
In counselling, I often facilitate a therapeutic process that draws from memories, history, and stories. Depending on the client's needs and interests, the therapeutic work may also be anchored in feminist systemic therapy (e.g., exploring themes of oppression and how this has influenced the client's experiences) or narrative therapy (the problem is the problem, and how it impacts current functioning, as well as whether it is connected to past problem themes or narratives).
An Indigenous worldview recognizes that all things are connected, including water, land, the air we breathe, animals, and people. With individual healing, this teaching recognizes that our mind, heart, body, and spirit are each connected. When something happens in one area, it ripples through to the others. For example, waking up in a good mood impacts our thoughts for the day, how our body feels, and it uplifts and connects our spirit. Conversely, when we experience stress over time, we may first notice that our body feels exhausted.
Without attending to this, our thoughts, mood, and spirit also go to negative places. Re-engaging with our self-care practices can help reset the balance. Alongside this, sharing our story can be therapeutic. Releasing our stories is a way of freeing them, especially when they are tightly held in memory, or in the heart (perhaps because a safe place to share was not yet available, or maybe the readiness to share was not yet available). Once stories are released, they can be revisited, even reframed from current, strength-based perspectives, as gathered through the therapeutic process.

The short video below describes this, as well as how art in therapy acts as a metaphor, used to help describe memory, stories, and history. For example, the Aboriginal-Australian dot-art (which may be three females at a campfire preparing food) can be interpreted as connection. This is a fabric guitar strap of mine, and the artwork describes my journey as a musician: a collection of stories, a long and ongoing journey, lifelong learning, and memories (some fond, some painful). Each time I revisit this art I draw inspiration from the circles, noticing and making-meaning of lived stories in current contexts. A painful experience as a 15-year old guitarist is remembered and retold in new ways and in current time and space.
“Stories heal us because we become whole through them.
In the process of writing, discovering our story,
we restore those parts of ourself that have been
scattered, hidden, suppressed, denied, distorted, forbidden,
and we come to understand that stories heal.”
~ Deena Metzger
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