Exploring individuals' experiences of time-sensitive practice in rural Newfoundland and Labrador: a qualitative study

Rural residents of NL face some of the most complex and challenging mental health issues including depression, schizophrenia, and risk of suicide with inadequate and hard to access treatment services. Due to the increasing demands for mental health services, government officials have been emphasizing the need for more responsive and person-centered services to meet client needs. Time-sensitive counselling, an alternative approach to long-term counselling, provides more timely and focused interventions. Mental Health services in Bonavista, a rural community in NL, recently began offering time-sensitive counselling services to its residents, entitled the “Change Clinic.” This phenomenological qualitative research study explored individuals’ experiences of time-sensitive counselling services as offered by mental health services in Bonavista. The results of this research study are detailed and suggest that time-sensitive counselling services can assist in meeting the service needs of rural residents of NL.

Salt springs from Romania exploited during early archaeological times : a new candidate for World Heritage

Our approach emphasizes on the importance of the first forms of salt springs exploitation meant to obtain recrystallized salt for the development of prehistoric human communities within the continental inlands of Europe. Although it does not compare with the monumental dimension of World Heritage, the exploitation of some salt springs in Eastern Romania goes back around 8 millennia; they may be the oldest such exploitations in the world, as proven by 14C calibrated data. What differentiates Romanian salt springs from other famous similar areas in Europe is the continuity of exploitation and utilization of natural brine. Actually, these resilient behaviours explain the creation of a whole and complex universe of salt, which also represents a unique point of reference within the intangible World Heritage. It is through this association in variable proportions between tangible (non-monumental) and intangible that these salt springs comprising the oldest traces of salt exploitation can be considered elements of World Heritage. Today, important personalities in the fields of archaeology, anthropology and history posit that salt is a major reference for the development of the entire umanity. Obviously, the breakthrough of this idea requires awareness efforts targeting, on one hand, local communities in those areas wand, on the other, national and international scientific and cultural environments concerned with the World Heritage. In this context, a proper motivation is the fact that the last two decades have witnessed an intensification of research on salt, which turned this topic one of the major themes within European archaeology and ethno-archaeology. In terms of local community awareness concerning the importance of salt springs in the economic development of a (micro) area over time, it is worth underlining mostly the specialists’ efforts of presenting this topic in the media. Moreover, the impact of a recent initiative of the two museums in the area (Piatra Neamț and Târgu Neamț)—establishing distinct sections that represent, by using museum-inspired means, both archaeological vestiges and traditional practices of natural brine exploitation and utilization—will prove its extent in time. Certain local authorities and private entrepreneurs have pinpointed that valorising tourist areas comprising the oldest traces of salt exploitation in Romania is an imminent issue. The greatest challenge is finding a balance between the civilization improvements (upgraded access roads, upgrading operating areas, etc.) and thep rotection of still-alive traditional practices of salt exploitation and use, within rural areas. Certain local authorities and private entrepreneurs have pinpointed that valorising tourist areas comprising the oldest traces of salt exploitation in Romania will become, sooner or later, an imminent issue. The greatest challenge is finding a balance between the civilization improvements (upgraded access roads, upgrading operating areas, etc.) and the protection of still-alive traditional practices of salt exploitation and use, within rural areas.

The question of authenticity in recoveries in post-conflict zones

In most of military conflicts the cultural heritage is being deliberately destroyed. Two main aspects of its destructions are direct and indirect. In the direct destruction the tangible aspects of the monuments are being damaged or destroyed, while indirect destruction of the monument attacks its values – its general context (for instance during the significant demographic changes in the region where the monument is situated, or during the changes of the ideological climate, etc; the monument physically is not changed but its meaning does). When it comes to the recovery of monuments in post-conflict period, most often there are multiple issues. Sometimes the monument can be perfectly restored in its physical aspect, but its intangible aspect (its significance) can remain deformed, which, consequently, affects the perception and the interpretation of the monument. In what measure this incomplete recovery affects the entire monument? Recently in monument protection domain the question of authenticity is being raised, particularly now for the occasion of 20th anniversary of Nara Document on Authenticity, and it is the focus issue of this paper in context of military-conflict related cases. The paper focuses on the case studies of performed recoveries of important monuments in post-conflict zones and it analyzes the success of these recoveries pointing out the authenticity. It also turns on the what way the communities should contribute to the recovery of damaged recoveries (the Nara Document emphasise the importance of social inclusion in the monument protection). The paper features the case studies trying to interpret different aspects of a monument: its material and intangible aspects and their relation. Other documents that this paper relies on is the International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites (the Venice Charter), World Heritage Convention, Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention etc.