Impact of Indigenous Healing and Seeking Safety on Intergenerational Trauma and Substance Use in an Aboriginal Sample

Teresa Naseba Marsh · Nancy Lynn Young

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Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore whether the blending of traditional Indigenous healing practices and a mainstream treatment model, Seeking Safety, resulted in a reduction of Intergenerational Trauma (IGT) symptoms and Substance Use Disorders (SUD). Methods: A mixed-methods design was used to evaluate the impact of a 13 week Indigenous Healing and Seeking Safety implementation project with one group of 12 Aboriginal women and one group of 12 Aboriginal men (n=24). Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted at the end of treatment. Data were collected pre- and post-implementation using the following assessment tools: the Trauma Symptom Check-list-40 (TSC-40), the Addiction Severity Index-Lite (ASI-Lite), the Historical Loss Scale (HLS), and the Historical Loss Associated Symptom Scale (HLASS). The effectiveness of the new program was assessed using paired t-tests, with the TSC-40 as the main outcome. Results: A total of 17 participants completed the study. All demonstrated improvement in the trauma symptoms, as measured by the TSC-40, with a mean decrease of 23.9 (SD=6.4, p=0.001) points, representing a 55% improvement from baseline. Furthermore, all six TSC-40 subscales demonstrated a significant decrease (anxiety, depression, sexual abuse trauma index, sleep disturbance, dissociation and sexual problems). Historical grief was significantly reduced and historical loss showed a trend on reduction. Substance use did not change significantly as measured by the ASI-Lite alcohol composite score and drug composite score, but one third of the sample did not report substance use at baseline and thus these variables were underpowered. Satisfaction was high. Participants who dropped out prior to session 10 were more severe than those who stayed in treatment. Conclusion: Evidence from this mixed-methods study indicates that blending Indigenous Healing with the Seeking Safety model was beneficial in reducing trauma symptoms and historical grief. The combination of traditional and mainstream healing methods has the potential to enhance the health and well-being of Aboriginal people.

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References

20248 Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples 2008Research Is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods 2009Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts 2015Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence--From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror 2012Two-Eyed Seeing and other lessons learned within a co-learning journey of bringing together indigenous and mainstream knowledges and ways of knowing 1998The American Indian Holocaust: Healing Historical Unresolved Grief 2008Historical Trauma in American Indian/Native Alaska Communities 2003The Historical Trauma Response Among Natives and Its Relationship with Substance Abuse: A Lakota Illustration

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2020The Impact of Training Indigenous Facilitators for a Two-Eyed Seeing Research Treatment Intervention for Intergenerational Trauma and Addiction

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