Presentation 2

Educaring through the Head Heart and Hands, as a Healing Correction to a Failed System.: 

Educaring through the Head Heart and Hands, as a Healing Correction to a Failed System. Professor Judy Atkinson Ph.D. Christopher Edwards-Haines - Masters Student Gnibi College of Indigenous Australian Peoples Southern Cross University

Slide2: 

Gnibi Black Swan Flying: wise women and men of high degree There is always a dream dreaming us.

Introduction: 

Introduction Christopher Edwards-Haines (aka Gale) is a teacher from both sides of the bars, who has walked his own path of learning through juvenile detention and adult prison. In a dialogue with Judy, he uses art and story to demonstrate that healing educare is a process which allows participants to gain knowledge of the social, cultural, political, psychological, environmental, family and community systems that have made them who they are, and how they relate to, act in the world. Judy Atkinson is an educator working with Chris to challenge the teacher / learner, the researcher / researched hierarchal relationships. Together we discuss the work that has been done to put in place a crisis intervention program for Indigenous communities in NSW, community educaring approaches that heal the trauma that is based in experiences of violence, a TAFE level 4 accreditation for skilling workers in Bail Release and Post Release programs, an undergraduate degree in trauma and healing, complemented by a Masters in Indigenous Studies (wellbeing). These educational approaches are complemented by CIRCLE - Collaborative Indigenous Research Centre for Learning and Educare, using Process Evaluation Research to document what works, why it works, how it works. We demonstrate the need for paradigm shifts in teaching learning research at all levels of educare.

teaching - learning - researcha paradigm shift: 

teaching - learning - research a paradigm shift EDUCARE (educaring - to draw out from - to show the way - to lead - to rear up the children) The four R’s: Respect, Rights, Responsibilities, Resentment. “The teacher and the taught together create the teaching” (Tolle 2002 p 85)

learning to listen: 

learning to listen

how do we listen(the Aboriginal gift to the Nation): 

how do we listen (the Aboriginal gift to the Nation) Ngangikurungkurr - dadirri - listening to one another in contemplative - reciprocal relationships. Pitjantjatjara - kulini (listening), or kulin yuku (listening and wanting to listen). Gamilaraay - winangargurru - deep listening. Ghungulu - yimbanyiara - listening to elders. Bundjalung - gan’na hearing, listening, feeling, thinking, understanding. Gunmbayngirr - junga-ngarraanga miinggi - hearing, learning, understanding, knowing from the heart.

the art of listening: 

the art of listening When listening to another person, don’t just listen with your mind, listen with your whole body. Feel the energy field of your inner body as you listen. That takes attention away from thinking and creates a still space that enables you to truly listen without the mind interference. You are giving the other person space - space to Be. It is the most precious gift you can give. Most people don’t know how to listen because the major part of their attention is taken up by thinking. They pay more attention to that than to what the other person is saying, and none at all to what really matters: the Being of the other person underneath the words and the mind. Of course, you cannot feel someone else’s being except through your own. This is the beginning of the realization of oneness, which is love. At the deepest level of Being, you are one with all that is. (Tolle 2002 p 105)

early prevention: 

early prevention “The early years are crucial for helping children adjust to a lifetime of learning. Studies show that children who start successfully go on that way, whereas children who struggle in their early years find it hard to catch up.” (Brian Kean School of Education, SCU).

harm of children: 

harm of children 48% of those people who died in custody had previously been removed from their families. They were educated in institutions. The system became the educator, often is very abusive ways.

the damaged spirit: 

the damaged spirit PAIN Voids - are holes that are filled with self-medication drugs/alcohol, sport / work, behaviours of self - and other harm. Life experience. One’s losses & grief leaves a damaged Spirit “VOIDS”

substance misuse, self harm, suicidehomicide, selficide, pathways to prison: 

substance misuse, self harm, suicide homicide, selficide, pathways to prison Loneliness - depression abandonment - confusion. Hurt which triggered substance misuse (pills at 7, an eleven year old alcoholic). A front - acting out behaviour which was a cry for help - psychological assessments - labelling. Barriers which built up a protective wall. Violence against self and society Juvenile detention.

the damaged spirit: 

the damaged spirit Pain, resulting in * selficide * suicide * homicide The damaged spirit, for Indigenous people, is incapable of even identifying a problem under the many layers of pain, let alone finding resolution to the pain,

deaths in and out of custody: 

deaths in and out of custody Prisons - places of safety - drug and race wars - violence -dictatorship - terrorist training camps. We deny our feelings, imprison our minds, harm our bodies and lose our spirits. Lack of REAL education about our social, cultural & spiritual selves - our Being-ness.

