Healing the Psychic Misery of Aboriginal People in Mparntwe (Alice Springs): Who Is Best Placed to Do This?

Abstract

In this paper, I highlight how I utilise narrative therapy practices in my private practice at Kings Narrative. More specifically, I explore the concept of “psychic misery”, which I recently learned about while studying the Master of Narrative Therapy and Community Work at the University of Melbourne. Psychic misery, a term penned by Adalberto Barreto and Marilene Grandesso in Brazil in 2010, describes what occurs when the skills, experiences, and knowledge of people in the community are not valued in the same way as academic knowledge. I bring attention to the correlation of this work in Brazil to local Aboriginal communities within and surrounding Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. I emphasise how, in my practice at Kings Narrative, I privilege and prioritise the cultural experiences, skills, and knowledge of Aboriginal men as the preferred and desirable skills for employment. Moreover, it is within the cultural skills and knowledge of Aboriginal men that we find solutions and strategies to shift and unpack problem stories within the community. Our Aboriginality is enough: enough to be employed, enough to start a business, and enough to navigate our way successfully through problem stories.