Preparation as a Speaker/Presenter
The first thing needed in order to write an abstract is a topic. It is best to make the topic something that you are interested in and know others will be interested too. Do your research, so that you will be able to write a nicely compiled abstract. The abstract is just the beginning of the journey. It will start out with finding between four and six articles that support what you want to say. From there in order to compile a fairly extensive annotated bibliography you will need to find between ten and fifteen article to support your findings. Your annotated bibliography will work into a literature review. Most of my literature reviews started out with between twenty and thirty articles and when refined the end goal was approximately twenty articles.
The abstracts are what will get you initially invited to a conference as a speaker, but it is the Literature Review that will get you invited back.
For the challenges for the next few days, I will be sharing the abstracts I have and will be submitting as successful and potential conference speaker.
Abstract One
Indigenous Case Study: Molly’s Story - 2014 Indigenous Women's Conference - Australia
As a Metis woman, BA/Sociology graduate and Bachelor of Social Work candidate, critically analyzing what is seen and heard is key to being the best Social Worker I can be.
The location for this case study is that of a bus passenger, sitting, listening and gathering information from the stories and emotions generated from a young Anishinaabe couple seated directly behind the observer (Pizzey, 2013).
As a Social Worker who wants to implement the best way to help future clients, a need to explore the ‘power-over” dynamics existing between the key people in this relationship is needed in order to be able to assist Molly.
Molly has been working for the last two years wanting to bring her son home. She has been participating in parenting programs which ‘if implemented’, will help her improve her mothering skills.
In this presentation, I will be incorporating indigenous practices. The use of the Medicine Wheel and the Grandfather Teachings would be a great way to help Molly work through her mental health issues due to substance abuse covering up her guilt issues of abandonment and rejection (Aboriginal Healing and Wellness Strategy).
In addition to exploring Molly’s situation, addressing ways of helping her and others like her through an Indigenous framework is imperative.
As part of the Indigenous framework an analysis of the experiences shared by this young couple and the exploration of their circumstances will contribute to strengthening existing social work interventions, so we can better understand basic relationship dynamics embedded in Molly and Stanley’s relationship(s).
Helping Molly understand, “The abuser does not define who she is…God does” will be essential in her healing journey toward being the best: wife, mom, daughter, woman she can be.
References
Benton-Banai, 1988; Mawhiney & Nabigon, 2011; Morrisseau, 1998; Nabigon, 2006; Wenger
Nabigon, 2010; Wesley-Esquimaux & Snowball, 2010)
Pizzey, Bernadette, L. (2013) “Traveling Truths: Highway Memoirs” (45) pp, 45– 50
National Aboriginal Health Organization, An Overview of Traditional Knowledge and Medicine and Public Health In Canada (2008).
http://www.ofifc.org/research/ongoing-projects
Abstract Two
Stanley is a Kind Man - 11th Qualitative Inquiry - 2015 - Illinois
Stanley and his wife Molly (a young Indigenous couple) are sitting in the bus seat directly behind me. They are traveling to a small northern community in Alberta. Stanley is going to meet Molly’s son Matthew and mother Sarah. Matthew (4) lives with his grandmother Sarah. Sarah has custody as a kinship guardian. Stanley is an abusive husband, has substance abuse issues and has abandonment/rejection issues due to the results of his parents being Residential School survivors.
Stanley has decided he wants a happier more fulfilled life. Upon seeking help from the Alcohol and Drug Prevention Worker at the Indigenous Friendship Centre, he is admitted to a Treatment Centre named The Enaahtig Healing Lodge and Learning Centre. While at the Centre he learns about and becomes involved in the “I am a Kind Man” project and he learns about the 7 Native American Philosophies. He is learning to be a better man, husband and father to Molly’s son Matthew.
Abstract Three
Matthew Learns Through FASD -A Work in Progress - Possible Return to Australia
Matthew is an Indigenous 8-year old and is Molly’s son. As an infant he was diagnosed as FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome). He is now in grade two and has recently been re-diagnosed as FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder).
Matthew lives with his Grandmother who was granted Kinship when he was an infant. Kinship gives her custody of Matthew in order to help him remain in the family, but mom (Molly) only has visitation rights.
As a grade two student, Matthew has been classified as having behavioral issues. One of the things his teachers have been doing, is learning about different teaching techniques to help them better understand Matthew as well as finding ways to help him learn better.
References
Alberta Learning Cataloguing (2004) Minister of Learning Teaching students with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: Building strengths, creating hope
Abstract Four
Sarah Works Through Residential School Issues - A Work in Progress - Possible Return to Illinois
Sarah is Molly’s mother and she is Matthews Grandmother. Because of Molly’s drinking while pregnant Matthew has been diagnosed with FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder), so Matthew was apprehended at birth. Through a Kinship program Sarah has custody of Matthew.
Sarah is a Residential School Survivor, but due to abuses she endured while at the Saddle Lake Residential School, she is still on her own healing journey. As a young mom herself raising six children and having no one to fall back on for help, Sarah was not able to encourage or raise her children in the ways of her ancestors.
As a residential school student her culture and traditions were taken away from her. Because she was in the system from the time she was five until she married at the age of seventeen, she never learned what it meant to have her own beliefs or what the elders of her culture would do.
Having gained custody of her grandson, she is now learning about her culture and traditions.
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_residential_schools_in_Canada
http://www.whitebison.org/magazine/2005/volume6/no6.htm
Theories
Strengths Based
Empower and encourage clients that they already know how to do what needs to be done in order to grow and succeed within the community and society they live in
Feminine Based
You can succeed and you do not have to do things in the same way as the status quo
Indigenous Based
By implementing the Medicine Wheel, Grandfather Teachings, Indigenous Philosophies, Fasting & Praying, Engaging Elders and engaging other community members, you will succeed.
