ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role of fellow creatures in healing. Settler colonial ideologies brought a deeply rooted binary between human and nature that expressed itself in relation to animals through domination, settlement, and commodification. Based on Cartesian dualism, which divided all sentient beings between those seen as able to think and analyze and those that simply exist, settler colonialism created a hierarchy of being that ranked fellow creatures as unequal and secondary to human beings. Animals have had both spiritual and material significance in the lives of human beings since prehistory because humans were dependent on animals for survival. Traditional ecological knowledge brings a holistic view of the interdependency and sustainability of human and animal connection that often also embodies a spiritual connection as well. The chapter explores some of the ways that animals have been integrated into social work practice. The chapter ends with a story about rez dogs.
