Stepping away from the Campfire: Decolonizing the Concept of Eating Disorders through an Indigenous Focusing Oriented Therapy Lens

• Main Author: Plante, Maureen
• Other Authors: Fellner, Karlee, Hanson, Aubrey, Vandenborn, Elisa
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: Werklund School of Education 2023
• Subjects: Mental health; Eating disorders; Indigenous health; Indigenous Focusing Oriented Therapy; Educational Psychology; Education > Health; Canada; First Nations; inuit
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1880/115787; https://doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/40692

Eating disorders are severe mental health concerns that have profound mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual implications for a person. Despite the severity of eating disorders, eating disorders continue to be predominately understood, researched, and treated through Western ways of knowing, doing, and being. In 2015, the 94 Calls to Action was released by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC), stipulating the need for culturally appropriate training when working with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples. The Canadian Psychological Association and the Psychology Foundation of Canada posit that research and treatment for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples must be culturally relevant. An area within mental health discourse that continues to neglect appropriate and culturally relevant care for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples are eating disorders. Therefore, this research responds to the Canadian Psychological Association and the Psychology Foundation of Canada task force. Through a relational Cree-based methodology, conversations with knowledge carriers, and introspective processes, this study examines how Indigenous Focusing-Oriented Therapists (IFOT) see eating disorders. This research takes in the interconnected and relational aspects of understanding to deepen the knowledge that eating disorders are an act of survival in response to experiences of racism, sexism, colonization, and emotional, physical, and sexual abuse.