Restorative Education, Reconciliation, and Healing: Indigenous Perspectives on Decolonizing Leadership Education.

This chapter summarizes the complex history of colonization of the Indigenous peoples of what is now the United States from the perspective of leadership education. The authors review the dilemmas and challenges of bridging fundamental cultural differences regarding leadership education and concrete steps toward decolonizing leadership education.

Meeting the Transition Needs of Urban American Indian/Alaska Native Youth through Culturally Based Services.

This article reports findings from three qualitative studies exploring supports for positive transitions of American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) youth to adulthood. Community-based participatory methods were employed through a research partnership involving a culturally based community agency, the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA), the National Indian Child Welfare Association, and Portland State University. Studies utilized a Relational Worldview (RWV) framework, where well-being is understood as a balance among the domains of mind, body, spirit, and context.

Methods of evaluating child welfare in Indian country: an illustration.

The poor quality and quantity of data collected in tribal communities today reflects a lack of true community participation and commitment. This is especially problematic for evaluation studies, in which the needs and desires of the community should be the central focus. This challenge can be met by emphasizing indigenous methods and voice.

Moving from colonization toward balance and harmony: a Native American perspective on wellness.

At best, mainstream mental health services are often ineffective with Native American clients, and, at worst, they are a vehicle for Western colonization. As such, the authors explore the notion of abandoning the Western therapeutic project and rebuilding the helping process on the basis of indigenous knowledge foundations. To this end, they discuss a Native perspective on wellness that emphasizes balance among the interconnected areas of spirit, body, mind, and context or environment.

Culture as a resource for mental health.

This article is based on the author's address at the National Multicultural Conference and Summit III in Los Angeles, California, in January 2003. The author focuses on culture as a resource--a resource for theories that can inform one's understanding of human behavior; a resource for healing, self-help, and positive emotions; a resource for clinical practice; and a resource for mental health and wellness. The author uses a healing story from native culture to describe the essence of his relational worldview and to reframe the professional thinking about culture as one of the greatest assets for healing and mental wellness rather than as a problem to solve.