Cross-Cultural Trauma Work With a Tribal Missionary: A Case Study

This case study describes cross-cultural trauma therapy conducted in a context of multiple cultural and religious complexities. The clinician, a Caucasian Canadian missionary taught and practiced for a number of years in the huge urban metropolis of Manila, in the Philippines, where the majority of the population are Roman Catholic. Her client was a member of an indigenous tribe in a different Asian country, who was assigned as a missionary to a remote rural, Muslim village. While therapist and client shared their Protestant, Christian faith and their identity as missionaries, ethnically and culturally there were vast differences between them. While they were both foreigners living in the Philippines, they worked in very different parts of the country which had dissimilar cultures. The article highlights some of the unique aspects of this case, giving context and rationale for specific interventions aimed at containing posttraumatic symptoms and processing the client’s trauma. The cultural dynamics and use of religion and spirituality within the therapeutic work are given particular focus.