Attachment theory and ethics related to violent offenders

Attachment Theory and Ethics related to Violent Offenders

Damian Abrahams

Concordia University College of Alberta

Abstract

Violence in society comes in many forms: domestic violence, sexual assault, homicide, suicide, child abuse, lateral violence, the list can go on. The perpetrators of violence impact the lives of many, and, when caught, immediately surrender their normal rights as human beings. This literature review will focus on two areas: 1. Attachment theory, as I theorize that the foundations of violent behavior are built during attachment development. 2. I will also focus on male, female, and Aboriginal offenders housed in minimum, medium, and maximum-security institutions, the rights they have or do not have, and the policies in place to interact with, evaluate, and ultimately release them into society. It was very difficult to find published, peer reviewed information on the ethics in dealing with violent offenders, so for the purpose of finding accurate, up-to-date information, psychologists working in the institutions were contacted and questioned.

Violent Offenders in Canada

Perpetrators and victims of violence represent a large cross section of people within society and manifests in a variety of ways. Violence, as defined by Serin and Preston (2001), is “the intentional and malevolent physical injuring of another without adequate social justification”. This definition accounts for overt violence. Psychological, emotional, lateral, sexual, and self-directed violence occurs covertly as well. In my experience working with victims and offenders I have been exposed to these covert forms of violence. Psychological violence occurs when perpetrators influence how their victims think or what they believe about themselves. Emotional violence occurs within families with children being the victims. Children are told not to feel a certain emotion or are ridiculed for expressing emotions. Lateral violence occurs largely in Aboriginal communities and consists of gossip, spreading of rumours, nepotism, and bullying. Lateral violence in Aboriginal communities typically occurs in the workplace. Sexual violence involves any unwanted physical contact, verbal remarks, and explicit preference for males or females. Self-directed violence includes self-injury, suicide, and, I believe, self-defeating thoughts and beliefs.

In dealing with the Aboriginal population, police officers, lawyers, and sheriffs often overlook the reason why Aboriginal offenders commit their acts of violence and attribute it to being morally impoverished. Though this is true, children’s morals are instilled in them by their parents, and when a child has a disorganized or avoidant attachment to the parent, the parent is often neglectful, inconsistent, or instills fear in the child. (Ainsworth, 1960) There is no transmission of morals taking place.

Attachment Theory

Mary Ainsworth (1989) is a pioneer in attachment theory, which she defines as a basic system of behavior that is biologically rooted and, therefore, is universal in nature. Attachment is a two-tiered behavior system that persists against genetics, culture, and individual experiences. The first system consists of reproductive behavior, parental behavior, feeding, and exploratory behaviors. The second system is an inner organization and is guided by genetics and influenced by the child’s environment. An example of environmental influence is object permanence where an infant fails to retain memory of an object (Shaffer, Kipp, Wood, and Willoughby, 2010). Only through games like peek-a-boo with a primary caregiver will the infant learn to build an expectation of presence. These types of environmental influences also build the infant’s inner expectations of his or her parents. For example, the infant learns a cry will beckon a parent. Ainsworth’s research suggests that young children are anchored in the motivations and plans of their caregiver and that this ability serves the child well. The child eventually learns he or she can ultimately influence those plans.

Components of attachment

John Bowlby first proposed the tenets of attachment theory in 1969. A child who is under threat or fear returns to his or her Safe haven to be soothed by his or her caregiver. The child feels safe enough to explore his or her surroundings from his or her Secure Base. When exploring the surroundings of the safe base, the child returns to caregiver after a period of time, this is called Proximity maintenance. Separation distress occurs when the child becomes distressed in the absence of a caregiver.

Ainsworth built on Bowlby’s work and introduced secure, ambivalent and avoidant attachment types. Securely attached children are distressed when separated from his or her primary caregiver but is confident of the caregiver’s return. When under threat or fear, the child will seek out the caregiver. Ambivalent attachment is defined by the extreme distress when the primary caregiver leaves due to the uncertainty of return. The child ultimately learns the caregiver cannot be depended on. Avoidant attachment style is exhibited by the avoidance of caregivers and no preference between the primary caregiver and a stranger. Main and Solomon (1986) added disorganized attachment style that is characterized by a lack of clear attachment and mixed responses to the caregiver (i.e. between avoidant and resistant). Children under this attachment style appear to be dazed, confused, and/or apprehensive.

Attachment failure

Registered psychologist Sonya Vellet works for the Calgary Urban Project Society in Calgary, Alberta and runs a vlog (Video Log) on Youtube called What Happens when Attachment Doesn’t Happen? Vellet says that children tend to have peer difficulties in school but are competent in dealing with adults. This is due perhaps to having to be vigilant in their interactions with adults who have predictable behavior. Children with failed attachment are also competent when away from their primary giver. I attribute this learned behavior to being necessary for survival. They also are unregulated emotionally and will withdraw when upset rather than seek comfort. Vellet describes them as having no strategy in place to deal with stress. I think is a grey area as teenagers typically are not fully equipped with planning, organization, or problem solving skills as they are still developing the areas of the brain responsible for these executive functions (Pinel, 2000).

Attachment of female violent offenders

According to Rossegger et. al. (2009), female offenders were found to have “absent and/or criminal parents” who were often neglectful. This parenting style leads to what Vellet (2010) refers to as an “irresolvable paradox”—the source of support becomes the source of fear. Compared to their male counterparts, female offenders reported higher levels of stressors such as sexual abuse, alcoholic parents, and family violence during childhood (Lewis, 2010). Absent or neglectful parenting styles prevents the child from forming loving and lasting relationships later in life (Lewis, 2010) and lays a strong foundation for violent behaviors later in life.

