A Theoretical Framework for Integrating Traditional Healing and Contemporary Counselling Practice in Nigerian Mental Health Contexts

The coexistence of traditional healing and contemporary counselling in Nigerian mental health settings represents both a theoretical challenge and a practical opportunity that has been inadequately addressed by existing integration models, which either dismiss traditional healing as pre-scientific or romanticise it without clinical rigour. This study developed an original theoretical framework for the principled integration of traditional healing approaches and contemporary counselling practice in Nigerian mental health contexts. A constructive theoretical methodology was employed, drawing on systematic review of 65 publications on traditional-contemporary mental health integration in sub-Saharan Africa, ethnographic research at 12 traditional healer practice sites across Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa-Fulani, and Tiv communities, and expert consultations with 20 traditional healers, 18 counselling practitioners, and 12 cultural psychiatry specialists. The ethnographic research documented the therapeutic elements of traditional healing across four domains: cosmological framework (spiritual-natural causation models), relational healing context (family and community involvement), symbolic and ritual practice (therapeutic ritual, prayer, divination), and herbal and somatic components. An original Integration Typology was developed, classifying four forms of traditional-contemporary practice relationship: complementary coexistence, referral-based collaboration, supervised integration, and synthesised fusion. The original Integration Framework specifies clinical criteria, ethical standards, competency requirements, and outcome monitoring protocols for each integration type. Boundaries for safe integration are explicitly defined. Expert review by 25 scholars confirmed the framework's original contribution to the field of African counselling and mental health.

Keywords: traditional healing integration, counselling practice, Nigerian mental health, theoretical framework, original contribution