A Narrative Inquiry into the Experiences of Two Non-Aboriginal Counsellors Working with Aboriginal People/Enquête Narrative Sur Les Expériences Vécues Par Deux Conseillers Non Autochtones Travaillant Auprès De Populations Autochtones

Aboriginal people in Canada face greater health disparities and barriers of access to care than the non-Aboriginal population. In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) finished its six-year inquiry to reveal to Canadians the complex truth about the history and the ongoing legacy of the church-run residential schools and guide and inspire a process of truth and healing, leading toward reconciliation (TRC, 2015, p. 27). All of the 94 calls for action are significant and require national, provincial, territorial, and local efforts to engage in meaningful education, practices, and long-standing relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples. In particular, the TRC's final report in 2015 called for action in the area of mental health and the need for cultural competency training for all healthcare professionals. In this article, we inquire into the experiences of 2 non-Aboriginal counsellors who work with Aboriginal clients, to better understand their experiences of working within the Aboriginal culture and how multicultural practices and social justice issues are experienced and applied.BACKGROUND INFORMATIONAs a result of colonialism and government policies aimed at assimilation, Aboriginal people in Canada have suffered from devastating effects of historical and cultural genocide, as well as intergenerational trauma. In Canada, Aboriginal people experience a disproportionately higher amount of mental health issues when compared to other groups (Allan & Smylie, 2015). In addition, many Aboriginal people view current mental health services as inaccessible and culturally insensitive, especially those that are provided through contemporary western-based service delivery methods (Nuttgens & Campbell, 2010). For example, France, Rodriguez, and Hett (2004) found that Aboriginal clients were twice as likely as non-Aboriginals not to return after their first counselling session in a mainstream setting. Barlow et al. (2008), as well as Allan and Smylie (2015), posited this attrition is a result of deep-seated historical and ongoing power differences and mistrust toward non-Aboriginal health care professionals and experiences of racism within the Canadian health care system. Aboriginal clients are reluctant to engage in counselling practices that are reminiscent of historical power relationships and do not centralize Aboriginal worldviews and cultural practices. Despite this recognition of the barriers to access and delivery of mental health services with Aboriginal clients, there is a dearth of literature in Canada on cultural competencies and culturally safe practices for non-Aboriginal counsellors who work with Aboriginal clients. France et al. (2004) highlighted the importance of understanding the historical, social, and political aspects of the lives of Aboriginal people as they relate to and have been influenced by mainstream Canadian culture. That is, the mental health of Aboriginal people cannot be separated from the sociopolitical contexts of their lives.Aboriginal individuals are part of the multicultural mosaic of Canada, and they are unique in their histories and associated sociopolitical realities. There is also diversity amongst the different nations across Canada, both in culture and in the histories of the regions they are located in. Indigenous psychology recognizes these complexities and articulates how these are reflected in notions of health, wellness, and well-being. Therefore, the issues that face Aboriginal people in Canada are different from those of any other ethnic or racial group, and all aspects of well- being are fused with these multiple and intricate aspects, which makes application of traditional counselling practices a challenge. Essentially, counselling training as it stands now does not have a solid foundation in indigenous psychology that would make counsellors effective with the majority of Aboriginal clients. Like other minorities, Aboriginal clients who seek mainstream counselling services face the prospect of dealing with a Eurocentric counselling paradigm that starts with a worldview and knowledge base that stands as a barrier to effective counselling services (France et al. …

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