The Gifts Received by an Indigenous Art Therapist Developing an Anti-Oppressive Approach

by Sarah Blake Henry

I have come to understand that our clients often become our greatest teachers. It was a privilege that through these relationshipsI was invited into people’s lives and witness healing and transformation. In addition, I was offered lessons and teachings, which I thought of as gifts.In developing an anti-oppressive lens as an art therapist there were six gifts that I received. These gifts including lessons in respect, reciprocity, relationship, relevance, responsibility, power, and privilege. As an indigenous art therapist, I work holistically with radical acceptance and view healing as a connection between mind, body, and spirit that allowed me to support individuals in the adult mental health realm. I used Indigenous ethical frameworks as well as story telling and poetry as a methodology in my writing as a way to challenge colonial ways we as a society determine “valid” research in academia. In this capstone project I have shared my journey in my training as I developed my anti-oppressive lens as an Indigenous art therapist. I am a strong advocate for the changes and shifts needed in the mental health field and I hope that readers will find ways to integrate these gifts I share and bring them back into their own communities in unique and digested ways.