Exploring Indigenous concepts of well-being with Indigenous knowledge keepers
department or school: Education, Faculty of
department or school: Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: John, Roger E.
issued: 2025-06-05T16:01:02Z
issued: 2025
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: There are many articles, chapters and books written about challenges to well-being for Indigenous peoples, but there is limited research that has gathered data from Indigenous Knowledge Keepers about their views on well-being, whether relating to physical health or mental health. Research on the construct of Indigenous mental health and protective factors or determinants is limited, not in quantity, but in its ability to improve the health of Indigenous peoples. It is my belief (and of other Indigenous scholars) that many of the bio-psycho-social-spiritual illnesses that afflict Indigenous peoples result from colonization, not individual pathology or cultural factors. I called my Indigenous research methodology Over the Waves, which is based on St’at’imcets methodology. I asked seven i wa7 zewatets (“those who know”) to share their thoughts and knowledge about well-being. I generated four themes from the data bundles the i wa7 zewatets shared with me: 1) Belonging – know who you belong to and who belongs to you; 2) Wellness is Fluid and Dynamic; 3) Responsibility and Autonomy are equally important in Indigenous wellness and 4) the Assumption of Medicine – medicine is everywhere, inside of us, inside others and around us. I share the data bundles of these themes using the words of the i wa7 zewatets and my lived experience as an Indigenous person and as an Indigenous psychotherapist. In addition to the themes, I also created seven knowledge bundles in the discussion chapter. I call these knowledge bundles “New Currents”, following a water-based theme of locations related to water in St’at’imc territory. The New Currents are thoughts or ideas that stood out for me from the processing of the data bundles. The new currents are: 1) Wellness and Climate (Tsalalh – the Lake); 2) Playing with your Pain (Sk’mkin – Top end of Tsalalh); 3) the Power of Gathering (Scet – drop-off); 4) Reciprocity is ceremony (Kwlsvlqen/Inasket - where the mountain goat people live/translation u…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/91284
note: EXPLORING INDIGENOUS CONCEPTS OF WELL-BEING WITH INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE KEEPERS by Roger E. John B.A., University of Victoria, 1995 M.Ed., University of Victoria, 2004 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (Counselling Psychology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) May 2025 © Roger E. John, 2025 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: Exploring Indigenous Concepts of Well-being with Indigenous Knowledge Keepers submitted by Roger E. John in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Counselling Psychology Examining Committee: Marla Buchanan, Professor, Counselling Psychology, UBC Supervisor Alanaise Ferguson, Professor, Counselling Psychology, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Margaret Kovach, Professor, Social Work, UBC University Examiner William Borgen, Professor, Counselling Psychology, UBC University Examiner Additional Supervisory Committee Members: Jo-ann Archibald, Professor Emerita, Educational Studies, UBC Supervisory Committee Member iii Abstract There are many articles, chapters and books written about challenges to well-being for Indigenous peoples, but there is limited research that has gathered data from Indigenous Knowledge Keepers about their views on well-being, whether relating to physical health or mental health. Research on the construct of Indigenous mental health and protective factors or determinants is limited, not in quantity, but in its ability to improve the health of Indigenous peoples. It is my belief (and of other Indigenous scholars) that many of the bio-psycho-social-spiritual illnesses that afflict Indigenous peoples result from colonization, not individual pathology or cultural factors. I called my Indigenous research methodology Over the Wav…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2025-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0449046
language: eng
degree discipline: Counselling Psychology
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Buchanan, Marla
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/91284