Gyda Swaney
Educating
Bicultural Psychologist
Gyda
Swaney, Flathead, PhD, is an associate professor in
the department of psychology at the University of
Montana. As director of the INPSYCH Program, she is
fostering the development of bicultural American
Indian psychologists. Swaney recruits and supports
American Indian students and runs a two-week long
summer program for undergraduate students. When
government funding was available she also had a
six-week summer program for high school students.
Swaney thinks
that Indian Country needs psychologists who are both
scientists and practitioners. “At our school we educate
students both to be scientists and practitioners,” she
says. “Oklahoma State and the University of North Dakota
also use this model.”
Bicultural
American Indian Psychologists
Swaney
is aware that western approaches don’t work with all Indian
people, particularly traditional people. Consequently, she
feels that psychologists need to be scientists who are able
to evaluate the effectiveness of what they're doing and
also develop approaches that combine what is most helpful
from both western and traditional knowledge.
Swaney
feels that “bicultural” American Indian psychologists, who
are grounded in their culture, are in the best position to
develop new models. “Native students who are coming into
graduate school in psychology now have a much better
understanding of who they are culturally and traditionally
than many students 10 or 15 years ago. I believe this is
true in part because the Indian Religious Freedom Act
enabled us to come out from underground and practice our
ceremonies openly. Today’s students are bicultural. They
can see both worlds. They know who they are as Indian
people. They are able to take the western approach home and
modify and adapt it to their particular culture. Most of
the faculty lack these bicultural abilities so in
respectful ways, they sometimes teach the faculty.
“Today’s Native
students need to take the very old traditional model and
meld it with the western model," Swaney continues. "Often
students rely on their Elders as they try to grow a new
model. Often tribal services, foster care, the legal
department and other agencies turn to the mental health
program on reservations for help. The new Native
professionals need to figure out how to get all these
agencies to work together in an effective, culturally
competent way.”
Practitioner
and Scientist
Swaney
herself is both a practitioner and a scientist. “These two
areas inform each other,” she says. Swaney has a small
private practice in which she works with people struggling
with such issues as trauma, sexual abuse, substance abuse
and addiction, and depression. “I’ve also done a lot of
grief work,” she adds. “I don’t want to pathologize grief.
I think there’s a lot of help within our culture for grief.
But sometimes people have so much grief that therapy can
also be helpful.” Swaney, who has become bicultural, works
closely with traditional healers in the care of some of her
clients.
As
a scientist Swaney does research but definitely not in the
old western model that exploited Indian people. “We
practice community participatory research. We work with
communities in identifying their needs. We’re very careful
to protect the indigenous knowledge so that intellectual
property rights are protected."
One
of Swaney’s areas of research is resilience. “Much of our
strength lies with the Elders,” she says. “They are
remarkable people who have survived enormous challenges.
They have much to teach us."
Acculturation
stress is another area in which Swaney has been doing
research. “I’m looking particularly at students making the
transition from the reservation to an urban community and
how the stress affects their ability to succeed. I’m also
interested in the behavioral health aspect of acculturation
stress. I think that the ongoing racism, prejudice, and
oppression have profound impacts on the health of our
people. Poverty also has an impact. These things wear us
down physically. I get impatient when people tell me that
Native people just need to exercise and eat better. I think
that health issues need to be seen in the context of all
the stresses that Native people deal with on a daily basis.
This includes reflecting on how our historical grief
affects us today."
Stumbled
into Psychology
Swaney
herself faced acculturation stress when she left her home
on the Flathead Nation to attend the University of Montana.
She was the first person in her family to seek a college
degree. “I stumbled into psychology,” admits Swaney. “I
loved the courses.” Swaney did her bachelor’s degree, her
master’s degree, and then her doctoral degree (1997) at the
University of Montana. She spent her internship at Boston
City Hospital where she focused on multi-cultural training.
After
completing her degree, Swaney returned to the Flathead
Reservation where she was a clinical supervisor for both
the mental health program and the addiction and counseling
program. “I learned so much. I had the honor of working
with Agnes Venderberg, who was an Elder. We took our
clients with us when we picked huckleberries, made a
teepee, and dug medicine. It’s good medicine to be out
doing those things. We worked with people who had
experienced extraordinary trauma – multiple deaths, lots of
grief, trauma, sexual and physical abuse, suicidal
ideation. All the time I was working I was humbled to see
how resilient these people were.
Growing
More Native Psychologists
During
the 13 years that I worked on the Flathead Reservation,
Swaney kept waiting for Native psychologists to join her.”
None came,” she says. That’s when I realized that we need
to grow more Native psychologists. I was honored to be able
to join the faculty at Montana in the effort to educate
more Native psychologists.
“When I came to
the University of Montana as a faculty member I started to
think about the areas in which I wanted to do research. I
decided I wanted to look at our resilience, our strengths.
I had seen that even in the darkest times, my clients were
still growing toward the light and didn’t give up. Carl
Rogers used to say that even the potatoes under the sink
send out shoots towards the light. They’re growing all the
time.
"When we begin
to look at the trauma, which is our history, we have to
protect ourselves in some way so that we don’t get lost in
it. Some of the Elders have found their way and continue to
give us extraordinary gifts that are coming from our
ancestors" says Swaney.
Swaney
is a teacher who feels that she has learned a great deal
from her students. She says that the Native students with
their rich backgrounds and understanding have also taught
other faculty members in a respectful way. “It’s been an
honor to watch that happen,” she says.