A four generation genogram: 

A four generation genogram C H A RD LH FE DL C N F B X M

Slide15: 

Gnibi Black Swan Flying: Wise women and men of high degree The third world ought not be content to define itself in the terms of values which have preceded it. … Everything needs to be reformed and everything thought out anew. … If we want to turn Africa into a new Europe, and America into a new Europe, then let us leave the destiny of our countries to Europeans. They will know how to do it better than the most gifted among us. Frantz Fannon

the creation of a violent individual, community / society: 

the creation of a violent individual, community / society Living in a culturally unsafe environment. Being profoundly hurt as a child/ as people; Being hurt, but being prevented from experiencing or expressing the pain of that hurt; Having no one in whom we can confide our true feelings, not being being heard, acknowledged in our pain; Having a lack of education or knowledge, therefore being unable to intellectualise the abuse; and Having no way we can transform our pain, without repeating the cycle of abuse on ourselves and others. (Alice Miller)

What does violence do to Human Societies?: 

What does violence do to Human Societies? Figley (1985a) defines Traumatic Stress Reaction (TSR) as the natural human consequences in response to a disaster or tragedy: A set of conscious and unconscious actions and behaviours associated with dealing with the stresses of catastrophe and the period immediately afterwards (1985: xix). “The person experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or threat to the physical integrity of self or others – and the person’s response involved intense fear, helplessness or horror” (American Psychiatric Association - DSM-IV 1994). A disaster - catastrophe or atrocity - is a violent event, either natural or man-made, which causes great distress or destruction, a core wounding to the body/mind/soul/spirit of human beings. Words such as ferocity, intensity, fierceness, force are associated with the violence of natural disasters. Words such as hostility, brutality, carnage and bloodshed are associated with a catastrophe or atrocity that has occurred because of the actions of humans.

world wide colonisations: 

Australia - a prison colony. The subjugation of Indigenous peoples. The creation of culturally unsafe learning and living environments. Building more prisons … the re-creating of prison colonies detainment camps, cultures of violence, cultures of poverty, terrorist training camps. world wide colonisations

focusing on disaster and traumatisation within Indigenous communities: 

focusing on disaster and traumatisation within Indigenous communities Waves radiate across the surface of the pond from the point of contact, and under certain conditions there is some discernible impact along the shore of the pond. Trauma - the point of penetration - and its wake - the psychosocial repercussions - are normal reactions to extraordinary circumstances (1986: xvii). natural man-made acute chronic … cumulative … collective … communal Generational Post-Colonial Distress Trauma.

Psycho social dominance -  cultural and spiritual genocide: 

Psycho social dominance - cultural and spiritual genocide ‘multiple and profoundly disabling’ layers of abuse in the lives of all those effected, causing ‘a cycle of damage from which it is difficult to escape unaided’ (ibid:177): · separation from primary carer · effects of institutionalisation · physical brutality and abuse · repeated sexual violations · psychological and emotional maltreatment · loss of cultural and spiritual knowledge and identity (ibid:177-228). Having flashbacks of traumatic events can cause such psychic pain that the person might start to drink heavily or use other psycho-active substances” … “ If they hadn’t used alcohol they probably would have committed suicide. (ibid 199). Cultural and spiritual genocide attacks the very heart, the locale of who we are more so than physical violence. People come to believe that they themselves are of no value, that their cultural practices and traditions are inferior and hence so are they, that they are non-persons with no value (Atkinson 2002). Consequently they may ‘build their own prison and become simultaneously prisoner and warden’ (Baker 1983:40).

Victimisation, loss and grief: 

Victimisation, loss and grief The bereaved feels loss. The victim feels like a loser. The bereaved feels sad. The victim feels humiliated. The bereaved may feel as though part of him/herself has been ripped away. The victim feels diminished, pushed down in a hierarchy of dominance, exploited and invaded (Ochberg op cit: 11). After victimisation, people are likely to enter a downward socio-economic spiral because of ‘psychological, social and vocational impairment’ from the abuse (Ochberg 1988:11-13). They are more likely to be revictimised, or to victimise others. Many victims, for example women who have been beaten or children who have been abused, are also likely to be revictimised by the medical, legal, welfare and political responses to their trauma. How does the educational system retraumatise - revictimise our children, our young people, and our people who enter prisons?

Slide22: 

Our vital organising nature is felt in the moment when we are safe.

Trauma immobolizes our senses: 

Trauma immobolizes our senses Somatically (physically) Psychologically (emotionally and mentally Sociologically (intergenerationally and transgenerationally) Spiritually “The behaviours of young people I have worked with who have entered juvenile detention, labelled by professional workers as; hyperactive, destructive, violent, self-destructive, withdrawn, depressive, are normal child ways of coping with extraordinarily stressful experiences.” Atkinson 2003

Slide24: 

 Shock Trauma cannot be integrated and digested as are normal events and can cause re-enactment.

an over-activated nervous system: 

STUCK on“OFF” HYPO STUCK on “ON” HYPER Hyperactivity Panic Rage hypervigilance mania Disconnection Disassociation Exhaustion Deadness Depression an over-activated nervous system Dobbie Willie

