How do Aboriginal people overcome adversity?
Strategies to Face Adversity: Inner Strength
A number of study participants spoke about their inner strength, or strong spirit, helping them overcome adversity.
Strategies to Face Adversity: Enduring
Aboriginal people have endured, tolerated or suffered past government policies and racism in society.
Strategies to Face Adversity: Thriving
Many of Marion’s study participants were thriving, living a successful life and doing far more than just surviving.
Strategies to Face Adversity: Learning
Many study participants expressed that learning about their culture was an important part of survival as an Aboriginal person in today’s Aboriginal society.
Strategies to Face Adversity: Humour
Humour for most participants was an important coping mechanism used to deal with the many adversities they had to face on a daily basis. It was also used to help deal with stressful and painful traumatic events suffered by some participants.
Strategies to Face Adversity: Letting Go, Forgiveness and Healing
Every participant spoke of the healing process and how before such a process can begin, they had to let go of negative emotions such as anger and hatred.
Strategies to Face Adversity: Role Models
Role models were important to many participants and played a major role in many individuals being able to face and overcome the many adversities they had to face during their lives.
Strategies to Face Adversity: Health
Although health was not a major concern for most participants, some saw health as an important factor underlying resilience.
Strategies to Face Adversity: Education
Many participants spoke of education as power and how having an education certainly empowered them as individuals.