Development and Implementation of a Graduate Indigenous Psychology Course

Through the proposed manuscript, we will describe the development and implementation of a graduate-level Indigenous Psychology course offered in Spring 2025 through the University of Alberta Faculty of Education. “We” are faculty members in professional psychology programs at the University of Alberta. Together, we developed and co-instructed the course. We open this proposal by introducing ourselves, beginning with Gwendolyn. My name is Gwendolyn Villebrun. I am Dene/Metis and I am, along with my late mother, a member of the K’atlodeeche First Nation (located near Hay River, NT). My nehiyaw/Metis father is from Fort Chipewyan, AB. I was raised in the NT, but have lived most of my adult life in Amiskwacîwâskahikan, Edmonton, AB located on treaty 6 territory. I have been a registered counselling psychologist for 20 years and have served primarily urban Indigenous people impacted by the Residential Schools. My name is Melissa Tremblay. I am a mother of three children, citizen of the Métis Nation of Alberta and member of the Lac St Anne Métis Community Association, located in rural Alberta west of Amiskwacîwâskahikan. On my dad’s side of the family, we come from Cree and Métis people, and on my mom’s side, we have French and Norwegian relatives. Having introduced ourselves, we next turn to background information from the research literature to situate our decision to offer a graduate course in Indigenous psychology. Theoretical Significance and Practical Importance Given the harms that the profession of psychology has enacted on Indigenous peoples combined with the ongoing impacts of colonization, it is necessary to develop graduate programs that support the engagement of trainees in social justice activities, mitigate misunderstanding, and promote culturally safe practices, specific to Indigenous cultures and ways of knowing (CPA, 2018; Fellner, 2020). To the authors’ knowledge, the only published account of an Indigenous-specific psychology course offering was carried out by Trenholm and colleagues (2019), who described challenges and opportunities that arose in developing a graduate certificate in Indigenous counselling in New Brunswick. Therefore, although increasing attention is being paid to Indigenous ways of knowing in graduate programs, literature related to professional psychology courses in Canada is limited, and there is a lack of documentation of ways in which Indigenous-specific professional psychology graduate courses can be developed and implemented. Class Structure and Reflections Through this manuscript, we will discuss the process of course development, as well as our course structure, objectives, and experiences as co-instructors. We were intentional to engage in careful consultation and planning for over two years before our course began. The course provided an immersive experience including ceremony, engagement with Elders and knowledge keepers, ongoing critical self-reflection, time on the land, academic learning, and fostering of connections. We will share the reasoning behind the decisions we made regarding course structure and implementation, and reflect on the successes and challenges we faced as co-instructors of this unique course. Finally, we will discuss implications for other professional psychology programs seeking to offer content in Indigenous Psychology.