Women offenders, alcohol, and personality disorders

Alcohol has a stronger predictive factor for violence in females than in males, as high as three times as much (Weizmann-Henelius, Putkonen, Naukkarinen, & Eron, 2008). 60 women were included in Weizmann-Henelius’s study; all were convicted of murder or manslaughter. 81.7% were under the influence of alcohol at the time of their crime, and 89.6% were found to have a personality disorder (Antisocial Personality Disorder being the most prevalent) as determined by a Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Disorders. Due to alcohol, female violent offenders were found to be characteristically closer to male offenders in that they were more violent, used more brutal methods of attack, and used more weapons as compared to non-intoxicated female offenders. An alarming fact is that women with substance abuse disorder are 55 times more likely to commit violent crimes, and are 49 times more likely to take another person’s life (Eronen, 1995 as cited in Weizmann et. al., 2009). Victims of female offenders were not as emotionally close to their attackers as I would have thought. Out of 83 victims, 58 were strangers, friends/acquaintances, and 17 were husbands or common-law. Ex-husbands and parents were safest with three victims, while children accounted for 5 of the total victims.

Aboriginal violent offenders

Aboriginal people in Canada are over represented in the jail system, some jails, like Stoney Mountain, report a 79% Aboriginal population. Prisons in Edmonton, Alberta report the same numbers. It is not just Aboriginal men who are over represented, women and youth also have higher numbers behind bars than other ethnicities in Canada. Is it that Aboriginal people are more likely to commit crimes? Or are there underlying factors that contribute to these higher numbers of incarceration?

Residential Schools

In 1857 the Government of Canada passed the Gradual Civilization Act that was meant to assimilate the First Nations people into European society (Brezeau, 2007). Under this act missionaries and government representatives, formally called “Indian agents”, asserted their power over the First Nations people who were seen as an inferior race. At the height of residential schools, there were 150 schools being operated by the various church entities with over 150,000 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children attending the government-funded schools (Brezeau, 2007). The goal of residential schools was to abolish the Aboriginal (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit) way of life, and to assimilate the Aboriginal people into the dominant race.

Because of the sense of dominance, numerous accounts of multiple forms of abuse have come to light across the country in recent years. The main complaint of being in residential school is sexual abuse at the hands of the priests and nuns who were trusted to “take the Indian out of the child.” Students in the Residential Schools endured substandard conditions; they were forced to eat the minimal requirements for sustenance, while the school administrators dined on fine meals in a luxurious dining room (Brezeau, 2007). The students were not allowed to live their previous life. They were disconnected from their family, siblings who attended the same school were forbidden to communicate with each other, and their spiritual beliefs were met with punishment.

In the short term, the Residential School system succeeded in its intent: segregate the Aboriginal community, minimize Aboriginal culture, silence the fluent tongues, and remove the “Indian” from the children of the community. That success, however, left many generations crippled. The parents of the students no longer had purpose, they had no one to pass knowledge onto, the children faded into an existence where they were not accepted by their home community, nor were they sufficiently equipped to cope with the stresses of their new society. These children grew up without parenting skills, they grew up to disrespect authority because it was authority that came to apprehend them, and they grew up in an alien society not knowing how to function normally and effectively.

To give a clear idea of what occurred in residential schools, here is an account from one of the survivors courtesy of the research conducted by The Indian Residential School Survivors Society:

Psychological and emotional abuses were constant: shaming by public beatings of naked children, vilification of native culture, constant racism, public strip and genital searches, withholding presents and letters from family, locking children in closets and cages, segregation of sexes, separation of brothers and sisters, proscription of native languages and spirituality. In addition, the schools were places of profound physical and sexual violence: sexual assaults, forced abortions of staff-impregnated girls, needles inserted into tongues for speaking a native language, burning, scalding, beating until unconscious and/or inflicting permanent injury.

Intergeneration Trauma

The Residential School experience was the beginning of a major problem for Canada’s Aboriginal population. Effects of the above-mentioned trauma resonate in Aboriginal youth in spite of the many successes of recent years. Many young Aboriginals have those issues deeply engrained into who they have become. Problems with authority figures remain. Authority figures have been oversimplified and are not limited to police officers. Security guards, teachers, principles, school counselors, even parents and other members of the family are grouped in as an authority figure.

Many Aboriginal youth overlook the simplicity of sexuality. Sexuality is life—it ensures the communal family remains strong. Sexuality today has fallen under the influence of media, advertisements portraying women and men in their underwear; pornography is easily accessible on the Internet, and pressures from their peers to have sex all impinge on how an Aboriginal youth views his or her sexuality. Young woman believe they have to look like the woman in the advertisement, young men believe they have to perform like the men in the videos they find on the Internet and, in addition to that, they learn how to treat woman from those same videos. Everything has come to the point where communication about sex has been reversed: allowing a child to watch pornographic videos or images is easier than talking to them about sex and sexuality. In First Nations societies, it has always been the responsibility of the parents and even extended family members to teach their children about sexuality, the purpose of sex, and to even celebrate milestones in sexual maturity. The maladaptive ways of sexualizing Aboriginal youth that is occurring today stems from the shame of sexual abuse experienced in residential schools.

