Written by Sean Townsend from Psychometrics Canada (www.psychometrics.com)

Ancient wisdom and modern psychology are coming together in a unique career
program for Aboriginal students at the University of Saskatchewan.

Dwayne Docken, career development co-ordinator with the university's
Aboriginal Student Centre, helps students find career directions by
incorporating traditional Aboriginal teachings with assessment tools
including the Myers-Briggs Type IndicatorR (MBTIR) and the Strong Interest
InventoryR.

Docken, who describes his work with students as "promoting positive
behaviour and attitudes and giving them the power to succeed," understands
that his approach is unusual. But he points out that there are fundamental
similarities between the theory of personality type and the traditional
Aboriginal concept of the Medicine Wheel.

Aboriginal Elders use the Medicine Wheel to teach the importance of
physical, mental, emotional and spiritual balance. With its concentric
elements distributed equally among four quadrants, the wheel represents the
relationship of all things, the necessity of a proper orientation in the
world, and the notion that each element is as important as the others.

Docken says the MBTI assessment is helpful because it presents similar
messages, but in a language and context that can help to bridge the
generation gap between students and Elders. Like the complementary and
balanced elements of the wheel, the MBTI type table represents aspects of
personality and preference that are different but equal in value-and all
vital to a truly successful balance, whether in school, work or life.

Those are important messages for Aboriginal students to hear. Many face
challenges with low self-esteem, cultural isolation from the student
majority, housing and food, drug abuse and crime. Docken says the MBTI tool
shows students their opportunities as well as their barriers, which can help
them to overcome these barriers: "It helps show them who they are, how they
think and what makes them tick."

Once students have learned these truths about themselves, Docken uses the
Strong Interest Inventory to focus their career interests based on their
preferences: "I help them to streamline and explore their opportunities, to
remove all their excuses, to give them a strong, firm footing to achieve.
The MBTI tool shows students what it is going to take to achieve; the Strong
helps them create realistic expectations for their future career."

When it comes to keeping students in school, Docken's approach seems to be
working: none of the 92 students he has worked with in the past 18 months
has dropped out, and the completion rate of Aboriginal students at the
University of Saskatchewan has been increasing every year. Several students
he has worked with have participated in the Aboriginal Students' Council,
helping to give more than 1,600 Aboriginal students (over eight per cent of
the university's student body) a strong voice in matters that affect them.

But for Docken, the real success stories are the individual ones. One
student he worked with, a fourth-year engineering student whose parents were
both engineers, switched to veterinary medicine after he helped her
rediscover her love for animals. "It has to be about what they want to do,
not what their mom and dad want them to do," he says, adding that tools like
the MBTI have the most value when students are set up to understand that
assessment "is about you, not society; it has to come from inside, not
something you learned or something you think the test wants you to say."

The ultimate goal, he says, is to help students create a career fit that
they can work hard for and enjoy. "I like to get them thinking about the
future," he says. "I tell them I want to hear from them in 35 years. I want
to ask them, 'Are you happy?' Because our career should be something that
makes us happy."

Dwayne Docken is a career development co-ordinator with the Aboriginal Students' Centre at
the University of Saskatchewan. He has 25 years of experience in sports
culture, recreational programming and career development. Raised by an
Aboriginal Elder in Regina and trained by Dr. Linda Kirby in Toronto, he
brings a unique blend of traditional cultural teaching, psychometric
training and life experience to his work.