Date of Conferral
8-19-2025
Degree
Doctor of Social Work (DSW)
School
Social Work
Advisor
Debora Rice
Abstract
Canada’s Indigenous people of Treaty 7 region have experienced intergenerational trauma resulting from colonization perpetrated by the Canadian government. While the use of medicinal plants, are employed by Indigenous social workers, their integration into mainstream human services organizations remains limited. The gaps in Indigenous social work practice hinders client culturally competent care and the acknowledgement of Indigneous knowledge systems in colonial systems. This generic qualitative study explored the experiences of participants who integrate medicinal plant healing and ancestral knowledge into practice. Informed by indigenous wholistic theory, the study aimed to understand how Indigenous social workers navigate the challenges and opportunities of integrating medicinal plant traditional healing within colonial social work settings. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with seven self-identitifed Indigneous social workers practicing in the Treaty 7 region. Participants were selected using purposive and snowball sampling techniques. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Seven interrelated themes emerged, including the role of medicinal plant knowledge, colonial systemic barriers in mainstream organizations, resilience in cultural preservation, ceremonial practices, land-based healing, decolonization, and identity reclamation. The implications for positive social change include the potential for Indigenous social workers to lead advocacy efforts that promote culturally informed Indigenous medicinal plant healing ways of knowing, support client healing from the trauma of colonization, and influence systemic change within human service organizations through traditional ways of knowing informed leadership.
Recommended Citation
Plain Eagle, Iris Kim, "Canada’s Indigenous Social Workers’ Medicinal Plant Knowledge: A Land-Based Way of Knowing for Indigenous Practice" (2025). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 18305.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/18305
