Practice 11 Affirmative Care

Abstract

In this chapter Melissa and Sandra draw on the practice of Etuaptmumk, also known as Two-Eyed Seeing, to consider how the Seven Sacred Teachings offered by Andrea Currie in Love in the Midst of Apocalyptic Loss alongside knowledge from eurowestern psychological literature might come together to inform affirmative care. Melissa and Sandra draw specifically on feminist therapy, relational-cultural theory, multicultural counselling, person-centred therapy, and humanist approaches. Affirmative care begins with validation of diverse cultural identities and relationalities and openly acknowledges sociocultural injustices and inequities that negatively influence health and well-being. The Indigenous Teaching of Reciprocity informs affirmative care by inviting counsellors and psychotherapist into relationship with clients as equals, offering mutual respect, learning together, and sharing responsibility. Although affirmative care and reciprocity reflect different epistemological frameworks, eurowestern and Indigenous, each centres a values-based approach to relationships, health, and healing. The Seven Sacred Teachings provide the organizational structure for the chapter, with specific attention to how the Teachings of Love, Honesty, Respect, Humility, and Patience might deepen and strengthen affirmative care. Counsellors and psychotherapists are encouraged to assume a values-based positioning that honours diverse perspectives and enhances relational connections in support of culturally responsive and socially just health, healing, and care.

Melissa and Sandra are joined in this chapter by the following co-authors:

• Judy Chew provides an example of affirmative care within the feminist supervision process that highlights respectful and care-filled use of self-disclosure.
• Ruth Strunz offers insights into how to attend to neurodivergence in creating affirmative relationships with clients, shared by neurodivergent individuals who have worked with her in therapy. 

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. 

Judy Chew (she/her), PhD, RPsych, spent her career years (1992–2020) at the University of Calgary, Counselling Services where she held the positions of psychologist, tenured faculty member, associate adjunct professor, senior counsellor, and training director. In continuing her passion for lifelong learning, she is immersed in knowledge acquisition and writing on early Chinese immigration, sleuthing efforts into the unsolved mysteries of my ancestral background and the complex intertwining of lives with de(colonization), diversity themes, intersectionality, and social justice.

Ruth Strunz (she/her), RP, CCC, is a registered psychotherapist and clinical supervisor in private practice, based in Ontario. She specializes in providing attachment-based psychotherapy to autistic and neurodivergent individuals and their families. She also provides consultation on neurodivergence to a wide range of audiences including clinical practices, schools, universities, as well as fostering and adoption support organizations. She is a peer mentor with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario and the former clinical director of Never Too Late. Her book, Neurodiversity-Affirming Psychotherapy: Clinical Pathways to Autistic Mental Health was published 2024.

Citation

Jay, M., Collins, S., Chew, J., & Strunz, R. (2025). Practice 11 Affirmative care: Leading with love. In S. Collins and M. Jay (Eds.), Decolonizing health, healing, and care: Embodying culturally responsive and socially just counselling (Chapter 5.2). Counselling Concepts. https://doi.org/10.71446/ad97868594