Abstract
As a mechanism for collaborative group learning, we have designed a psychoeducational group curriculum that utilizes social justice principles within a liberation framework to address societal marginalization of American Indian communities. The curriculum within this proposed psychoeducational group format helps educators facilitate student exploration of societal portrayals of American Indians with the intent of developing action plans to address social injustice. Students exposed to the curriculum within this psychoeducational group will be equipped with critical thinking skills to transform their emerging social justice awareness and knowledge into social justice skills. Additionally, educators who lead this group can become social justice role models for others by using this experience to address issues of oppression and marginalization that are manifest in other forms in society.
Highlights
Social justice and advocacy issues have emerged as prominent themes within counseling psychology and education within recent times (Aldarondo, 2007)
Counselors, psychologists, and educators who operate within social justice paradigms, “strive to intentionally ameliorate social injustices that adversely affect the mental health of larger numbers of persons in oppressed and marginalized groups in contemporary society” (Crethar, Torres Rivera, & Nash, 2008: p. 269)
For American Indian communities, this oppressive marginalization process occurs in many forms and contributes to disparate health and mental health outcomes (Alkon & Norgaard, 2009; Indian Health Services [IHS], 2009; Olson & Wahab, 2006).The mechanisms of institutional marginalization of American Indians are present in number of institutions in our society
Summary
Social justice and advocacy issues have emerged as prominent themes within counseling psychology and education within recent times (Aldarondo, 2007). The psychoeducational group format, which is congruent with the educational experiences facilitated by the school setting, allows for both the didactic presentation of content and the collaborative opportunity for group members to process the relationship between members in addition to the content (Stockton, Terry, & Bhusumane, 2007) This proposed group has a single-issue focus (i.e., American Indian marginalization), students can use this experience to develop critical thinking skills to better understand instances of societal injustice perpetuated on other groups (e.g., American Muslims, Latino residents of Arizona). Participants exposed to the curriculum in this psychoeducational group can use this exploration of American Indian marginalization to further examine aspects of oppression and marginalization that are personally and professionally relevant to them
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