Critiquing the Canadian Model of Client-Centered Enablement (CMCE) for Indigenous Contexts. (December 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hunter, Carly; Pride, Tara
• Is Part Of: Canadian journal of occupational therapy. Volume 88:Number 4(2021)
• Page Start: 329
• Page End: 339
• Publication Date: 2021-12
• Subjects: Critical reflexivity -- Cultural safety -- Decolonizing -- Epistemology of practice -- Indigenous Peoples -- Occupational therapy models -- Professionalism; Décolonisation, épistémologie de la pratique, modéles d'ergothérapie, peuples autochtones, professionnalisme, réflexivité critique, sécurité culturelle; Occupational therapy -- Canada -- Periodicals; Physical therapy -- Canada -- Periodicals; Therapeutics, Physiological -- Canada -- Periodicals; 615.8515
• DOI: 10.1177/00084174211042960
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0008-4174

Abstract

Background. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada outlines the need for health care professionals to create more welcoming spaces for Indigenous Peoples. The scope of occupational therapy is continually expanding—yet the profession itself is grounded in and derived from a dominant Eurocentric worldview, and practice is designed to serve a homogenous Western populace.Purpose. To critically examine the Canadian Model of Client-Centered Enablement (CMCE) for its value within Indigenous contexts.Key Issues. The CMCE is positioned as a client-centered model, however there is a clear hierarchical client-professional relationship threaded throughout. Concepts such as enable, advocate, educate, coach, and coordinate demonstrate paternalistic authority, lacking reciprocity, knowledge-sharing, and power redistribution.Implications. Reimagining health care relationships as entrenched in social interconnectedness demands critical reflection and action. A model of practice that endorses social change and actively addresses colonial power inequities must root its paradigmatic foundations in postcolonial views of health care as a social relationship.