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I grew up in Atlantic City New Jersey in
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a family with South Carolina Roots
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here's a photo of my great aunt CL
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great Uncle Henry a neighborhood friend
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in
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me I'm the one looking intently at the
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homemade
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biscuits as a little girl I remember a
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claraa tucked me into bed and battled my
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childhood measles with hot cups of tea
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made from Sassafras root or gave me
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relief from common cold symptoms with a
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tablespoon of mixture of whiskey and rum
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poured over rock candy and fresh lemon
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rind As I Grew Older stories with themes
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of Hope and Redemption with Bible
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scripture humor wisdom and Care helped
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me make it through life's challenges
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whether they were measles or emotional
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struggles I'm sure you remember similar
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stories from your own family how do you
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think culture connects to healing and
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Recovery
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you may think they're
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unrelated and many Health practitioners
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would
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agree but a conventional medical model
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constructs
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healing as a blend of a health
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practitioner's expertise and a patients
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role in connecting to a belief system
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that promotes good thoughts feelings and
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behaviors so let me say that
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again healing and Recovery
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include a patient's role in connecting
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to a belief system that promotes good
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thoughts feelings and
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behaviors yet conventional medicine
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routinely overlooks the role of culture
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in this
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process as a consequence healing
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Traditions are often minimized as
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legitimate
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Partners instead we should appreciate
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the role Traditions play as medicines
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connecting herbs and ointments words and
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sayings and a variety of sensory
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experiences you see if we paint healing
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Traditions with the broad brush of
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superstitions and
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stereotypes we are not getting an
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accurate picture of cultural
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practices so I took what I
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learned from my Aunt Claire and I recog
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recognize that on the one hand there's
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conventional medicine which provides us
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with the best science has to offer as
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the mechanics of health and then on the
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other hand there's healing Traditions
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people are bringing and trying to claim
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their agency when they integrate
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cultural
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practices researchers have found
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connections between the brain and our
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immune
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system it turns out our brain and immune
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system
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communicates moreover researchers at the
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University of Wisconsin found changes in
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the brain associated with positive AFF
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effect for meditators as compared to
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non-meditators
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so the best practice connects
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conventional medicine to cultural
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patterns for healing and
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Recovery the best practice is an
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integrated process that's closer to
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local
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life so I took what I learned from my a
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Clara as I said to you before and now
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I'm a psychologist who's passionate
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about exploring the role that culture
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plays in aiding individual and Community
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agency in situations of psychological
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and social
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need I'm interested in healing
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traditions where individuals integrate
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elements ments individually and combined
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to empower their personal
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transformation and communities use them
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to challenge distorted ideas about their
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Humanity I'm especially interested in
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the importance of the Mind in
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recovery because our Behavior Rises to
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the expectation of our
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beliefs so in a research study about 15
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years
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ago I found that African-American
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healing Traditions had four structural
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elements or themes this discovery
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validated that lessons I learned from my
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family were cultural patterns of
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thinking and behavior and these were
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time honored reasoned
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ideas the first element is
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spirituality I'm not talking about
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religion because religion is a
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particular system of faith I'm talking
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about
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spirituality and awareness of an
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otherworldly Dimension to Human
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Experience and a personal connection
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with that
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world spiritual consciousness motivates
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a commitment to a higher life
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purpose and spirituality is
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foundational it shapes our personal
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Psychology by Awakening awareness of our
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personal strengths those strengths
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Within ourselves and others and our
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strengths include
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love
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compassion
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creativity hope
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gratitude Justice Just the name a few I
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was about 8 or n years old when I
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observed my grandma Nan preparing to
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attend a Sunday women's day service I
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recall her crisp white cotton dress
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contrasted against her Maple brown skin
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and my little eyes watched closely as
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she placed a white laced handkerchief so
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that it peaked from the dress pocket
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just below her left shoulder she put on
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her white gloves and put her Bible under
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her
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arm and then she held my face closely
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and reminded me to be
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good my grandmother's words I reflected
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on as I became an
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adult and she often said be good to me
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but now I know that she meant be of good
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character be of good service and be good
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to
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myself goodness was a spiritual
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affirmation and she believed that I
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could survive the challenges that I'd
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face as a black woman if I developed an
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active spiritual practice so my
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grandmother's women's day annual Sunday
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service was an act of spiritual practice
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and a ritual activity so the second
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element is ritual ritual is a series of
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actions performed in a prescribed order
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there's ritual cleansing such as limpia
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and Latino culture and the Native
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American squat LOD ceremonies but there
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are also group rituals and it's in these
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rituals that a person belongs as a
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member of the whole community and finds
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support and hope so as you can see on
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the slide in gagi culture african- Amer
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communities located along the coastal
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shores of North South Carolina Georgia
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and Northern Florida these communities
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still preserve features of West African
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cultural ties the ring
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shell is an important ritual in gagi
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culture it's a collective performance of
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bonding and support using the body and
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rhythm in this video clip you'll see an
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example of a ring shout shouters are
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moving in a circular patternn
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counterclockwise while stepping in
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Harmony and this particular shout
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skillfully instructs on how to watch the
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Stars to see when and in what direction
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to run the freedom
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so spirituality and ritual are the first
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two elements has anyone ever said just
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the right words to inspire or encourage
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you the third element is the Power of
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Words among traditional cultures speech
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is a source of power in
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wisdom and words are believed to provide
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and to produce the outcome when a
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speaker activates them by their
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intention here's an example so if words
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are spoken in conditions of anger and
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resentment then we experience that
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outcome on the other hand if words are
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spoken in love and kindness then we see
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that experience according to the Pew
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Research Center 55% of Americans pray
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every
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day and for years researchers have
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studying prayer as a common complement
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to Conventional
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medicine moving forward the last element
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is dreams can you recall ever having a
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creative idea resulting from a dream or
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solving a problem dreams are our
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connection to the unconscious mind and
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their meaning vary there's an array of
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information imparted about our
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experience through our dreams our dreams
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are full of metaphors
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and there's an endless list of dream
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interpretations passed down through
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generations by oral
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tradition for
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instance if you're flying upward in a
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Dream It's a metaphor for rising to the
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next level in some area of your
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life in Native American culture totem
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animals or guiding Spirits may appear in
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a
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dream to bring you a message and if your
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totem is an
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eagle the eagle May deliver a message
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about a problem or issue in your life
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while studying healing traditions in
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such places as
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Sagal
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Brazil China Tibet and Thailand I
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recognized they shared structural
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elements found in my study on
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African-American
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healing while I'm not saying this is a
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final set I posit that these four
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elements
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spirituality
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ritual The Power of Words and dreams as
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an ageold blueprint for harnessing
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personal strengths for instance a team
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of researchers from the United Kingdom
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examined a psychosocial care project for
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Tibetans in Exile in Dar Salama Northern
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India who'd been tortured they found
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that the clients and staff believed that
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The Care Project Pro provided a much
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needed service and that it effectively
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combined Western psychological
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approaches with local cultural and
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religious
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practices for example the Western
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practitioners Incorporated relaxation
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methods with clients derived from
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Buddhist
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practices their knowledge of Buddhism
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and sensitivity to Tibetan culture show
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respect for a different way to shape
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healing
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healing Traditions integrate social
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connections beliefs and practices as
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multifaceted medicines recognizing
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cultures connection to Healing can
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employ Traditions as tools to help
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people recover spiritual and emotional
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balance so modern medicine and culture
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can partner to support our human
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potential for powerful responses to
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disease and illness healing Traditions
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play an important role as legitimate
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Partners in this process for those
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people who keep close ties to their
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cultural
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identity thank you for listening
