Saúde mental

“Culturally safe” education and methods of learning and knowing engage learners whose pedagogical frameworks are being celebrated in the process, such as experientially and through expressive arts. Moreover, in cross-cultural settings, the methods utilized allow for teachable and transformative moments for participants accustomed to the privileging of Eurocentric knowledge and approaches. My first experiences with mixed learning environments that incorporated cultural relevancy and anti-oppression was facilitating workshops on anti-racism education with youth. As a facilitator, I often encountered taken-for-granted truths, misconceptions and misinformation. This provided real barriers to relationship-building, an appreciation of the impacts of colonialism and stopping the cycle of racism. The most shocking and powerful moment came when one youth wrote to me: “I will no longer think of Indians as savages.” I pursued this topic further for my Masters with regards to transformative education and the Residential School Truth and Reconciliation Commission public education mandate. The theme of cultural-competency, historically accurate education and respectful relationships became the topic of conference presentations, two published articles and guided my work in addictions education and research. What this translated to was working from an inclusive framework, privileging Indigenous methods and knowledge keepers whenever possible. Within the realm of commercial tobacco cessation, I helped develop Indigenous-specific cessation resource that celebrates culturally-relevant art, protocol and teachings, in addition to evidence-based tools like motivational interviewing. Furthermore, I coordinated the second iteration of an Indigenous-focused applied commercial tobacco counselling course, where I incorporated required readings on colonization and common-held misconceptions. The significance of such initiatives is a potential increase in cultural safety and competency in mental health and addictions treatment practice and delivery. Research shows that cultural relevancy in health education contributes to positive outcomes, but how do we begin to measure if something is culturally-safe and the one to counsel or facilitate is culturally-competent? Through a knowledge translation project, I plan to explore the relationship between knowledge of our history of Indigenous-settler relations and cultural safety at the material and practice levels. Guided by the deliberations of frontline workers practicing in Indigenous and cross-cultural contexts, I wish to generate concrete self-awareness and self-questioning techniques to be utilized by counsellors and educators working with First Nations, Métis and Inuit learners who in turn would be more confident in providing safe and anti-oppressive atmospheres for holistic education, healing and recovery. Through the use of pre-, post-learning assessments and follow-up surveys completed by practitioners as part of the aforementioned course requirements, in addition to interviews with key frontline workers, I will collaborate with a qualitative research expert to translate knowledge that is representative and practical. Previous surveys have indicated that our knowledge translation and holistic training in commercial tobacco cessation delivery with Indigenous clients is effective – an education that incorporates the complexities of normalization and contraband, the social determinants of health, as well as traditional tobacco teachings, dancing and drumming. These skills, tools and perspectives permit informed and culturally-relevant health education and harm reduction delivery. Identifying the type of factors and strategies for improving the quality, safety and empowering nature of motivational relationships could have an impact on education beyond the applied cessation counselling and harm reduction education specific to this project, and benefit educators in various learning settings.

Medicine Wheel Make-Over is a program that encourages people to take initiave to make change in their lives based on what it is they want to change and what it is they are ready to change. This is done by developing individual personalized goal plans with each client. This program is based on the Medicine Wheel and the traditional teachings of living in balance.

Medicine Wheel Make-Over initially started with our culture program. Our coordinator was getting a lot of requests for cultural teachings so she developed the first MWM manual as an extension of the culture program. When the culture coordinator stepped down the program didn’t continue. In 2010 a funding opportunity for a pilot project presented itself. Our Director of Initiatives came across this opportunity and immediately thought Medicine Wheel Make-Over would be perfect for this. We were accepted for funding and began to develop this new program into more detail. It's still in the form of development so that at some point it can be eventually passed on to other communities. They can then implement this program within their community.

To meet its long term social development needs, Nunatsiavut Government decided to build from within-partner with a university to offer a culturally competent accredited social work program to its Beneficiaries in Labrador. Teaming up with Memorial University of Newfoundland's School of Social Work, faculty and NG staff began the job of forging a new path. Inuit students enrolled in the program not only receive instruction in the standardized social work program of study, traditional Inuit knowledge and cultural norms are woven into each course.

The core goal of this project idea is to help a small group of Inuit youth by teaching traditional Inuit skills where they were originally forged- out on the land, ideally in the Torngat Mountains. A secondary goal of the project is to capture the experience and share it on film with other Inuit and the greater Canadian population.

There is much said about how valuable old Inuit traditions are, as well as how modern formal education is key for our youth to move forward in the global world. These old and the new ways are often spoken about in the spirit that they can only exist in mutually exclusive realms, never able to complement each other. My idea is to fuse this supposed gap and launch a pilot to prove this concept is wrong; that mastering traditional Inuit skills can be empowering not only for one's own identify and well-being, but can also teach many soft skills essential for youth to succeed in modern formal education and the working world.

I propose to take between 10 and 20 Inuit youth from Nunavik, Nunavut, & Nunatsiavut and have them attend a 2-3 week retreat in the wilderness. There, they will be assigned teams (either for the duration of the trip - or rotating members) and they will take part in many team-building exercises. Some team-building ideas could include: making a fire (finding material, knowing how to light it), finding edible food to learn survival skills, and building a kayak or umiaq (small boat) and crossing a river. They could also be required to build traditional tools like fishing lines and task them to catch fish with them.

Though building physically challenging obstacles to overcome will be, at first, most obviously challenging I want to stress that being out of their element, in nature, being grouped with strangers, the youth will realize the difficult part of this project is the need for emotional & mental adjustment. They will need to work either with strangers or people they don't know well and do it without the comfort of going to a familiar home at night. They will need to learn to clearly communicate with each other; both instructions & frustrations. They will need to cooperate and live together (on some level) at all times of day with one another for the duration of the project. This will be the bulk of the stress on this project and I've deliberately designed this as such.