The children who suffered these abuses grew up to become violent offenders, drug and alcohol abusers, and sexual abusers. The biggest setback that young Aboriginals experience, however, is their lack of a healthy identity. Aboriginal people have long struggled with their legal identity. To be registered with the Canadian government as an “Indian”, which entitles the registrant to all the treaty rights their band falls under, one must be of First Nations descent (Brown, J., Higgit, N., Wingert, S., Miller, C., Morrissette, L, 2005). While Métis and Inuit people have been neglected the same rights. In the past, a First Nations person could lose their registration with the Government through marrying a non-Aboriginal person, but only a First Nations woman marrying a non-Aboriginal male would lose her status and all their children would not be entitled to treaty rights. When a First Nations male married a non-Aboriginal female, there were no consequences.

Aboriginal youth today face many factors that skew their identity further. Pressure to be accepted by their friends causes them to make changes to their identity, often for the worse, in order to be accepted. They end up behaving in ways they know is wrong, or joining gangs when they know it is not the right thing to do. This often comes from the lack of attention they receive from their family. The problem, then, is not a lack of identity; rather, they identify with the wrong aspects of the world around them. The shame their parents felt about being First Nations, Metis, or Inuit in residential schools can be felt, leading to a rejection of identifying as Aboriginal, claiming, instead, to be of Central American or Milado (Black and White) descent.

In the long term, however, the Residential School system failed. New generations of Aboriginal people understand that the way they were living was not how they were meant to live. They are discovering the culture they had lost, a culture that had come from the underground just as strong as it was when it was outlawed. The language was preserved and is again being transmitted to the younger generations, the children who suffered in residential school are overcoming their trauma and are even returning to academia to gather the skills needed to live in society rather than survive. These new skills are being passed onto their children. For the cultural elements that have been lost forever, new traditions and rituals are being created and are now stronger than ever. It turns out that the Indian in the child can never be removed.

Fire water

Alcohol is a factor that is a sensitive issue among Aboriginal people. We must be careful to not oversimplify alcoholism and Aboriginal people. In fact, the writer, who is First Nations, has a large circle of Aboriginal friends where only a small percentage consume alcohol, and an even smaller percentage who are problem drinkers. In the writer’s work with Aboriginal violent offenders 100% of them were under the influence of alcohol during their violent episode, that is not to say, though, that only Aboriginal people get violent when they drink, nor is it safe to say that only Aboriginal people are alcoholic, especially among those who are active in Aboriginal culture (Currie, et. al., 2011).

Joseph Johnston did extensive research on Aboriginal offenders in Canada in 1997, he reached approximately 50% of the federally incarcerated Aboriginal offenders in all levels of security. Johnston found 57.1% reported alcohol problems. 68% of those were violent offenders while 14.7% reported being forced to attend residential school.

In terms of needs, Johnston (1997) noted that, as determined by Case Management Officers, 88.2% of the offenders needed help addressing substance abuse problems but only 5.7% thought they needed help with addictions issues while 30% of them actually made the effort to address these issues.

Case Study-Gary Mattson

On the morning of 3 December 2009, Gary Mattson, who had no change to pay the fare, boarded a bus in Northeast Edmonton and requested to get on for free. Video footage, courtesy of the Edmonton Journal, of the dialogue shows Mr. Mattson speaking with the driver, Tom Bregg, in an appropriate manner. In what seemed like an unprovoked attack, Mr. Mattson punched Mr. Bregg two times before pulling him out of his seat and into the street. Mr. Mattson then stomped on Mr. Bregg’s head 15 times before leaving the scene. The media covered the incident extensively and painted Mr. Mattson as a mentally unstable, vicious, and remorseless maniac. One report by CBC News Edmonton (2010) stated: “After refusing to pay his fare, Mattson punched Bregg and pulled him out of his seat…then dragged Bregg on to the sidewalk and stomped on his head 15 times”. The language in the article makes it seem like Gary refused to pay his fare then attacked Bregg, but in reality some time elapsed and there was an interaction between the two. Because of this assault, Gary Mattson received the label of dangerous offender, ensuring that he will be incarcerated indefinitely.

I have helped Mattson with his addiction issues in 2009, and from what I know of Mr. Mattson he is not the mentally unstable, vicious, remorseless maniac he is made out to be. His background does include trouble with alcohol, but having watched the video I do not believe he was intoxicated at the time of the assault. His past also includes assaults, but each of them were not to the degree of the Bregg assault, nor were they ever unprovoked. Mr. Mattson does not go around looking for a fight. Mattson has a strong sense of protection when it comes to his family and being a First Nations man. These are his two triggers for violence. I feel that Bregg mentioned one of these two to Gary which set him off. This is not to justify his actions, I believe that Bregg has a part in the story and is not the innocent victim he is made out to be.

Aboriginal offenders and attachment

In terms of attachment theory, Johnston (1997) also found that 41.1% of the prisoners reported having absent or neglectful parents, 32.2% reported growing up in a single parent family, and 28.6% grew up in the foster care system. Other abuses such as physical (45.2%), sexual (21.2%) and severe poverty (35.3%) were also reported which I feel are important to note but are not within the scope of this paper.

Personality Disorders

Personality disorders have been found to be more associated with violent offenders than with non-violent offenders. Symptoms of personality disorders, such as compulsiveness, high emotional outbreaks, paranoia, and unstable relationships contribute highly to violent episodes.

