Indigenizing counselling valuing the afterlife with the Igbo of south eastern Nigeria: a case for ino-uwa based intervention

Abstract

This study examines prospects for the utilization of the concept of ino-uwa practised by the Igbo cultural-linguistic community of South Eastern Nigeria to understand and address counselling needs of a child and his family. Ino-uwa is the cultural familial scaffold that bridges the lifeworlds of ancestors and the living. In this case, a child with debilitating and unspecific general illness was cured with evocation of ino-uwa. The implications of this anecdote are important for authentic counselling practice in an African cultural heritage context.