RADICAL CARE AND DECOLONIAL FUTURES: CONVERSATIONS ON IDENTITY, HEALTH, AND SPIRITUALITY WITH INDIGENOUS QUEER, TRANS, AND TWO-SPIRIT YOUTH

The spirituality and health of Indigenous queer, trans, and two-spirit people occurs within and responds to contexts of extreme colonial violence. However, few studies have examined the relationships among the identity, health, and spirituality of Indigenous queer, trans, and two-spirit youth and their perspectives and activism work in relation to the context of this violence. This study aims to better understand the importance of the connections among identity, health, and spirituality and their role in supporting Indigenous queer, trans, and two-spirit leadership in the enactment of care practices to promote health amidst colonial violence and the worlding of decolonial futures beyond and outside it. Informed by key insights from the grassroots movements and fields of Indigenous feminism, Indigenous queer thought, and radical resurgence, this study brings these insights into conversation, via qualitative interviews with five Indigenous youth activists (18 to 35 years old) from across the part of Turtle Island now known as Canada. Our analysis results in four themes: (1) identity, (2) spirituality, (3) the multidimensional nature of colonial violence, and (4) radical care. We delineate activating practices for decolonial futures, and signal the value of grounded, context-reflective, culturally safe, and intersectional health and youth services. This research demonstrates that spirituality is constitutive of and foundational to the identity and health of Indigenous queer, trans, and two-spirit youth, and shows that health promotion and youth services must address the multidimensional nature of these needs if they are to truly support Indigenous young people, their movements of radical care, and the creation of a decolonial elsewhere marked by belonging, love, self-determinism, responsibility, and joy.

Health, spirituality and Covid-19: Themes and insights

Current researches reveal the intimate link between health and spirituality. Among vulnerable populations, spirituality serves a critical purpose in a person’s well-being. One of the many established values of spirituality is that it helps people to deal with major life stressors. This has become more pronounced as the world grapples with the challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic. This paper explores the themes and insights from recent scholarly articles on health and spirituality as well as highlights the importance of spiritual care to human well-being.

Mental health and spirituality

A téma-összefoglaló tanulmány a Magyar Pszichológiai Társaság XXIII., 2014. évi Marosvásárhelyi Nagygyűlésén elhangzott előadásnak szerkesztőségi felkérésre megírt, kibővített változata. A címben megjelölt fogalmak történetileg változó jelentésének nyomon kísérését követően elemzi a spiritualitás helyét a mentális egészségkoncepciókban. Határt von a vallásosság és a spiritualitás között, kiemelve a lényegi különbözőségeket. Rávilágít arra, hogy a (teljes) egészség szerves részét alkotó spiritualitás mint az egyedi, személyes filozófia meghatározója jelentős szerepet játszik az egészség megőrzésében, a prevencióban és egészségpromócióban egyaránt. Megkülönbözteti a spirituális szemlélet és életgyakorlat bizonyítékokon alapuló eredményességét, valamint a vallási rendszer(ek)nek elkötelezetteknél igazolható egészségmegőrző szerepét. A feltárt bizonyítékok alapján az a konklúziója, hogy a spiritualitás egészségvédő faktor, pszichológiai vagyon.