RACIAL/CULTURAL IDENTITY: TRANSFORMATION AMONG SCHOOL‐BASED MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS WORKING IN NUNAVUT

Abstract

Eight non‐Aboriginal school counselors, who temporarily lived in Nunavut to provide services to Inuit clients, were interviewed regarding changes in their sense of self and their racial/cultural identity as a result of cross‐cultural immersion. They were also engaged in an arts‐based exercise where they pictorially represented perceived self‐changes. Analysis of counsellors’ narratives of their experiences in Nunavut and their art work revealed an increasing awareness of their “Whiteness” and their participation in the colonizing culture. The counsellors also displayed changes in cultural worldview that directly paralleled the socio‐centric and eco‐ centric nature of the Inuit culture, precipitating culturally sensitive counselling practice.