Therapeutic multi-faceted relationships in rural Alaska

Thesis (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2003In rural Alaska, avoidance of dual relationships is impossible and may be culturally inappropriate; Alaska Native counselors live and work in communities where they are reared, educated, married, had children, and built their homes. These counselors have layers of relationships with relatives, friends and coworkers outside of the therapeutic alliance. In this study I interviewed six Alaska Native rural counselors and three clinical supervisors regarding the nature of their multi-faceted relationships, stressors of these on the counselor and ways of managing these stressors. Counselors stated that the multi-faceted relationships are a part of their daily life. They primarily manage these stressors through self-care techniques ranging from establishing clear boundaries to prayer and mediation to debriefing with a supervisor. Most Euro-American mental health professionals will never know the experience of counseling only their family and friends in the hometown where they were born and raised. However, for those counselors who live and practice in rural America this study should offer encouraging strategies for managing multi-faceted relationships