A journey towards indigenous knowledge in social work practice: a research practicum at Sturgeon Lake Health Centre

Date
2018-06
Authors
Sand, Sarah
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Faculty of Social Work, University of Regina
Abstract

This research practicum report explores the story of a spiritual journey that occurred alongside my learning during a research practicum at Sturgeon Lake Health Centre. My experience showed me that I had a lot of deep spiritual healing and balancing to do. The journey is about reconciling the physical reality with the spirit. In this report I explore who I am as a highly sensitive person and as a sentient being. I explore the epiphany moments I experienced on my journey. Those moments occur when knowledge becomes knowing based on experiential knowledge. To explore this, I use the autoethnographic method of storytelling. The epiphanies are a result of “value walking”, which is a technique that helped me to balance my physical being and my nonphysical or spiritual being. I moved from a deep-seated set of Western values, which places more emphasis on the physical reality, towards Indigenous values, which focuses on the spirit. I compare my spiritual journey with the journeys of three others and find many similarities. Spiritual journeys are healing. In this report, I explore how my experience of healing is applicable to social work as it relates to competency as a helper.

Description
A Practicum Report Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Social Work, University of Regina. v, 62 p.
Keywords
Sturgeon Lake Health Centre, Spiritual life, Spiritual journey
Citation