Research 

Abstract 

Adverse childhood experiences are exceedingly higher within First Nation communities when compared to the general population (Radford et al., 2022). ACEs are a model of trauma that would occur during the first 18 years of a person’s life (Williams-Butler et al., 2023). There are greater disparities among the First Nation population which co-occur with historical and intergenerational trauma (Mushquash et al., 2021). As a result, First Nation peoples are at a higher risk of experiencing heightened ACEs which may result in poorer sexual health outcomes (Wood et al., 2022). However, there is a lack of studies that investigate the relationship between ACEs and sexual health within First Nation populations in Canada. This research project is community-based focus on investigating the relationship between ACEs and sexual health, more specifically with regard to understanding the relationship between ACEs and age of sexual debut and risky sexual behaviours in First Nation peoples. This understanding would help to develop and provide holistic culturally relevant services and sexual education that is trauma-informed (Brown et al., 2017; Racine et al., 2018; Thomas et al., 2021).

Keywords: First Nation. Adverse Childhood Experiences. Sexual Health. Sexual Debut. Childhood Sexual Abuse.

Abstract 

Psychotherapy research within Indigenous communities is, at best, uncommon, and at worst, nonexistent. Prior research has mainly been problem-oriented. These issues brought up within the research have already been a well known factor to Indigenous communities. Research done with an Indigenous perspective has been seen as minimal. This study intends to bridge the gap between Indigenous worldviews and psychotherapy as well as shed light on how Indigenous representation within counselling and academia is important in gathering significant information. The purpose of this study was to document how Indigenous culture was incorporated within therapeutic practices and to determine if the participants' response would be different based on the interviewer’s ethnicity. We did this by interviewing mental health practitioners either with an Indigenous or non-Indigenous interviewer and quantifying the terminology used (i.e., medicine wheel vs. cognitive behavioural therapy). It was expected that the participants' response would be different based on the ethnicity of the interviewer present. The data was able to support the above hypothesis. How culture is integrated within counselling practice is discussed within results and discussion.

Keywords: Indigenous healing, mainstream counselling, traditional counselling, ethnicity effect, therapeutic approaches