Sami noaidi

Domain XI · Traditional medicine & indigenous healing · Sápmi (Norway, Sweden, Finland)

What it is

What this entry is, and is not. This is not a therapy and not a method the psychotherapist can use. The noaidi (Northern Sámi; South Sámi noajdie, Lule Sámi noajdde) was the ritual specialist of pre-Christian Sámi religion. Sexton uses the term only for that historical tradition and notes that it…

Format

• Format: self-study (SANKS offers a short e-learning introduction, E-SANKS, on Sámi history, culture and "the Sámi patient"), supervision, consultation with Sámi colleagues.
• Phase 1. Engagement and language (session 1).

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Who holds authority. Healing ability is recognised inside the community: through a gift, family lines, being told by an existing healer that one has the ability, and the offer of formulas to an heir, which not all accept. There is no licensing body, register or council for Sámi healers. Collective authority over Sámi cultural heritage, including the return of confiscated drums, is exercised by Sámi institutions: the…

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Goal: deliver the evidence-based treatment the problem needs, culturally adapted; coordinate with a healer only at the client's request; link with SANKS family, adolescent or ambulant services where relevant.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• tokenism. Working: Sámi users shape the service.
• asking for details of formulas or methods; the client feeling tested. Working: the client draws on the experience as a resource.
• confidentiality inside a family meeting; pressure on the client from family. Working: family members take part and the client speaks freely in their presence.
• fear that disclosure will expose the family or community; closeness of services in small places. Working: the client discloses risk and accepts a safety plan.
• shame or anger at the clinician as representative of the majority; grief about lost language. Working: the client can name losses without collapsing into shame.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.