Personality disorders correlated with violence

Tikkanen, Holi, Lindberg, and Virkkunen (2007) found that 39% of the 114 violent offenders they interviewed had Borderline Personality Disorder, 5% were diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, 14% had Paranoid Personality Disorder, and 44% had two or more personality disorders. Ross and Fontao (2007) found that among the violent offenders they included in their research, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Histrionic Personality Disorder, and Schizotypal Personality Disorders were predominant. Both studies employed the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Disorders to gather their information.

Ethics in working with violent offenders

Dealing with violent offenders is not typically something that psychologists do in a private practice setting. As such, the College for Alberta Psychologists does not have guidelines for interacting with them posted on their website. I theorized that the guidelines psychologists followed were set by the institutions in which the convicted violent offenders were housed. I spoke with two registered psychologists, one in a medium security jail and the other in a minimum security jail, and a psychological testing assistant who works in a maximum security jail.

Minimum security

Gregor Cotfas is a registered psychologist at Grierson Institution, a minimum security jail in Edmonton, Alberta. As well, Mr. Cotfas works at Edmonton Area Parole. Mr. Cotfas confirmed my theory: “ethical codes and guidelines within the institution must be followed. Inmates must be behind glass or shackled. Because psychologists are hands-off for those inmates who aren’t as violent, guards are often in the room when I’m interviewing them”.

When an inmate is up for release psychologists are included in the determination of level of risk. Mr. Cotfas says that there are several methods in doing so: the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised, a Balanced Risk Assessment, the HCL-20 and more. Three of these evaluation instruments must be used but Mr. Cotfas says that most psychologists use more.

The Parole Board of Canada, Mr. Cotfas says, requires a mental health assessment to be completed before any prisoner is released. If they are found to be of significant risk recommendations are provided by the mental health team to bring their risk level down and the inmate will not be released until the inmates are found to be of no risk to the safety of society.

Mr. Cotfas validates, to an extent, my theory that poor attachment is a forecast for later violent behavior: “It’s a rule [they] have little or no attachment. As kids the inmates are often abused, neglected, or jump from foster home to foster home”. I think that with little to no primary caregiver present to attach to, many children, such as the ones Mr. Cotfas is referring to growing up in the foster care system, are nourished by disorganized/disoriented attachment, they never are given the chance to attach in the first place.

Medium security

Dr. Richard Howes works at Stoney Mountain Institution, a medium security jail in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Dr. Howes states that in a medium security jail the institution regulates all interactions with the inmates. The institution dictates his interactions; contact with inmates depends on their level of offence. If an inmate is an extreme offender the inmate is shackled and in their cell. Even for those inmates who are not extreme offenders there must be guard present.

In regards to release into society, Dr. Howes says there are a variety of criteria considered in his evaluation. In assessing their risk the main test they use is the HCR-20 where higher scores reflect higher risk. The criteria on the HCR-20 are found in Appendix 1 and are courtesy of Dr. Howes.

Inmates who are deemed to be of low risk to society are recommended to outside sessions and Corrections is obliged to abide at no cost “to the person”. What is interesting is Dr. Howes’s use of words. Only now, when referring to the inmates leaving jail, are they referred to as a person. Their rights as people are not considered when decisions are being made about their life while they are incarcerated. Only after they are released do they become people again, but even then their rights are restricted. I do not believe their full rights as people are ever restored. Dr. Howes says, in regards to error in calculating risk, his team would rather make a type one error, predicting risk when there is none, than a type two error, detecting no risk when actually there is risk: “We would rather lock up someone innocent than release a prisoner who will reoffend”.

Maximum security

Shawn works at Edmonton Institution, colloquially known as The Max, the maximum-security prison in Edmonton, Alberta. Shawn is a psychological testing assistant. I was unable to speak with a registered psychologist, as they were all busy. Shawn works directly with both inmates and the registered psychologists and felt he was best able to answer my questions. When the psychologist works with inmates at Edmonton Institution their standards of best practice are set out by the institution while the ethics in dealing with them from a psychological aspect are guided by psychology. When an inmate is in a psychologist’s office, it is a clinical setting.

When considering release, protection of society and public safety are considered first and foremost. A balanced risk assessment is primarily used in the maximum security setting, a balanced risk assessment consists of a panel of experts, usually a forensic psychologist, a social worker, members from the parole board, and anyone else the Parole Board of Canada deems necessary. The goal of the assessment is always to get the inmates down to a medium security level before release into the community is considered.

Outside referrals are started one year in advance of their release, mental health assessments are completed in that same time period and are required as part of their parole. Paperwork to get identification is put into place, relocation planning is put into practice if the inmate does not want to stay in the city they were arrested, and vocational training is provided to get them ready for employment.

Conclusion

The two components covered of this paper, attachment theory applied to violent offenders, and ethics in working with violent offenders, has laid down strong groundwork for additional research in both areas. I did find indirect evidence that violent offenders have poor attachment styles. This conclusion, however, is deduced from the interview responses of having absent or criminal parents, being in an array of foster homes, and having a stress-filled childhood. These reports coupled with the description and implications of attachment lead me to believe that poor attachment does lead to violent behavior. None of the sources reviewed actually set out to associate attachment with violent offenses. This weakness implies that further research is needed to better understand and more effectively treat violent offenders.

