During my time teaching and working with people I have encountered several areas associated with counselling, psychology and medicine that is not widely taught in the western construct. These aspects have led to people turning to alternative ways of seeking help in the healing process sometimes to their detriment.

Western countries now have a large number of different nationalities and people of a mixed genetic ancestry contained within their population. Many have come to western countries as refugees from war torn and or culturally repressive societies. Many have deep seated trauma as a result and are placed within the health system that in the past has not had the need arise to deal with these types of traumas and cultural boundaries. With this many misunderstandings have arisen and have led to these people separating themselves from society and or perpetrating violence upon themselves and those around them.

This is just one of many situations facing people who work in the mental health field today. We also have a large number of indigenous people living in our country, not just Australian Aboriginals but from many other countries. This also presents a need for different approaches to helping these people as their perception, interpretation and thought processes are widely different to the western mindset. There are many different aspects of society's needs not widely being taught or understood within the western medical construct but the need is there.

With this in mind I would like to offer my services as a guest lecturer to your students. Over the years I have taught many people in the areas of.

 An Understanding of Indigenous Based Healing and Counselling

Indigenous peoples think in a different way to western people. Our thought processes, the way we assimilate and perceive information is different to the western mindset. This affects dramatically the way the healing process is approached. There is no better example for this as with the way the government and health system has in the past approached helping indigenous communities deal with their health and social issues. After 50 years and millions of dollars the results are that in many ways they are worse off than before. It is not that the government's motivations are wrong but it is in the differences of perception and understanding that need to be understood. Indigenous people approach the healing of a person in a different way than the common approach of western medicine. One of the differences is that western medicine tends to only deal with the cause and symptoms present at the time of the consultation. Indigenous peoples look at every aspect of the person's life not just at the present time but for their entire life to that point as well tracing back several generations. They also look at what that illness or trauma can teach them to be prepared for the future. Indigenous people see that everything is connected not just as a concept or idea but in every aspect of life. I have found that even with a person with little on no knowledge of their indigenous traditions this belief still runs in the subconscious.

Human beings have evolved over hundreds of thousands of years and we have through invention and technology separated ourselves from our natural environment. In the past our natural senses were a lot stronger than they are today.  We used instinct to survive, to feel our surroundings to sense danger etc. Today those senses lie dormant or suppressed and sometimes when they surface are dismissed or forgotten. I believe for those who choose to do so, these senses are a vital tool in the understanding of a person seeking our advice on an issue or trauma. The human mind has many subconscious ways of protecting itself and can lead a psychologist or counsellor down many conversational paths till the truth starts to surface. Many times the client will stop treatment rather than face the truth and move forward. One of the skills I endeavor to bring out in people is working with the ability to sense the client, to follow your instinct in your approach and questions. To use this tool to lead the conversation on a journey so that the client starts to see their own perception of the truth and to start to understand the processes that have led them to this point in their lives.

Human kind in now only just starting to understand the amount of information stored within a single strand of human DNA.  DNA not only creates all the different parts of the human body but also provides the brain with vast amounts of information. To date it is my understanding that western science in now starting to believe in genetic memory. I have also found that there is sufficient evidence to substantiate the existence of hereditary and subconscious memory as well.

Hereditary memory adds to this but also creates issues for the person to address in their life.  The evidence for this is that people are often born predisposed to emotional tendencies present in their ancestry even though they were removed from and raised separate from their immediate family. Studies have shown this with children born from veterans of the Vietnam War that have been fostered or adopted out and have had no contact with either parent. They have a large understanding of and sometimes have knowledge of specific events their fathers had experienced in the Vietnam conflict. They are also predisposed to Social and environmental issues as well as being prone to Post- traumatic stress disorders, anxiety and depression.

I have seen the affects of emotional choices made by small children seriously affecting the adult's life.

Many cultures still retain today a strong genetic connection to the land their ancestors lived upon. Not just in the way of a place to live but as a means of understanding themselves, of learning to understand the way they feel and interact with the world around them. The land also provides the security of belonging, a very necessary part of a person's life if they are to achieve their goals. The land also provides the way of expressing their culture through ceremony held in specific locations and times of the year. This is never more important than for indigenous people regardless of their knowledge of tradition or culture as the subconscious need for this process is a fundamental part of their existence. Our society today has a large number of displaced indigenous peoples living within the towns and cities. Many of these people have emotional and social related issues because they themselves do not have an understanding of this nor do the have access to traditional lands or teachings. This is an important understanding for someone in the fields of psychology and counselling to have as counselling them in the western perspective can often do more harm than good because they will simply not understand fully the western concept of life and will always feel that there is something missing. I have also found that once a person starts to recognize this need felt within and seeks out a basic understanding of their people's traditional way of life, even if they choose not to live that way, it will help them to better understand themselves and their perception of the world around them.

Over the years of working to understand people and human nature, what I feel is the governing force in every person. I have found through speaking with and observing people that there is a lack of understanding in the physical aspects of emotions and perception on a general level. I am aware that the means to learn this is available but it is a very specific field of study. When a child is born there are many centers of the brain that are for want of a better term a blank slate. The creation of the synaptic pathways in these areas of the brain comes from all the senses the child has i.e. sight, smell, touch, taste etc. These senses provide the information for the base line programming of the child's mind. Learning the basic ways of perception or the way experiences are interpreted and expression of the child's personality. Parents shield the child from bad experiences as best the can by censoring what the child is exposed to but many of the senses cannot be shielded. We as adults have the ability of using life experiences to interpret emotional events external or self felt a child does not. Many parents believe that because a child does not have the ability to understand an emotional event, for example, an argument between the parents, that it does not need to be fully or truthfully explained. They feel that this is the right thing to do and in many cases it is but it does have a price tag attached. In the developmental stages of a child's life the foundation of all means to perceive life is laid. If a child is told to go out and play during a parent's argument then the likelihood that the child will associate that playing is a negative thing is high. Later in life as an adult, because of that baseline association that play is a negative pastime, the adult can create social and emotional issues in their perception of how life should be. These perceptions are often challenged by those around them, especially if they seek therapeutic help. Often a therapist will advise them to go out and play more, to find activities that involve emotionally letting go and have fun.  This unknowingly can contribute to the stress and confusion in the adult as they have no concept of, or an inability to go out and play.  This is just one simple example but there are many. Though it may be difficult to change the baseline programming of the human brain in regards to emotional development I have found that in many cases that the understanding of this has helped many move forward in learning to lead a more productive life.