TRAUMA CREATES EXPERIENCES OF: 

TRAUMA CREATES EXPERIENCES OF LOSS of safety, coherency, boundaries, orientation to time and space, of integrity, trust, resilience, control, competence, connection to one’s own life-force and source. FEAR of inadequacy/adequacy, threat of death, a fusion to and obsession with threat, and confusion in general. POWERLESSNESS a sense of being defeated, subjugated and dominated. HELPLESSNESS a sense of failure and resignation to incapability. CONTRACTION a compression which can lead to depression. EXHAUSTION a collapsing of one’s stamina, a dis-spiriting process. FROZENNESS / FIXITY a numbness of emotional, physical and mental proportions.

trauma is natural: 

trauma is natural Trauma is a natural part of life. Trauma is a physiological response of overwhelm, stimulated by a life threatening event (whether perceived or real). Traumatic stress resulting from overwhelm can be released physiologically. Trauma is not a mental disease nor a pathology. Trauma behaviours often are called criminal. They are not!

trauma is fundamentally physiological.: 

trauma is fundamentally physiological. The way forward is through the healing arts and being sense-able in our educational pursuits. The way forward is in Self education … in the search for spirit, for healing and for wholeness. In this way we will move as a community from victims of violence to transformers of trauma. … like the animals we are.

Slide29: 

Gnibi Black Swan Flying: Wise women and men of high degree The four R’s: Resentments, Rights, Responsibilities, Respect.

educaring - in healing trauma: 

educaring - in healing trauma Creating culturally safe places Making sense of our stories Moving through layers of loss and grief .. ownership … choices. Feeling the feelings Reclaiming our sacred selves A return to wholeness Finding and telling our stories

educaring as a human right…: 

educaring as a human right… All peoples have inherent rights to education, or ‘knowledge for life’. Knowledge - wisdom - understanding - good judgement. This right to education or knowledge begins before birth. A person continues to acquire knowledge until death and is able to pass on to others the beliefs, values, and rules for living through behavioural example, that reflects what has been learnt. Education provides opportunities at the many developmental stages for possible and essential primary prevention and critical intervention programs. Education is a powerful tool for social change, essential for personal, professional and community growth, and a liberating force as people move beyond child and adult dis-empowerment, resultant anti-social behaviours, and welfare dependency.

Self - learning to listen : 

Self - learning to listen Introduced story maps, sandplay, story maps, cultural and personal metaphor, narratives, and emotional release. Validated the human experience as sacred. Asked people to learn from their stories, to listen.

family violence / recovery: 

family violence / recovery a blend of the theoretical and experiential, enables students to increase their awareness of family violence, develop skills for individual and community problem solving strategies, from a firm cultural foundation appropriate to recovery from the trauma of violence within families and communities. The completed unit includes a community project relative to local community needs.

healing children from trauma: 

healing children from trauma Develops and applies the experiences of cultural safety in working with Indigenous (and non-Indigenous children) who have been emotionally damaged. The unit explores the practice of emotional healing through sensory and tactile therapeutic work in nature discovery, narrative, art, music, dance, movement, play therapies, story-telling and performance using sandplay in working with children. The theory is balanced with application of practical skills for working with children.

Community trauma and healing: 

Community trauma and healing The theory of trans- and inter-generational trauma. This method encourages participants to gain insight through understanding their own pain stories and those within the learning group, to help identify the long-term consequences of trauma across generations, and trauma recovery theory and skills, including genograms, family history reconstruction, the healing power of art, music, theatre and narrative as core components in trauma recovery work.

making choices for change: 

making choices for change Listening to what’s inside. Self education - getting past the barriers I have created in myself. Having people who can listen and just be there for the journey. Finding good teachers - eldership. Respecting the self - body mind soul spirit. Respecting others …

working for change: 

working for change Understanding and accepting responsibility. Finding my own voice. No judgments - just acceptance of pain - challenges - strength. Making choices. Support I received from the workshops became another safe place for me to look at me. Accessing good education. Supporting the change process

supporting the change process: 

supporting the change process What in the system, is supporting change and growth? The System must be Accountable - we can’t change and grow unless the system changes - becomes accountable - and transformative. Educare: to draw out from, to show the way, to lead - “the teacher and the taught together create the teaching”. The healing power of story, The healing power of a art, The healing power of music, Deep listening Accreditation -- skilling our own people to do the educaring.

creating and building Indigenous social capital: 

creating and building Indigenous social capital “It seems that a healthy {supportive} family and community is the best prescription for recovery from trauma. This more than any other factor, underlies the tragedy and criminality of the willful destruction of Aboriginal family systems by the governments of Australia. It emphasises the need to focus on rebuilding Aboriginal families for a whole of community, whole of government approach to violence and trauma in Aboriginal lives.” (Atkinson, 2002)

Hey Mister - What does the future hold?: 

Hey Mister - What does the future hold?