Through my interviews with psychologists who work directly with violent offenders, my suspicions of institutional guidelines being imposed on psychologists, and that violent offenders have little to no rights were confirmed. Because of the history and nature of their “clients”, psychologist’s who work with violent offenders must closely follow protocol set out by the institution in which they work. Given that prisoners have very little rights, it would be interesting to find out what the consequence for not following protocol would be.

Prisoners do have rights, but those rights are need based; as in they need to eat, they need to have a place to sleep, and they need exercise. Releasing a violent offender, however, the rights and protection of society is considered ahead of the inmate’s. I hypothesize that inmates never regain their full rights even when released back into society. Why there is little documentation on the ethics in dealing with violent offenders remains to be seen. Even if the guidelines are set out by non-psychological entities, this knowledge would be valuable to all who hope to work with this population.

References

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Appendix

 HCR-20 variables

Historical variables

Previous violence (and offending), young age at first violent incident, relationship instability, employment problems, substance use problems, major mental illness, psychopathy, early maladjustment, personality disorder, and prior supervision failure.

Clinical variables:

Lack of insight, negative attitudes, active symptoms of major mental illness, impulsivity, and unresponsiveness to treatment.

Risk variables

Plans lack feasibility, exposure to destabilizers (i.e. conditions/factors which may trigger violent episodes including lack of professional support, difficulty in handling basic social and life skills, alcohol), lack of personal support, non-compliance with remediation attempts (i.e. rules, medication regime), and stress.

Man's Search for Meaning essay

In the beginning of his book Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl describes distraught prisoners being shipped to various concentration camps in Germany and Poland. His book is his story of being in Auschwitz. Frankl describes a death rate of the workers at 6 per day, not including those who perished in the ovens and gas chambers. His descriptions are so vivid I am sitting beside him throughout his horrible journey. I am one of the prisoners. I felt the terror as our train approached Auschwitz and the iciness of the water hitting my skin while I was being disinfected. The book is interesting in that it is more of a first person psychological analysis of life in a concentration camp and not the appalling descriptive novel that have been well used.

In reading part one I decide that Frankl is an existential psychologist. This is not, however, a choice that he made. Rather, the SS forced it on him. Frankl describes many situations where a normal human would break down and give up, but many of the prisoners in the camps did not. Frankl posits that they found some thing outside of themselves to cling to, their last stand in life was looking forward and seeing hope. We see support for his theory throughout his account of events: the lady who spoke to the tree for example: “it said to me, ‘I am here—I am here—I am life, eternal life”’ and in Frankl’s description of having extensive conversations with his wife whilst on grueling walks to and fro between camp and work. These open lines of communication with what I believe to be their God, or whatever version they decide, is what kept them alive. Their “God” is their link to hope in a hopelessness, fear, and despair filled life.

Conversely, the prisoners who lost hope and faith in the future, the ones who had gone through the three states of mind that Frankl describes, shock, apathy, and depersonalization, are disconnected from a Higher Power. These prisoners Frankl sees are akin to the dogs in the Maier and Seligman Learned Helplessness experiments that simply lay there while being shocked by the cage in which they sit, accepting any and all punishment that comes their way. I find it odd that the prisoners do not seem to indicate their lives were ever in the hands of the SS or the capos, rather they name “fate” as deciding whether they die in the camps. The prisoners were in so much denial about their lives being in the hands of another that “fate” made it more acceptable to them—their suffering and death.

In Part Two Frankl explains the concept of an “existential vacuum” where human beings became detached from a number of animal instincts and with them basic animal behaviors. Frankl explains that with the absence of these instincts, we are free to choose our own path in life, we can adhere to the norm and do what others are doing, or we can do as we are told—conformity or totalitarianism respectively. He explains: “ The existential vacuum manifests itself mainly in a state of boredom.” I believe that in this state of boredom we go through our best transitions in life. I grew bored of chasing women and of consuming drugs and alcohol, activities that I do not partake in even at the time of writing this paper. Out of this boredom came the most valuable part of my being: my spirituality, my belief system, and the motivation for a post secondary education.

Frankl’s experiences in part one of his book clearly pointed to the framework of Logotherapy, one would even think for a short while about the title of the book and determine the underpinnings of Frankl’s therapy model. Because of my past experiences, I find Frankl’s method of looking ahead, a change in attitude, and finding meaning in life during an intervention to uplift a client is somewhat of an oddity. For the entirety of my degree I have been learning about methods to deal with past trauma, healing past hurts, and looking to the past to find what went wrong, or correcting ways of thinking that were learned in the past. Incorporating logotherapy’s three main ideas into my future practice would take some extensive research but will definitely be worth it.

Freedom to Will

Frankl believes that we all have an internal locus of control, that we are free to shape our

lives to any high or low that we choose.

I believe that our lives are “run” by both internal and external forces. We ultimately

choose the direction we want to go in our lives, but along the way are forces out of our control

that impinge on our plans. It becomes our choice to make adjustments or not. Upon rereading of

the book, I find that Frankl himself is a dualistic thinker as well:

Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess

except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the    situation. You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can always control what you will feel and do about what happens to you.

Will to Meaning

            Frankl was alive in the camps by the desire to see his wife again and to continue

rebuilding his manuscript which he lost at Auschwitz. That was his will to meaning. Frankl states

that we are free to exist, to reach goals, and find purpose. We must do these or we should cease

living.

