Routledge Caribbean Healing Traditions: Implications for Health and Mental Health

As Caribbean communities become more international, clinicians and scholars must develop new paradigms for understanding treatment preferences and perceptions of illness. Despite evidence supporting the need for culturally appropriate care and the integration of traditional healing practices into conventional health and mental health care systems, it is unclear how such integration would function since little is known about the therapeutic interventions of Caribbean healing traditions. Caribbean Healing Traditions: Implications for Health and Mental Health fills this gap. Drawing on the knowledge of prominent clinicians, scholars, and researchers of the Caribbean and the diaspora, these healing traditions are explored in the context of health and mental health for the first time, making Caribbean Healing Traditions an invaluable resource for students, researchers, faculty, and practitioners in the fields of nursing, counseling, psychotherapy, psychiatry, social work, youth and community development, and medicine. Review "An informative book ... Summing Up: Recommended." ―D. Harper, University of Rochester, in CHOICE, January 2014 "This book is a MUST for counselors, psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists, and other mental health practitioners. It contributes significantly to the literature on indigenous cultural knowledge systems, especially in terms of conceptualization, treatment preferences, and help-seeking and acceptance behaviors among people of Caribbean cultural upbringing." ―Olaniyi Bojuwoye, PhD, department of educational psychology, University of the Western Cape, South Africa "Responding to the intermingling of Amerindian, African, European, and Indian cultures, Caribbean societies have produced a rich variety of indigenous healing traditions. For the first time, we now have a much-needed overview of such belief systems and practices, which continue to shape the health-related behavior of Caribbeans living either at home or in the diaspora." ―Uwe P. Gielen, PhD, director, Institute for International and Cross-Cultural Psychology, St. Francis College "Wonderfully organized and thoughtfully constructed, this formative, comprehensive, engaging book will be a major resource for understanding the complexities of traditional healing practices in the Caribbean basin, especially those associated with mental health. With a wealth of interesting material and a clear writing style, anyone who delves deeply into these chapters will emerge as a more informed student and practitioner." ―Joseph E. Trimble, PhD, Distinguished University Professor of Psychology, Western Washington University About the Author Patsy Sutherland, MEd, is a psychotherapist and PhD candidate in counseling psychology at the University of Toronto. She has authored or coauthored over fifteen peer-reviewed papers and book chapters and served as a reviewer for the Counseling Psychology Quarterly. Patsy cofounded the Society for Integrating Traditional Healing into Counseling, Psychology, Psychotherapy and Psychiatry. Roy Moodley, PhD, is associate professor of counseling psychology at the University of Toronto. He is the director for the Centre for Diversity in Counselling and Psychotherapy. He has authored or edited several journal articles, book chapters and books, including Outside the Sentence and Handbook of Counseling and Psychotherapy in an International Context. Barry Chevannes, PhD, was emeritus professor of social anthropology at the University of the West Indies, Mona. He authored three books, one edited collection, and scores of articles on the Rastafari and Revival religions, male socialization, and culture. A public scholar, he served as chair of the Institute of Jamaica, the National Ganja Commission, and the Jamaica Justice System Reform Task Force.