Non-Indigenous Therapists' Lived Experiences of Gaps and Challenges in their Multicultural Competencies when Working with Indigenous Clients

Abstract

There have been rising concerns about the lack of accessible mental health services for members of Indigenous communities impacted by colonialism. Previous research highlights a scarcity of Indigenous therapists and not much is known about the multicultural competencies of non-Indigenous therapists providing services to Indigenous clients. As such, this thesis research inquires about the lived experiences of non-Indigenous therapists in relation to the gaps and challenges they experience in their multicultural competencies when working with Indigenous clients. An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach was used to inform data collection and analysis. Participants included three psychotherapists who were interviewed using a semi-structured protocol to learn more about gaps and challenges for the following categories of multicultural competence found in the literature: cultural awareness of self, cultural awareness of other, cultural knowledge, cross-cultural skills, and culturally sensitive alliance. Themes were generated for each category from the analysis of interview transcripts as follows: cultural awareness of self (i.e., Awareness of normative Whiteness, Reflecting on marginalized identity, Observing others' lack of self-awareness); cultural awareness of other (i.e., Idiosyncratic understanding of Indigenous culture, Cautiousness surrounding essentializing, Cautiousness around stereotyping, Navigating White-passing privileges, Oppressions towards Indigenous people); cultural knowledge (i.e., Educational programs and resources, Compensating through self-learning, Supervisors' knowledge, Complexity of knowledge, Understanding experiential knowledge, Discomfort with knowledge); cross-cultural skills (i.e., Tensions with Western understandings, Departing from normative practice, Caution in conversations, Repairing relational ruptures); and culturally sensitive alliance (i.e., Inner obstacles, Race-related self-conscientiousness, Trust building, Cultural empathy, Joining through similarity). Two notable themes were additionally generated outside these categories related to workplace and systemic challenges. Learning how non-Indigenous therapists make sense of their interactions with Indigenous clients by taking a closer look at gaps and challenges in therapy could inform future research, training, and practice on developing competencies that assist therapists in navigating a durable therapeutic relationship with Indigenous peoples.