I believe that no matter our will to meaning, it will change. As stated above, my will once was to date the prettiest girl, and to consume more drugs or alcohol than the rest. As I matured, this all came to end as I immersed myself in First Nations Culture. My meaning was in finding the direct connection to The Creator. Though that remains a strong part of my meaning, I now include learning since I entered academia. My meaning changed again three years ago when my daughter was born.

Meaning in Life

How I interpret Frankl’s idea in Meaning in Life is the person has reached the spirit’s fullest potential.

I believe a spirit operating at it’s fullest capacity is open and flexible, able to take each moment and turn it into purpose. I describe this as “thinking with my heart” where I can see everything for what it is without experience masking truth.

Applying Frankl’s method to my own life is something I need to do: people ask me what I plan to do with my life after school. Most of the time I have no idea what to do, I just know that I want to help people, to better my life, and better the lives of my nuclear family. I will eventually be helping First Nations people with our multifaceted problems. In particular I will be focusing on Aboriginal, that is First Nations, Metis, and Inuit, youth.

Logotherapy would benefit Aboriginal youth the most. I have had the chance to travel across Canada to various First Nations reserves and give talks on Education, drugs and alcohol, self-esteem, and leadership. What I have seen is Aboriginal children who want to be doctors, lawyers, professional skateboarders, athletes, and politicians. They really feel that they can reach those heights as young children. When they reach eight, nine, and ten years old, however, their dreams are extinguished by…life. Enter drugs, alcohol, and gangs. These children finally have something to do, and people who accept them for who they are.  Logotherapy would help me address these issues, rekindle the aspirations they had as young children, and help them move towards their dreams again.

Frankl’s book has opened new paths of research for me, and I am very appreciative of the suffering that he endured to bring logotherapy to the world. I will be taking a deeper look into Frankl’s therapy model and attempt to incorporate it into my future methods of helping. That said, I am still struggling on how to apply it to my future clients. Perhaps because I only heard of logotherapy at the end of my degree, a degree that has taught me to look to the past to help fix life problems. It feels as though logotherapy has been used for quite some time already, for as long as hope has been the anchor to sanity. But it took Frankl to finally bring the concepts into the light and present them in a way that makes sense. As horrible as the Nazi concentration camps were, stories of hope shine through the grimness of it all. Everything happens for a reason, it took the Nazi’s to help Ann Frank to inspire the world, and to help Frankl bring logotherapy into fruition.

Sacrifices and balance...

Embarking on a new journey through the halls of Concordia this year sees me looking at a struggle approaching. Both Kathy and I are taking the same journey. As awesome as that sounds, two First Nations students (my computer has a problem with there being two Firsts...) tackling stereotypes, the struggle lies in student finances. Her and I are running a student budget and it will be more of a struggle for her than I. I have my band propping me up and a small income from me being a resident manager which gives me breathing room. For Kathy, though, she only has her student loan. After paying for everything she needs to, and back paying for things outstanding, she was left with $887 for the whole 4 months.

There must be sacrifices.

Usually Kathy and I split parental duties relatively down the middle but in this case I think I’m going to have to up my duties despite me needing to keep at the very least a B average. I’m still flustered about this fact. Which is why I’m writing this blog, so it’s really not for all of you, rather for me to sort out my thoughts on how to tackle our conundrum. Normally I would have no problems spending more time with Khaila but when I have to keep on top of psychometrics, ethics, counseling, a practicum, and learning a new language, things can get...loopy. Add a child to that mix.

I’m not in any way considering not doing it, a comment Kathy made when we were starting these discussions, “We can just live off your money”, has me considering taking on the extra payload. But I wonder if there can be a balance on both our parts to make sure we both keep on top of our grades. She has to work weekends (once she finds a job) while the weekends are when I have to get the most work done. Usually I can leave on Sundays and spend the whole day studying. That was when I was the only post sec student in the house. Weekdays have always been somewhat of a flop for studying with Khaila and Kiraleah occupying our time at home. Something Kathy came up with is that we use Kiraleah as a babysitter so we both can leave over the week to study. Perhaps that is the key.

If you want something you've never had, be ready to do things you've never done.

It's not that I've never studied during the week, I've done very little of it. And I've never had all B's in one semester so this is probably a good thing. More studying during the week and less on just the weekend makes sense: 5>2. I'll be working towards a Master's degree and having the high average will help me get there. I'm sure any estudiante with a child can attest to the hurdles being placed a little higher for us. Overall I can and will complete this semester with the grades I need to secure a spot in my future. And I do have lots of support who can and will help me along the way, Kathy being the main one. We'll see how it goes!

Xaad Kil

I’d always found it interesting that the Cree calendar is so descriptive and takes into account what happens in a particular month. And I’d always wondered how my own people described the months of the year. Thanks to the efforts of my people, a blog on our language is in full swing! This is our calendar, note that we, too, take into account what happens during that particular month. Haawa’a for all your efforts!

The Haida people of the Haida Gwaii islands have a simple but interesting system of counting the months. An entire year is called a "cold," or, as we should say, a “winter,” and originally this was divided into two periods of six months each with a thirteenth month intercalated between them. In enumerating these to me they began with the summer series, recommencing their count with the winter series. Each month starts two days after the new moon.

Beginning of Winter Months

Jid kongaas ~ November 27 - December 25, 2011

"Digging month", the bears dig roots to prepare for hibernation.

Kong gyaangaas ~ December 26, 2011 - January 24, 2012

"Standing up/to defecate/month", because the ground is snowy and cold.

