¶ … Aboriginals and Social Work
This course provided a very broad perspective of the impact Western and European cultures have an aboriginal culture. It showed how devastating these influences have been to native aboriginal cultures, generally serving to suppress them and change the shape of aboriginal culture, in some cases smothering aboriginal cultures completely. The overall impact this course had on me was allowing me to comprehend this impact on aboriginal societies and see that the Western or European way is not always the best way. This course helped provide a general framework for understanding the difficulties and challenges faced by aboriginal youths and adults. It also showed that social work must be adapted significantly to take into consideration one's cultural background because this can dramatically shape the framework of social work. If one uses a Western or European model on aboriginals, they may find themselves misaligning the model for support because they are trying to put a "square peg" in a "round hole." Aboriginals face a host of problems that social workers have to help with including racism, poverty and colonialism, which has left many aborigines without a proper sense of cultural identity. These issues are specific to each aboriginal culture and have to be dealt with uniquely. Each case should be looked at with sensitivity.
With regards to aboriginal work and social work practice, the coursework showed that social work requires that the worker immerses themselves into the culture and spirituality of the people, because conventional work practices do not work. Spirituality seems to be one of the more important issues facing social workers with regard to aboriginal culture, because it plays an important part in connecting people with their communities. For example, a counselor that specializes in dealing with poverty may have to broaden their scope of practice to address poverty...
An aboriginal member of society may have a deep connection to the spiritual community, while this may not be true of one trying to assimilate into the white framework of a colonized society in which they live
One of lessons learned was that culture implications of social work practice differ in aboriginal environments partly because of colonization; behaviors that may appear "abnormal" may in fact be normal, but are characterized as normal or maladaptive only because natives are trying to participate as members of "white" society but this is not their true culture. Another key point learned was that the internalization of white European norms has contributed greatly to the negative impact of Indigenous communities, and this continues as continued colonial practices continue to hamper aboriginal communities.
Another challenge facing aboriginal cultures is crime and racism, often the result of factors including colonization and genocide; the readings confirm that these have impacted First Nation, Inuit and Metis youth. Crime can cause despair and self-destruction, which may destroy an aboriginal's odds for developing healthy attitudes as they grow into young adults, leaving them without a proper sense of identity and goal-setting skills which are necessary for planning well into the future. Poverty, crime, and an endless cycle of abuse can result. I found I can use this to help structure a practice which can easily identify at-risk youth by screening for these factors prior to counseling or working with this population because their needs will be more specific than traditional at-risk youth. In particular, finding programs that target aboriginal youths and focusing on diversity and acclimation to their cultural settings may be of particular benefit. Helping build a sense of…
