College, University and Post-Grad lectures.
Teaching a new perspective to enhance the study of Psychology, Counselling and Social and Political Sciences. 

skype 3 hr workshop

 

 

College, University and Post- Grad Lectures.

 

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.

One example I can give is when I was asked to guest lecture a group of counselling students in their second year of studies in Tasmania. I asked the question of how they would start the counselling of a female refugee from South Africa who had severe physical and emotional trauma as a result of rebel fighters attacking and mutilating her with a machete. They could not answer but the teacher stated that the likelihood of this happening was extremely remote. My answer was that the day before I was approached by a friend in the local counselling service that had to deal with just that.

The Australian government have placed nearly 2000 refugees from South Africa and the Middle East in and around the local area and the local health system was asked to help these people deal with these health and psychological issues and many of these students were to start to work within this area's health services.

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

  • Intuitive aspects of counselling and human nature

  • Hereditary, Genetic and Subconscious Memory and Their Influence on Perception, Learning and Understanding

  • Genetic relationship with Nature and environment

  • Subconscious influence of ancestry on life outlook and direction

  • Emotional - limbic Synaptic brain functions in relation to perception and learning

  • Adapting the counsellor's approach to the client in regard to cultural perspective and understanding

 

My education, understanding and training is the result of years of study in these and many other areas connected with cultural and indigenous societies as well as traditional ceremony and healing techniques. This is the result of my own search for healing and understanding as a mixed blood indigenous person growing up separated from his culture and natural way of being. I have spent a lot of time learning from elders of many different cultures with their understanding of their ways and their connection to all that is around them. With this knowledge I feel that I am able to help teach people how to bridge the gap between these cultures and their own. To adapt the techniques and to enhance their knowledge and understanding of the many cultures they will work with.

The lectures I conduct revolve around the participant's knowledge and understanding of their respective fields of study. This creates a natural evolution of ideas culminating into an understanding of the concepts being presented

 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.


Intuitive Aspects of Counselling and Human Nature

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.

 

Hereditary, Genetic and Subconscious Memory and Their Influence on Perception, Learning and Understanding

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.

Genetic memory gives the person an ability to understand environmental perception and need for purpose. It also runs the autonomic systems of the body which is all of the body's processes that run without our awareness, breathing, heartbeat etc.

Genetic memory also can give us an internal knowledge source that most of us are completely unaware of. The easiest example I can give is that of the internal knowledge a mother has to raise her children. I have personally witnessed many examples of this in action. One time a friend of mine who is a young single mother who would become physically ill at the sight of any amount of blood. She also had no first aid knowledge at all. But when her four year old son, doing what four year old boys do, split his head open as a result of a major fall, this young mother instinctively knew what to do. She very calmly grabbed a clean dishcloth and towel wrapped it around her son's head and got him off to the emergency room without any reaction to the injury or the blood. Her "motherly instinct" kicked in. I have heard many stories like this where the mother has had no formal first aid training has saved their child's life. It also amazes me how all women know exactly how to create a safe environment to raise their children in if they honestly listen to themselves.

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.

Subconscious memory is created in the first four years of a child's life and gets fed with the child's experiences over the next three to five years or until the child learns to understand the emotional situations present within his or hers surroundings. These experiences are retained as memory but are difficult for an adult to understand as they are seen from a child's perspective. However, they have a profound influence on that person's perception, assimilation of knowledge, social and academic interaction within their adult life. An example of this is several years ago I had a lady come to me seeking advise on an issue that she had most of her adult life. Whenever she saw a bottle top lying on the ground she became almost catatonic. Over the past twenty years she had undergone counselling and  psychiatric treatment, been medicated, and hospitalized with no lasting results. After spending some time talking we journeyed to a point in her childhood when she was around three years old. Her father was an alcoholic so her parents were having difficulties with their relationship. On night shortly before dinner her father returned home drunk and her mother confronted him. He became aggressive and struck her mother with the beer bottle he had in his hand.  The broken glass slashed her mother's face badly. Blood was everywhere and the bottle top spun in the air till it hit the high chair top in front of the child. She remembered the light reflecting off the top as it spun through the air. The police and paramedics arrived and she was removed from her mother for a time. She never saw her father again. He left the state after he had finished his jail term. This was a pivotal moment of change in this person's life but as she did not have the life experience to explain this event it was subsequently lost to the subconscious and had lasting affects on the person well after the event. Therapists had asked her about her childhood in numerous sessions but before this time she was unable to recall the memories. The brain has a powerful ability to protect itself. With the realization and understanding of this event, even though it is extremely painful, has helped her to move on with her life.  After a long search she found her father and gained closure through understanding.

