The Spiritual Dimension of Mental Health

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Have you ever felt that something was missing in your approach to mental health? Something beyond talk therapy and medication? You're not alone. Drawing from both my clinical psychology training and deep Anishinaabe roots, I explore how spirituality—not necessarily religion—can be the missing piece in many healing journeys.

Spirituality creates meaning, connection to something greater, and a profound sense of belonging that traditional therapeutic approaches often overlook. Research consistently shows that people who maintain a coherent sense of meaning demonstrate better mental health outcomes and stronger resilience. When I ask my clients "what gives you strength when nothing else works?" or "where do you turn for guidance in tough situations?", these questions often unlock powerful resources they hadn't fully recognized.

My personal journey illustrates this perfectly. After experiencing a devastating medical trauma that disconnected me from my body and identity, my path back to wholeness wasn't just through conventional therapy and medication. My healing required reconnecting with my spiritual self through ceremonies, stories, and what I call "turtle medicine"—the sacred space where grief and resilience meet. This integration of Indigenous worldview with psychological training became the foundation for my practice at Indigenized Behavioral Healing.

While Western psychology trained me to look for pathology, my Anishinaabe teachings showed me how to seek balance and interconnectedness. True healing happens not just in the brain, but in the heart, body, and spirit. I invite you to consider what creates your spiritual self and how developing this dimension might bring balance you didn't know you needed. When we care for the spirit, we transform the mind. Subscribe now and join me next episode as we continue this vital conversation about holistic healing approaches that honor our complete selves.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The following is a series of candid conversations.
The content is intended forinformational purposes only and
is not a substitute for seekinghelp from a mental health care
professional.
To learn more info regardingadditional disclaimers, privacy
policies and terms andconditions, please visit our
website.
Bonjour, hello and welcome toPsychologist Say, the podcast
where psychology meets heart,culture and healing.
I'm your host, dr Tammy,clinical psychologist and CEO of

(00:23):
Indigenized Behavioral Healing.
I'm your host, dr Tammy,clinical psychologist and CEO of
Indigenized Behavioral Healing.
I'm a woman rooted deeply inAnishinaabe teachings.
Today I want to speak from aplace both professionally and
personally, about spiritualityand how it can deeply impact
your mental health journey.
In my years of clinicalpractice, I've witnessed how

(00:45):
mental health is oftenapproached from purely a
cognitive or behavioral lens.
But there's another layer, adeeper, quieter dimension the
spiritual self, and when weignore it we often miss a vital
piece of someone's healingjourney.
So when I speak aboutspirituality, I don't mean

(01:09):
religion, though for many people, their religious traditions may
play a key part in theirspiritual identity and the roles
they take within their identityand community and how they
offer up their spiritual momentsand their spiritual self and
another way, spirituality, inthe way I hold it.

(01:32):
It's about meaning and makingconnection to something greater
than yourself and the pursuit ofan inner peace, some type of
purpose and definitely a feelingof belonging to either an
entity, a belief or a practice,and I believe it definitely
takes a lot of personal humilityto get to a place to be on a

(01:56):
pure spiritual journey.
Now, in psychology terms, weknow that having a sense and
meaning, a coherence in life, isdefinitely correlated with
better mental health outcomes,and we can see this through many
people who have shared personalstories of survival, who have

(02:17):
built resilience through tragedyand who have used their own
adversity in life to start toimpact a healing that they
weren't even aware they had theability to take on.
Part of that is people, Ibelieve, tapping into a
spiritual essence, and that'swhy, behind a deep struggle that

(02:39):
we have, personally can begin ahealing journey.
Personally can begin a healingjourney.
Often it's the lens that wechoose to take and how we
perceive healing and itsconnection of struggle to a
bigger purpose.
So in clinical work, I oftenask my patients and my clients

(02:59):
and people at workshops whatgives you strength when there is
nothing else that can work foryou, and where do you go, both
internally and externally, whenyou need some type of guidance
in a tough situation that you'redealing with.
And I can also ask people aboutwhat has your community taught

(03:20):
you?
What kind of traditions do youvalue?
Have you been giving anyteachings that you can carry out
?
Has anyone in your family oryour past or your present shared
anything meaningful with youthat can guide you through this?
Questions?

(03:43):
And they matter, and if aclinician is leaving them out,
it's something that you may wantto introduce yourself into your
work with that person orwhoever you're deciding to
discuss your spirituality withNow.
Over a decade ago, I experienceda medical trauma that
disconnected me from my own body, my sense of self and even my
clinical identity for a while.

(04:04):
What brought me back?
Not just cognitive behavioraltherapy, not just medications,
but a deep connection to myspiritual self, my ceremonies,
my stories, self, my ceremonies,my stories, my sisterhood and

(04:27):
my reliance on the people aroundme who carry spirit and fill my
spiritual self.
At that time in my life, I hadto turn inward and move upward.
I had to look into theteachings of my ancestors, into
a term that I call turtlemedicine, and it's a sacredness
of the grief and resilience thatI carried and experienced in my

(04:47):
life.
That in itself is a big part ofmy story and much more than
what we have to get into today.
But I want to introduce you tothis so that the listeners get
to know personally a little moreabout my story and why I
practice psychology in the waythat I choose to.

(05:09):
So as a psychologist, I wastrained to look for pathology.
That's part of our westernizedtraining.
That's part of what we need todo to be able to build and
create careers and livelihoodsfrom doing psychological work.
But as an Anishinaabe woman anda person of my community and my

(05:30):
people, I've always been taughtto look for balance and that
interconnectedness betweeneverything that exists in this
universe.
So that means healing justdoesn't happen in the brain.
It happens in the heart, in thebody and in the spirit.
This integration of Indigenousworldview with my psychological

(05:53):
background became the foundationof the clinical approach that
we carry on here at IndigenizedBehavioral Healing.
So, overall, I want to take thismoment to ask you to look at
some things in your life thatcreates a spiritual self.
What are some key, importantfactors that you want to

(06:17):
consider in developing a deepersense of that, if you're called
to do so and knowing that, inpsychology, a belief in
something can help create asense of balance that we didn't
know we were in need of, andit's one thing we don't want to
take lightly, and it is an areato do some research on and some

(06:41):
self-exploration in order to aidyour spiritual journey.
I will be having additionalconversations on this topic in
our next episode, but I do wantto thank you for listening today
and, ps, when we care for thespirit, we can transform our

(07:01):
mind.
Miigwech, thanks for listening.