Helen Tafoya-Barraza, MA, LPCC UNM Psychiatric Center – Psychosocial Rehabilitation
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Comparison & Contrast of the Training of Mexican American Traditional Healers with Western Philosophy Helen Tafoya-Barraza, MA, LPCC UNM Psychiatric Center – Psychosocial Rehabilitation Psychosocial Rehabilitation Association of NM, June 12, 2014
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Comparison & Contrast of the Training of Mexican American Traditional Healers with Western Philosophy. Helen Tafoya-Barraza, MA, LPCC UNM Psychiatric Center – Psychosocial Rehabilitation Psychosocial Rehabilitation Association of NM, June 12, 2014. Primary Theorists/Information Sources. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Comparison & Contrast of the Training of Mexican American Traditional Healers with Western Philosophy
Helen Tafoya-Barraza, MA, LPCCUNM Psychiatric Center – Psychosocial Rehabilitation
Psychosocial Rehabilitation Association of NM, June 12, 2014
Primary Theorists/Information Sources
Albert Bandura
Carl Rogers
Sylvia Ledesma
Lev Vygotsky
Albert Ellis
Differences vs Similarities
La Maestra Sylvia LedesmaFounder of the Kalpulli
Izkalli (community of traditional healers based in the South Valley)
Practicing traditional healer/curandera
Teacher/MentorLifetime Social Justice &
community activist
Some of her teachersHer grandmotherHer motherSeñor UribeEl Maestro Andres SeguraNana ValdezLa Jefa Josefina
They taught, she learnedStory tellingConversationsReading, reading some moreObservation/modelingMinimal note takingExperiential learning which
includes practice and learning on a Spiritual level
Her primary mentor/teacher was
el Maestro Andres Segura
He would encourage her to learn from other healersThey would travel together throughout the United
States, Mexico and South AmericaShe was rarely allowed to take notesShe was told, “keep your eyes and your ears open.’He encouraged her to read everythingHe encouraged her to question everything
La Maestra Sylvia’s perspectiveLearning in this matter, without notes, forces one to
learn at a deeper levelTo integrate the informationTo make the information a part of youTo learn to trust one’s Spirit Guides & one’s instinctsOne learns to transcend to another placeTo see with a “different lens”Study is never done, “one cannot learn it all”
Information & knowledge grows in concentric circles out,
always expanding
Does not refer to herself as a “curandera”
To do so is owning a powerful identitySees herself as an (advanced) apprenticeIn learning mode from her teachers that are still
aliveStill apprenticing to her teachers & her Spirit
GuidesTo call oneself a curandera, does that mean you
are alone? That you no longer have your guides?
The comparison with Western thought seems clear
Traditional healers employ an apprenticeship modelRely heavily on modeling and observation (Bandura)“A person cannot teach another person directly; a
person can only facilitate another's learning (Rogers)Notion of the Perpetual student Social interaction with members of one’s own
community (Vygotsky)Learning from a More Knowledgeable Other
(Vygotsky)Reciprocal Determination (Bandura)
Apprenticeship Model
Having a master teacherWorking with a master teacher in a
variety of contextsLearning from a variety of teachersIncreasing level of responsibility as
learner acquires knowledgeReading, reading and reading some
moreAsking questions
ContrastEmphasis on learning “at a
deeper level”Minimal note takingTeaching & learning by story
tellingEmphasis on seeking guidance
from one’s Spirit GuidesLearning to trust one’s intuitionLearning is never completed
(goes beyond CEUs)Deep humility
Additional thoughtsIn traditional practices teaching and learning are
considered sacredApprentices learn not just to gain knowledge but to
gain healthIn this way, education, gaining knowledge from
whatever the information source, is an exercise in self-healing
This is very much a social justice perspectiveThese goals in traditional healing are rarely
discussed in Western pedagogy
Sylvia models an age old method of passing on knowledge
Knowledge is integrated at a higher (or deeper) levelIn this way she heals herself.In this way she heals others
ReferencesBandura, A. (1977). Social Learning Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice Hall.Collins, A., Brown, J. S., & Newman, S. E. (1989). Cognitive
apprenticeship: Teaching the crafts of reading, writing, and mathematics. In L. B. Resnick (Ed.), Knowing, learning, and instruction: Essays in honor of Robert Glaser (pp. 453-494). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Retrieved from http://ocw.metu.edu.tr/pluginfile.php/9107/mod_resource/content/1/Collins%20report.pdf
Rogers, Carl (1951). Client-centered therapy: Its current practice, implications and theory. London: Constable.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Interaction between learning and development. Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes (M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner & E. Souberman., Eds.) (A. R. Luria, M. Lopez-Morillas & M. Cole [with J. V. Wertsch], Trans.) Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. (Original manuscripts [ca. 1930-1934]) Reprinted in (1997) (M, Gauvain & M Cole, Eds.) Readings on the Development of Children, Retrieved from http://www.psy.cmu.edu/~siegler/vygotsky78.pdf
