Rebekah Tanner

For the past decade I have been the primary caregiver to a family member. As a result my career has taken a different course and I am now a student at SUNY Oswego studying Mental Health Counseling with the Interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in Trauma Studies. My goal is to use my art in working with other family caregivers as they participate in their own self-care. I call this vision Pots for Our Tears: A Phenomenology of Care. which will draw upon my own experience, whereby I know that the making of art provides both respite and benchmarks in the caregiving experience. By combining artistic practice, the science of psychology, and life-long learning I plan to make a contribution to the philosophical foundations of the discipline of psychology. I will do so by grounding my work in my own cultural legacy which includes: the teachings of the Peacemaker; the concept of the Good Mind, with its associated healing traditions of the Wendat (Huron / Wyandotte) Sky World Woman cosmology; respect for our Ancestors and Elders; and a sustainable future fit for coming generations. I am employed as an Academic Tutor at Onondaga Community College where I tutor Psychology 103, Sociology 103, all of the 100-level Histories, Anthropology 152 & 155, Meteorology, Ethics, Elementary Spanish, Art History I & II, Design I & II, Introductory Computer Information Science, the Nature of Mathematics and several 200-level Native American History courses. I volunteer in the field of Caregiver Services through the NY Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. I create ceramics, beadwork and collage, among others. I am a storyteller, ethnohistorian and student of the world's religions. I am a retired librarian with experience in Children's & Electronic Services and Administration in urban and rural settings. I love doing research, scholarly and creative writing and am unafraid of public speaking.