With the release of the Canadian Psychological Association's (2018) response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015) there has been increased attention on the ways psychology in Canada might better serve the needs of Indigenous communities, in particular in terms of education and professional training. To date, there has been almost no research conducted at the intersection of Indigenous communities and professional training in psychology in Canada. This article examines this issue from the perspective of Indigenous psychologists who are working as scholar-practitioners in graduate level professional psychology training programs. Through first-person editorial reflections, the authors identify key challenges and opportunities in professional training in psychology relevant to Indigenous peoples; and the changes that are needed to advance Indigenous peoples in the field. Finally, the study identifies various paradigms of professional training that hold promise for serving the interests of Indigenous peoples in professional training in psychology. Public Significance StatementThis study identifies challenges, opportunities, and strategies for the advancement of Indigenous peoples in the field of professional psychology, particularly through the lens of professional training and education. In addition, the study considers how professional training can better support the preparation of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students and psychologists to address the mental health needs of Indigenous communities.

Suicide is one of the most significant issues facing Indigenous communities throughout Canada. The rate of Indigenous deaths by suicide is severely disproportionate to that of the general public. While the last three decades have seen substantial investments in suicidology research within the Canadian context, rates of Indigenous deaths by suicide have remained relatively stable, and little remains known about effective means to reduce Indigenous deaths by suicide. A movement of critical suicidology scholars across health and social sciences is beginning to challenge the mainstream approach of suicidology research and suicide prevention, citing concerns about the ideological and epistemic foundations. In this article, the author highlights how these critiques are relevant to Indigenous contexts. Challenging a range of assumptions, the author considers the need to rethink the ideological foundations of research on Indigenous suicide. Finally, the author considers two methodological projects that are integral to forming a critical approach to Indigenous suicidology research and Indigenous suicide prevention praxis–culturally grounded research and decolonizing research.

In 2018, the Canadian Counselling Psychology Conference (CCPC) convened a working group to address how the field of counselling psychology ought to respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Attendees were asked to share their perspectives on reconciliation, current efforts toward reconciliation in counselling psychology, and recommendations for the future of counselling psychology in relation to reconciliation. The current paper documents the findings and implications of the working group, offering concrete suggestions for how researchers, educators, clinicians, and trainees in the field can support reconciliation in a good way, shifting counselling psychology to serve Indigenous people and communities better.

This article considers how to advance Indigenous education in counselling and clinical psychology in Canada, particularly at the intersection of curriculum, programmatic, and systemic shifts in graduate education. This article focuses on the curricular practices that the counselling and clinical psychology field could enact in efforts to advance reconciliation, reduce educational and mental health disparities that exist among Indigenous peoples in Canada, and strengthen Indigenous education in the field. To do this, the authors present a literature review on the status of Indigenous education research in counselling and clinical psychology and related fields in Canada and in similar international contexts. Centering analysis on the concept of Indigenization, a project concerned with infusing mainstream courses with content and pedagogical processes which speak to some experiences and concerns of Indigenous people, the authors present a framework for targeted changes in graduate curriculum. This framework organizes around the primary curricular domains of professional psychology, as well as some emerging domains of relevance for the fields of counselling and clinical psychology. The authors provide examples of Indigenous-specific psychological curricula and resources for Indigenization within psychology curriculum. Finally, the authors discuss the challenges and opportunities that Indigenization efforts in advanced psychological education present currently, as well as consider the role of self-determination in the future of Indigenous psychological education.

Drawing on a partnership with a group of Indigenous youth experiencing homelessness in Vancouver, Canada, this study identifies four structural challenges that have impacted them and four actionable upstream strategies to further prevent youth housing precarity. As a secondary analysis of a community-engaged study with youth experiencing homelessness, we conducted a thematic analysis with qualitative data, which included qualitative interviews with five young people and researcher observations. The results reflect the racial, colonial, and economic concerns that impact Indigenous youth experiencing homelessness. The four actionable upstream solutions highlight human rights-based approaches to homelessness, ranging from advancing and strengthening public services, transitional justice processes, and cultural and socioeconomic safety. This study provides strategies to promote Indigenous youth wellbeing and decrease risk of housing precarity, while centering and drawing from youth knowledge production. Strengths and limitations of the study are also discussed.

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Indigenous young people in Canada are disproportionately overrepresented in suicide rates and alarmingly, young children are accounted for in these disparities. Since children spend much of their day at school, schools are a vital context for suicide prevention, identification, and intervention. However, research indicates that educators often report that they feel unprepared to address mental health challenges within the classroom. Indigenous communities are developing community driven responses to suicide that are culturally relevant and strengths based. It is critical that these models are considered when developing such suicide prevention within schools as they diverge from medicalized focused approaches and attend to broader social dimensions. It is imperative that educators and the education system are properly equipped with the training and resources to provide suicide prevention within schools and communities servicing Indigenous children. School psychologists can play an important role in providing this prevention leadership. Through interviews with educators, we learned about the types of supports that are needed within schools to address Indigenous child suicide, and in what ways school psychologists could enhance prevention efforts. Using a reflexive approach to thematic analysis, we identified four main themes related to support needed. Findings are discussed in conversation with the current state of child specific suicide and suicide prevention literature. Applied implications for suicide prevention within schools for Indigenous children, as well as future research and community-based recommendations are considered.