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

 

Genetic Relationship with Nature and Environment

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.

 

Subconscious Influence of Ancestry on Life, Outlook and Direction

Science today recognizes that it takes around twelve generations for the human body to fully adapt to a major change in its environment. In most cases that is around seven to eight hundred years. This I believe also relates to the way the human brain functions on many levels. Not just in the way of its physical functions but also the way it perceives and absorbs knowledge. Many people today have ancestral lineages that go back to a tribal way of life. These tribes lived in a completely different way to the ways of today. Many of these tribal peoples lived their traditional ways of life undisturbed within the seven to eight hundred year time frame. Through simple observation you can see the subtle influences this has on the society today. With the innate ways in which people express themselves and also in the way they search for belonging. Many people I have spoken with express the desire for something they cannot put into words. This desire has shaped their life in such a way that they have walked away from family and friends because their needs weren't understood. They did this not through a willingness of choice but as a driving force questing to fill that hole inside. Many people have tried to fill that hole with relationships and or career only to find that the feelings are still there. The risk of this not being recognized for what it might be can become extremely detrimental to a persons life as they will continue to search for something but they are unaware of what that something actually is. They will move from relationship to relationship trying to fill that void inside. There are many reasons for this but I have observed that for many it is the influence of the ancestral ways of their people. Those that I have spoken with that have explored this and have found the means to learn their traditions have found a sense of peace and fulfillment within. 


Emotional - Limbic Synaptic Brain Functions in Relation to Perception and Learning

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.


Adapt The Counsellor's Approach To The Client In Regard To Cultural Perspective And Understanding

One of the many lessons I have taught over the years to practitioners is that there are many levels to an understanding. Most teaching methods through their own nature can only teach from one perspective. The research done to create these teachings comes from the societal need that those teachings are created to fulfill. Society today is made up of a large demographic of cultures, beliefs and customs. When people are placed in a position to advise others in ways of healing they need to take into account the client's culture and customs. The example I give for this is an Islamic man was ordered to attend anger management counselling at the local health care facility by the courts in answer to a domestic violence situation.  The nature of counselling is that most counsellors are women as they are drawn to that role by their nature.  The first step to begin advising someone is you need to build a rapport between yourself and the client. An Islamic man by belief and custom cannot accept advice from a woman; it is offending to his honor and beliefs.  The female counsellor is placed in a position that is very difficult to manage as her role is to not only help the man but also to advise the courts of his progress. Having an understanding of this man's culture is an important first step before you even meet the client. The way you dress and speak in the first ten minutes will dictate the Islamic man's openness to receiving help. Granted that he is in a non- Islamic country and needs to accept certain things but he formulates his perspective from the influence that his culture has. Through building up a rapport you may be able to adjust his understanding enough to make a difference in his life and the lives around him. 


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These are a just a short overview of the subject information available. As I usually don't have a defined teaching method as each group's needs and questions are different. I always encourage audience participation and questions. The outcome I find are always fulfilling for all involved.

I am more than willing to discuss the subject information in more detail if you are interested and look forward to hearing from you.

 


For more information or if you have any questions please feel free to contact Bear

Email:   standingbear@bigpond.com.au