Mapping Tensions of Non-Indigenous Clinicians Working with Indigenous Peoples in a Counselling Context

Despite the need for intervention following the discovery of thousands of Indigenous children’s unmarked graves across Canada in 2021, access to culturally safe mental health services for Indigenous Peoples is limited. Predominant Western treatment methodologies tend to operate from a colonial lens, privileging biomedical models that pathologize Indigenous clients for challenges that are sociocultural in nature. While psychological training programs, particularly in counselling psychology, have recently emphasized multicultural training, the adequacy of such programs in preparing clinicians for working with Indigenous people is still in question. Inadequate training can negatively impact counsellor performance and result in further marginalization and discrimination. Given these concerns, this thesis explores the tensions that non-Indigenous counselling psychologists encounter when working with Indigenous individuals to identify how non-Indigenous therapists can align themself with the principles that guide Indigenous approaches to wellness. In line with Indigenous ethics, a circular approach is used. Individual interviews with two Indigenous (one Cree and one Anishinaabe) Collaborators provided insight into the relevance and structure of the talking circles with five registered psychologists. A concept map of salient points was created to explore participant responses. The Indigenous collaborators were then invited back to a second interview to provide input on the findings and insights into how they related to Indigenous conceptions and approaches to wellness. This study discusses the implications of the findings for individual counsellors, organizations, and the discipline to provide culturally safe and relevant care to Indigenous individuals. Finally, it provides suggested areas for future research

Integrating Indigenous Perspectives into Teacher Education in Alberta

Anti-Indigenous racism is the result of a lack of knowledge about Indigenous peoples according to Senator Murray Sinclair (Ho, 2019). Teacher education is one of the most powerful ways to combat racism towards Indigenous peoples as it impacts not only pre-service teachers but in-service teachers, their students, and their families. Alberta’s new Teaching Quality Standard was released in 2018 (TQS, 2020) and requires all Alberta teachers to possess and apply a foundational knowledge of Indigenous peoples. The study examines how teacher education institutions in Alberta are integrating Indigenous perspectives into their programming and how they plan to further this integration through collaboration between institutions and connections with schools

Chaotic Signatures of Heart Rate Variability and Its Power Spectrum in Health, Aging and Heart Failure

A paradox regarding the classic power spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) is whether the characteristic high- (HF) and low-frequency (LF) spectral peaks represent stochastic or chaotic phenomena. Resolution of this fundamental issue is key to unraveling the mechanisms of HRV, which is critical to its proper use as a noninvasive marker for cardiac mortality risk assessment and stratification in congestive heart failure (CHF) and other cardiac dysfunctions. However, conventional techniques of nonlinear time series analysis generally lack sufficient sensitivity, specificity and robustness to discriminate chaos from random noise, much less quantify the chaos level. Here, we apply a ‘litmus test’ for heartbeat chaos based on a novel noise titration assay which affords a robust, specific, time-resolved and quantitative measure of the relative chaos level. Noise titration of running short-segment Holter tachograms from healthy subjects revealed circadian-dependent (or sleep/wake-dependent) heartbeat chaos that was linked to the HF component (respiratory sinus arrhythmia). The relative ‘HF chaos’ levels were similar in young and elderly subjects despite proportional age-related decreases in HF and LF power. In contrast, the near-regular heartbeat in CHF patients was primarily nonchaotic except punctuated by undetected ectopic beats and other abnormal beats, causing transient chaos. Such profound circadian-, age- and CHF-dependent changes in the chaotic and spectral characteristics of HRV were accompanied by little changes in approximate entropy, a measure of signal irregularity. The salient chaotic signatures of HRV in these subject groups reveal distinct autonomic, cardiac, respiratory and circadian/sleep-wake mechanisms that distinguish health and aging from CHF

Examining the Braiding and Weaving of Indigenous Ways of Knowing, Being, and Doing in Alberta Teacher Education

Alberta’s Teaching Quality Standard requires that all teachers possess and apply a foundational knowledge of Indigenous Peoples to their teaching. In 2020, representatives from ten Alberta teacher education programs came together to examine how they were braiding and weaving Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing into their programs. They also considered the challenges and successes encountered and the ways programs might work together to improve and combat anti-Indigenous racism. Drawing upon a collective case study methodology, representatives responsible for the design and delivery of Indigenous education within each of the programs completed an 18-question survey. Results demonstrate the Teaching Quality Standard (Alberta Education, 2018) served as a catalyst for deepening Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing in preservice teacher training. The levels of integration are examined through the concept of differentiation (Tomlinson & Imbeau, 2010) and Kanu’s (2011) five levels of integration. Keywords: Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing, teacher education programs, Teaching Quality Standard La norme de qualité pour l'enseignement de l'Alberta exige que tous les enseignants possèdent et appliquent une connaissance fondamentale des peuples autochtones dans leur enseignement. En 2020, des représentants de dix programmes de formation des enseignants de l'Alberta se sont réunis pour examiner la façon dont ils intègrent à leurs programmes les façons autochtones de savoir, d'être et de faire. Ils se sont également penchés sur les défis et les réussites rencontrés et sur les façons dont les programmes pourraient collaborer pour améliorer et combattre le racisme anti-autochtone. En s'appuyant sur une méthodologie d'étude de cas collective, les représentants responsables de la conception et de la prestation de l'éducation portant sur les autochtones dans chacun des programmes ont répondu à un sondage de 18 questions. Les résultats démontrent que la norme de qualité de l'enseignement (Alberta Education, 2018) a servi de catalyseur pour approfondir les façons autochtones de savoir, d'être et de faire dans la formation initiale des enseignants. Les niveaux d'intégration sont examinés à travers le concept de différenciation (Tomlinson et Imbeau, 2010) et les cinq niveaux d'intégration de Kanu (2011). Mots clés : Façons autochtones de savoir, d'être et de faire; programmes de formation des enseignants; norme de qualité pour l'enseignemen