Hlgidguun kongaas ~ January 25 - February 22, 2012

"Goose month", when Canada geese come down to the coast.

Taan kongaas ~ February 23 - March 23, 2012

"Black bear month," the bears come out of hibernation and come out on the shore, the sparrow, the murrelet, and the hajáa or Cassin's auklet all come to lay their  eggs

Xiid gyaas ~ March 24 - April 22, 2012

"Laughing goose month", when the laughing geese (A. albifrons) begin to fly northward across the islands, fish begin to spawn, and grass begins to grow.

Wiid gyaas ~ April 23 - May 21, 2012

"Salmonberry bird month," the song of the salmonberry (Russet-back thrush) birds announces that Winter is over. - In this month hair-seals are born, sea-gulls and, since the water is calm, boys begin playing with their toy-canoes.

End of Winter Months, Beginning of Summer Months

Gansgee ’laa kongaas ~ May 22 - June 20, 2012

Month when the berries are forming. May also be interpreted as “Halibut month.”

Wa.aay gwaalgee ~ June 21, 2012 - July 20, 2012

The weather is still somewhat cold.

** Haida New Year**

Wa.aay gwaalgee 21 lagwa wáak sgwáansang

Kong koaans ~ July 21 - August 18, 2012

"Great month", because the weather becomes warm and food becomes plentiful. Also the sap-layer of bark, being thicker than at other times, is eaten.

Sgaana gyaas ~ August 19 - September 17, 2012

"Killerwhale month", when cedar-bark is stripped from the trees it sounds like blowing killer whales. Dur ing this month, also, spring and white salmon begin to run.

K' iijaas ~ September 18 - October 16, 2012

"Belly month", animals begin to grow fat and their bellies get big.

K'algyaa kongaas ~ October 17 - Nov 14, 2012

"Ice month", the first ice appears on the rainwater in the canoes. The other salmon begin to run during this month.

End of Summer Months

K' eed adii ~ Nov 15 - December 14, 2012

"In-between month" was so named because it is the intercalary month between the summer and winter series.

Beginning of winter months repeats

Culture, Education, and Parenting

2012

The coming year is going to be my best one yet! For the past four years I’ve been walking the halls of Concordia University College of Alberta, learning about the basics of psychology, lightly touching on the principles of sociology, and, not by choice, battling through a few religion classes. This year I finally walk across the stage. Those strides into the future will see me as the second member of my family with a formal education. The first being my naani (Haida: grandmother) who has her Masters in Education. I’d love to say that I’m an academic superstar and I’ve mastered all my classes. Especially when I hear at the end of a semester all my peeps on facebook announcing their 4.0 GPA and all their A’s. Alas, I get the odd A, mostly B’s, and a few C’s. I’ve come to university to learn my ABC’s! After my 2^nd year I welcomed my baby into this world with tears of joy, wanting to provide the best for my family I considered withdrawing from my studies for a year and work and in consulting with my uncle he advised that I don’t lose my momentum. I’d like to think that he was right; after all, I dropped out of high school and that wasn’t a wise move. I look back and I see that my GPA would have been higher had I taken that year off. Say la vee (K-Jo :P) Though it may sound like I regret my choice, I don’t. I’ll be graduating from fricken university! THAT IS A BIG DEAL:

There is only so many ways I can tell my story, the short version is I ended up addicted to Crystal Meth (capitalized out of respect for the drug), which led me to be homeless and 144lbs, as my uncle so eloquently put it: I was cock and ribs. My arrival in Edmonton is when I was at my worst, having slept under a bridge, in stairwells, and on the beach, my uncle’s couch was a welcome change. I came to Edmonton to escape the lifestyle but I unknowingly brought it with me and ended up homeless here in Edmonton as well. Luckily for me I missed the winter. 6 years ago I changed my life enough to stay away from drugs all together and get my life back on track. I went back to high school, got my high school diploma, and enrolled in University. This phase of my life is over and I am currently in a transitional phase. Looking forward I have high hopes for myself. Master’s degree? You bet! Doctorate degree? I’m pretty sure that’s in the crosshairs as well. Dr. Damian Abrahams sure does have a good ring to it! So what’s helped me the most to make and maintain the change?

Culture

The Cree culture has been the hub of my spiritual life. When I arrived in Edmonton the first thing I did was attend a Sundance. The basis of the Sundance is healing. The dancers sacrifice their body for the healing of themselves, their community, or a family member. My first time dancing was the next year and it was for the healing of my own spirit. My first night dancing I had a dream: It was a battle field filled with infantry on one side and cavalry on the other. Their standoff lasted a while before they charged each other. The battle ensued and I noticed that up to now I couldn’t see their faces. After the battle, all but a few of the cavalry and infantry were left and bodies were everywhere. It was a bloody battle that left the cavalry the victors. As I surveyed the dead, all their faces appeared and they all had my face. I woke up and evaluated what I had just dreamed. I concluded that it wasn’t Crystal Meth or Alcohol that I was fighting, it was myself and up to then I’d always lost. I soon realized that if I wanted to win I had to stop fighting and I could only stop fighting with the help of the people around me and most of all sa’laana (Haida: Chief of all Chiefs up above). Between my first Sundance and my second I relapsed and I felt so bad. I had failed the Sundance, all the people that helped set it up, and the Elders who were dedicated to the Sundance. My failure was what motivated me the most, I never wanted to fail that way again, and I didn’t. My third and fourth dances were the best ever; completion of my Sundance dedication saw my connection with sa’laana stronger than ever. Intertwined with Sundance I would attend as many Sweats, Rounddances, Feasts,and Pipe ceremonies as I could. My roots in the Aboriginal culture grew strong and deep; strong enough to withstand any storm, deep enough to stay grounded in times of success. What does Culture (note the capitalization again) mean to me? It means life, gratitude, peace, love, family…. That ellipsis can continue on forever.

