I was on an online course with Lewis Mehl-Madrona (author of Coyote Medicine) a while back, and he mentioned that he and some of the other guys had got together on the Reservation and were wondering what to call themselves. 'Healers', they decided, was too pretentious. 'Medicine Men' sounded like something out of a Spaghetti Western. Eventually they settled on 'Fix-it Men'. That isn't bad. It's like you're the same as a plumber or electrician, except you fix the pipes and wiring of the human psyche. It's humorous and very unpretentious, and for that reason I like it.
I don't think it's quite the thing, however, because you can't actually fix someone, though you might be able to do the odd shunt here and there. At the end of the day, the fixing has to come from the person themselves. We are there to listen, to help clarify and to give them faith that it is possible to move these difficult things on. In that sense we are more like a Flatpack Helpline, helping someone re-assemble themselves but not doing it for them. So maybe that is another word for what we are: The Flatpack Helpline. As for 'Shaman', forget it, it is far too full of pretension. 'Shamanic Practitioner' is pretty ghastly too, IMO.
traditionally, designation/attribution comes from the community served. in our broken time, tradition has been upended for the most part & whole communities must be forged from scratch to support the healers.
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