Winti (Suriname)

Domain XI · Traditional medicine & indigenous healing · 1623 · Suriname

What it is

What Winti is. Winti is an Afro-Surinamese religion that formed during Dutch colonial slavery in Suriname (1623–1863). It draws on several West African traditions, including Akan, Fon/Vodun and Kongo sources. Its practitioners today are mainly descendants of enslaved Africans, in Suriname and in…

Format

• Winti has no published stage model for psychotherapists. The phases below are a that organises the CFI-based work. Session counts are: no source gives them for this population.
• In the Netherlands, publicly known Winti priestesses such as Marian Markelo teach and lecture about Winti. In 2002 she consecrated the national Slavery monument in Amsterdam. A Winti Renaissance project started there in 2011. For any individual client, authority rests with the practitioner and…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• 2006: a Winti foundation was entered in the government register of religious organisations.

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Phase 4: Treatment alongside the tradition (typically 8–20 sessions, as the indicated evidence-based treatment requires).

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

• making history the whole story when the client wants help with something current. Follow the client's lead.
• a relative speaking for the client; pressure towards a particular healer or church. These are signals to see the client alone.
• blame and scapegoating of one member, especially a child. Escalate to safeguarding if accusations lead to exclusion or harm (4.18).
• interpreters known to the family or community, which raises confidentiality concerns; interpreters' own religious views colouring the translation.
• the client stopping medication in favour of spiritual treatment without telling anyone. In the Curaçaoan case, tactile hallucinations returned when medication stopped.

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.