Our Starting Place

Abstract

In this chapter, Melissa and Sandra provide an overview of the book, Decolonizing health, healing and care: Embodying culturally responsive and socially just counselling. They highlight the book’s uniqueness, from both content and process perspectives. The decolonial approach to health, healing, and care amplifies Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing, including pedagogies (ways of teaching and learning). The authors open up the space for multiple perspectives on health, healing, and care by proposing an approach to the practice of counselling and psychology that (a) responds to the TRC’s (2015a) Calls to Action; (b) is client-centred and culturally responsive; (c) amplifies the strengths of each person’s or community’s ways of knowing, doing, and being; (d) engages counsellors and other healthcare practitioners in recognizing and remediating the harms arising from social, economic, and political inequities and injustices; and (e) fosters collective action toward health, healing, and socially just care. Melissa and Sandra challenge the colonial influences embedded within counselling and psychology, noting that unpacking anti-Indigenous and other forms of racism also invites examination of sexism, heterosexism, ableism, classism, and other oppressive ideologies. They re-vision health, healing, and care by centring Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing in counselling and psychology. The design of the book itself amplifies Indigenous teaching and learning practices by welcoming Indigenous Wisdom, honouring stories, embracing co-learning and reciprocity, fostering wholeness and relationality, welcoming repetition and interactive learning, and integrating oral, visual, and multimedia learning. They then overview the eight CRSJ counselling pathways, which form a foundation for the book, aligning them within the four directions of the nêhiyaw (Cree) Medicine Wheel. 

Melissa and Sandra are deeply honoured that Elder Dr Albert Marshall (of the Moose Clan, Mi’kmaw Nation from Eskasoni in Unama’ki, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia) has provided an opening offering by video in this chapter. 

Co-Authors

Melissa Jay (she/her), PhD, RPsych, is a cisgender nehiyaw (Cree) member of the Métis Nation of Alberta and lifelong student of yoga philosophy. She is a cisgender, able-bodied woman who moves through the world with white-passing privilege. She is a psychologist and associate professor at Athabasca University. Her work is centred in reciprocity and relationship, decolonized healing, anti-oppressive practices, and the integration of ancient wisdom and psychology. Her intention is to share trauma-informed, culturally responsive care, alongside her ongoing collaborative research exploring relational accountability, Indigenous methodologies, and ethical engagement with community.

Sandra Collins (she/her), PhD, is a co-editor of this book. She writes from the perspective of a feminist, lesbian, cisgender, woman with an invisible disability, who is a white, retired professor, and inhabits a privileged social class. Over the 25 years of her academic and professional career, she focused her research, writing, and teaching on cultural responsivity and social justice in theory, research, and practice. This is her fifth book on these topics, two of which were awarded the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Counselling biannual book award. She also received a silver medal for best e-book design by the Independent Publisher Book Awards.

Elder Albert Marshall (he/him), PhD, is an Elder and a member of the Moose Clan of the Mi’kmaw Nation in Eskasoni, Unama’ki, known as Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. He is a fluent Mi’kmaw speaker and a survivor of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School. He has dedicated his life to bridging Indigenous and western knowledge systems. He was deeply honoured to receive the Order of Canada on October 3, 2024 as recognition for coining the term, Etuaptmumk. As a tireless advocate for reconciliation, sustainability, and Indigenous knowledge, he advises numerous organizations.

Citation

Jay, M., Collins, S., & Marshall, A. (2025). Our starting place. In S. Collins and M. Jay (Eds.), Decolonizing health, healing, and care: Embodying culturally responsive and socially just counselling (Chapter 0.1). Counselling Concepts. https://doi.org/10.71446/bh47392741