| Abstract: | A major goal of counseling is to promote the wellness of the client by promoting his or her optimum development through positive human change, and it is important for counselors to be able to informally assess and more fully understand Native American cultural values to promote the wellness of those clients. The cultural values of Native Americans are discussed, an integrative review of value studies conducted on Native Americans is presented, and a traditional Native American view of wellness is described with implications for counseling. You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. … The sky is round, and I have heard that earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. … Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a person] is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. (Black Elk, cited in Neihardt, 1959) |
