From Practice to Pedagogy: How Lessons Learned in the Field Helped Decolonize Creative Therapies Education (De la pratique à la pédagogie : comment les leçons apprises sur le terrain ont aidé à décoloniser l’enseignement aux thérapies créatives)

Abstract

Mental health outcomes for First Nations Australians continue to decline as government spending continues to support the biomedical model. This article speaks to a decolonized model of creative arts therapy practice that could have major implications for creative therapies education. It speaks to the inherent theoretical imperialism embedded in Western theories and therapeutic practices, and proposes a way forward in navigating a currently colonized education system, while keeping true to the course’s underlying principles of social justice, equity, and connection. Two of the authors of this paper were part of a government-funded remote healing service, one as Manager and Creative Arts Therapist, the other as an Aboriginal Healer/Elder and Artist. The third author is a linguist and educator who works extensively with Aboriginal students. This article tracks how incorporating First Nations practices such as Etuaptmunk and Dadirri, while simultaneously deconstructing Western practice, paradigms, and systems, can have a profound impact on both practice and pedagogy. We take the lessons learned from working with First Nations people and communities from across remote Australia and embed them into a cocreated Creative Arts Therapies course within an Australian regional university.