An Earth-Centered Experiential Psycho-Educational Counseling Group for Native American College Students

Abstract

Background: Experiential group facilitators must make conscious decisions to nurture Native American (NA) knowledge, dignity, identity, and integrity by shifting their theoretical perspectives and intervention practices. Purpose: This study examined group members’ experiences unique to their NA culture and identity using the Earth-centered experiential psycho-educational group counseling model. Approach: Participants included 20 NA university student members. Data were collected from two semistructured one-day group sessions followed by focus groups aimed at helping students to elicit and work through emotions and opinions about NA cultural awareness, interconnectedness, and identity through experiential exercises and group processing. Qualitative inquiry, interpretive techniques, and inductive thematic analysis of the transcripts were utilized to describe, decode, categorize, and reach consensus on themes. Conclusions: Data analyses identified three themes identical in both groups: cultural awareness and interconnectedness, belonging and being a part of nature, and NA identity and tribal self. Implications: Results provided a qualitative description of three themes that coincide with the beliefs and teachings of the Earth-Centered Group Approach. The findings suggest that the use of an immersive group counseling experience, the centering of NA traditions and collectivism, as well as attention to historical and ecological context, were key components in the success of the group experience.