Family

On 10 July 2009 my life changed. My daughter took her first breathe and I was hooked. Nothing else mattered but that moment, and nothing could ever top it either. Maybe watching her cross the stage for her post-secondary grad could top, I’ll let you know. I’ll have you know that I was raw when she came into the world. I’d never changed a single diaper, never been barfed on (by anyone but me), peed on, or pooped on. I never calmed a crying baby, fed a hungry baby, or had a baby fall asleep on my chest. I was as new to parenting as Khaila was new to this world. That is a partial lie, I had, at that point, an 11 year old in my life but I was just coming into my own as a parent with Kiraleah and had not yet been a full parent to  her at that point.

Confessions

A part of my past includes two previous pregnancies…and two abortions. Both of them were my choice. My only conclusion is that I wasn’t ready to be a father but I didn’t want my children to have no father in their life. I remember being in the waiting room of the clinic and imagining all the babies sitting on the ledge that wrapped around the room looking down on me, I remember how the world just kept on going after the procedure and how shitty I felt. I kept picturing my baby, safe and warm, suddenly being ripped out. Having the abortions done, in retrospect, was the worst things I’ve ever done in my whole and I don’t encourage it at all. Life is too precious just to discard like that. End of confession.

When Kathy-Jo came out of the medicenter I knew she was pregnant when she told Kiraleah to let us talk in private and I told myself I can’t repeat my past mistakes, that this is going to my baby. “No more fucking abortions” was exactly what I thought. And with that thought Kathy told me she was pregnant and I was happy. Truly happy. Being a parent is such an adventure and it comes in phases. I mastered the infant and baby phase, all it consisted of was changing a diaper several times a day, burping her, snuggling her and making her laugh. The pre-toddler phase was fun, she was aware so we had to fill her world with close contact and stimulating colors and textures. We played peek-a-boo with her to teach her that things exist even though she can’t see them and gave her things to mash to develop her gross motor skills. I sung to her and drummed. Every night I sung the lullaby song to her. The toddler phase is a challenge. She’s acquiring language, developing her fine motor skills, learning social rules, learning to use the potty, and discovering things she can and can’t do.

Language acquisition

We speak normally to her, no baby talk involved. Adults don’t speak baby. When she struggles with a phrase we break it up for her: “ti” ger” and then combine them for her: “tiger”. At the same time she uses her own little language to which we have to guess what she’s referring to. Most times we ask her to show us what she’s talking about and then we give her the correct definitions. My game with the alphabet is to make the sound of a letter three times and do that with each letter: “ah ah ah” or “eh eh eh”. I also help her tongue make the different shapes needed to make the sounds “boo boo boo” “bee bee bee” “oh oh oh” “oo oo oo” “juh juh juh” “gee gee gee” “ho ho ho” “hee hee hee” and, of course, good old reading to her, but instead of using my finger to follow the word I use hers.

Fine Motor Skills

Going from pre-toddler to toddler see her going from general mashing things being fine-tuned to actual precision. The great thing about this developmental phase is that there are many toys to help with fine motor skills. Allowing her to feed herself, push elevator buttons, turning on the light, zip zippers, put the strap of my belt though the holster, and drawing are all tools we use for her fine motor skill development. She also counts to 11, sometimes 13, and we’ve been encouraging her to count on her fingers.

Social Skills

Interacting with other little people is vital to babies and toddlers. We started by having friends over with their kids. When it was time for Kathy to go back to work we put her in a day home. She could learn to interact with just a few kids during the day, something she could handle. In December of last year we pulled out of the day home and placed her in a day care, partially due to a poorly worded status update, to get her ready for a school setting. She also picks up on the concept of an extended family with my uncle and his kids, and Kathy’s sister, and Lisa and her kids. She monitors me when I interact with my friends (her strangers) and is fiercely protective of property (hers, and ours) and those are teachable moments, and also protective of family (sometimes she won’t like a person and she’ll say: “no! MY papa” and swat at the person to indicate to stay away from me), more teachable moments.

Potty Training

It’s every parent’s dream to free up some cash and stop buying diapers and wipes. This leads them to push their children to potty train earlier than when their child is ready to. We did not do this. We didn’t push her or make her be uncomfortable to potty train. We waited for her to be ready to use the toilet. She’s been doing so good at it now, she’s only had a couple accidents! On accidents, that’s all they are. Do not make a big deal out of it, do not scold your child for missing the toilet or not making it to the toilet. Bringing shame to peeing and pooping will cause your child to regress back to diapers and not make it a pleasant thing for her and she’ll put it off as long as she can. We also normalize pooping and peeing, mostly pooping though. We go through all the people in her life and say the poop: “papa poops” “mommy poops” “sister poops” “gaagi poops”. So if you’re in her life, chances are you’ve been included in the list!

Independence

Khaila is discovering what she can and can’t do. “Khaila do it” is her mantra right now and we go ahead and let her try. Doing this allows her to master parts of her world and mastery leads to confidence and self-efficacy.

I have to go to class now…