Midewiwin and the shaking tent

Domain XI · Traditional medicine & indigenous healing · Nanabozo · Upper Great Lakes

What it is

What the tradition is, as its institutions and sources describe it. The Midewiwin (often called the Grand Medicine Society) is a spiritual society historically found among the Anishinaabe of the Upper Great Lakes, the northern prairies and the eastern subarctic. Its members, the Mide, serve as…

Format

• This is a framework for the therapist's work alongside the tradition. It is not a manualised therapy, and the phases, session counts and transition criteria below are. They draw on the CFI guidance that the core interview can be used at intake and its modules at any point in care.
• Phase 1: Engagement and cultural assessment (sessions 1 to 3). Goals: trust, safety and the core CFI. Add supplementary modules as needed, such as Spirituality, Religion and Moral Traditions, Cultural Identity, Explanatory Model, and Coping and Help-Seeking. Use the Informant Version with family if…

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Phase 4: Concurrent treatment and integration (usually 6 to 20 sessions, depending on the presenting problem). Goals: evidence-based psychological treatment for the presenting problem, adapted to the client. Integration sessions after ceremonies or teachings. Work on identity, connection and…

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?
• 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

• Family conflict over traditional versus Christian practice. Exclusion experienced in any setting. Signs it is working: the client's support network widens.
• Homework that clashes with ceremonial timing. Clients feeling that therapy competes with their tradition. Signs it is working: symptom scores improve and the client stays engaged.
• Using Elders as free labour. Follow the service's arrangements for recognising their time. Burnout. Signs it is working: you have fewer blind spots and get feedback from community partners.
• The client fearing that disclosure will lead to child-welfare involvement or ridicule. Your own note-taking reaching into sacred detail. Signs it is working: the client tells you about upcoming…
• The broker's own standing in the community affecting what the client discloses. The broker becoming the therapist. Signs it is working: the client speaks more freely, and misunderstandings drop.

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.