are naturally fluid, he was code-switching between languages (Peltier, 2011), he was reasoning as issues arose, and he was using his working memory to hold the many moving parts in his mind. Such Information is extremely helpful for understanding the youth, and vital when making decisions at cut-points such as with intellectual disability.

I also use information gained about the youth outside of school during the feedback session and through the recommendations. Although the Medicine Wheel is not used by all communities, there are come commonalities across Indigenous cultures (Dauphinais et al., 2009) including the concept of holism. I present the results through a graphic, which encapsulates only the student’s strengths, and I list the areas for support in bullet-form underneath. The graphic I use is similar to a Medicine Wheel and I provide examples for each realm: physical (i.e., background, current sleep etc.), emotional (i.e., I use this for social and emotional, or rating scales), mental (i.e., cognitive, academic), and spiritual (i.e., connections as outlined above). I make sure to ask parents whether they want their child represented in this way and whether the definition of spirituality is relevant for their family.

My reports include an acknowledgment of the territory and of the power differential created between myself and the community as a result of western psychological practice and my commitment to respectful interactions with families (Canadian Psychological Association and The Psychology Foundation of Canada, Task Force on Responding to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Report, 2018). I also clearly emphasize the knowledge being privileged. For example, for verbal comprehension, I state that youth are using information about western culture to reason using Standard English. I also list types of memory that are relevant to Indigenous people but excluded from the assessment, such as cultural memory (Schultz et al., 2016) and storytelling (Lavoie et al., 2014). Ongoing care following the assessment is also a priority for me (G. Oleman, personal communication, July 4, 2018), even though it requires additional time, effort, and resources. It is important for clinicians to recognize that ongoing community care is vital and that processes will likely be more lengthy, involved, and costly given the need to specify supports to the individual or group (Canadian Psychological Association and The Psychology Foundation of Canada, Task Force on Responding to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Report, 2018). This is important work and I feel privileged to continue learning about reconciliation in school psychology. Elder Gerry Oleman asks me to think about what my role is in the healing movement of communities (G. Oleman, personal communication, November 9, 2017). What is your role in the healing movement?