I studied psychology specifically to be able to help Inuit youth and I've learned over the years that true verbal and emotion expression of one's frustration and pain is a great barrier that keeps our youth from reaching their potential. The way this project is designed would force youth to take responsibility for their words and actions in a way that they're not usually given in their communities. It will give the the gift of learning to speak up, learning to live with people we might not always like, and learning to deal with our turmoil regarding our relationships with people around us. This idea of creating a new, unusual environment and asking youth to respond to it responsibly will undeniably present some unexpected and pleasant lessons for all. I learned this in the Nunavik Youth Retreat we did in 2010 and I would be ecstatic to try and build upon that experience by embarking on this new idea I am presenting to you. Please see the 'Nunamut Trailer' on my Youtube page or click this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEo9TcnLBz8&feature=g-upl&context=G200542...

In addition to the core project itself I would love to be able to capture this project on film by making a short documentary on it, especially considering how making fun, short films has become a hobby. If I were to win a reward for this idea through Ashoka Changemakers, I would then bring this recognition as a proposal forward to Taqramiut Productions Inc (TPI), APTN, the National Filmboard of Canada, and Makivik to see who would be interested in further supporting this project and also air it to a greater audience.

Making Waves/Vague par Vague was created in 1995 by three women who had years of experience working with abused women and survivors of sexual assault. Together they dreamed of a way to help break the cycle of abuse by educating young people and giving them the power of knowledge. This program was developed based on the premise that when teenagers are well informed they have the desire and ability to change our culture as well as to promote a society where violence in relationships is not tolerated.

The program that was developed, Making Waves/Vague par Vague, has brought kids together for a weekend experience that is fun and interactive and has made differences in the lives of youth and adults all over the province. The workshops that take place during the weekend events are heavy but informative. They touch on many areas including: the dynamics of abusive relationships; the impact of gender and media stereotyping; and the difference between healthy vs. unhealthy relationships. The strength of this program can easily been seen in the returning faces of the facilitators, volunteers, and youth alike.

Two years ago this opportunity was extended to the youth of the Esgenoôpetitj First Nations community. Amongst the eight First Nation youth who were invited, Miranda Mitchell, was someone who demonstrated strong leadership abilities and showed a desire for change. She quickly became the lead youth and voice for the First Nation initiative.

Since the first Making Waves/Vague par vague weekend with Esgenoôpetitj, Miranda and I, have visited the community on several occasions. Our goal during these visits was to allow people to explore their own boundaries and have an open discussion about the things that were most important to them about this topic. In doing so, we hope that they can learn from each other and gain the ability to make positive decisions about their own relationships to help break the cycle of abuse.

I believe this project can and has made a difference because it is about providing people with a safe space where they can talk and learn and grow. They can explore themselves, their thoughts, and feelings about this very heavy topic, while at the same time hear and learn from other peoples opinions and experiences. This program is for people who want to be a part of it and those who are a part of it only share what they feel comfortable sharing. It is a program that allows people to learn at their own pace and because of this it will take some time to see the long term effects that it will have. So I feel that the success of this program in its early stages can be measured in small growths and returning faces.

Together lets make some WAVES!

According to a report prepared for The Assembly of First Nations (2006) titled, "Protecting Our Gifts and Securing Our Future - First Nations Children and Obesity: A Growing Epidemic" - over half of First Nations children are either overweight (22.3%) or obese (36.2%).
I want to help reverse this epidemic. This idea came to me through first hand experience by changing my lifestyle from bad eating habits to clean eating and exercise. I have the knowledge to prove that what I do works and feel very strongly that the knowledge I have gained needs to be implemented across all First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities. I am planning on changing my blog into a website where my niche will focus on Aboriginal families. I also plan to get organizations involved by mass marketing myself to go in and speak to schools and communities about the health epidemic First Nations, Metis and Inuit people are facing as a Nation across the board - tell them my story and encourage and inspire them to change their eating and exercise habits. I have figured out a plan that will work for Aboriginal families. I know how to feed a family on a budget that is still healthy and nutritious through facing my own financial hurdles as a single mother and I know how to exercise at home so there is no need for a gym membership for families.

The Bridging the Gap (BtG) Programs supports Inuit children, their families and their schools to encourage success for students in Ottawa Schools. It creates a culture of celebration and pride for Inuit students. For schools it fosters a better understanding of where Inuit in Canada come from and the challenges and strengths of urban Inuit. For parents, the BtG program helps them to navigate the school board system in order for them to advocate for the needs of their children.

日本の抱える高い自殺率、働き盛りの人々の精神疾患の改善を目指し、組織への『Employee Assistance Program（EAP）』、個人へのカウンセリングのサービスを提供している。症状に対する治療でなく、予防志向のメンタルヘルスを浸透させることで、人々の健康な状態を獲得し、不健康で生産性の低い日本社会を、人々が心豊かで健康な状態、生産性の高い社会に変わることを目指している。

A nivel sistema de salud: queremos lograr que la psoriasis (en adelante Pso sea entendida en su real magnitud como enfermedad crónica para asegurar el acceso al diagnóstico, tratamiento y atención adecuados (actualmente se está trabajando en el comité especial de enfermedades no transmisibles de la OMS) ya que es una enfermedad de muy alto impacto en la vida diaria de las personas, que reduce considerablemente la autoestima de las personas que la sufren y que por sus lesiones produce temor en los demás y por lo tanto discriminación.

A nivel cultural: queremos lograr una sociedad más tolerante e inclusiva, para que las personas con Pso y Artritis Psoriásica (en adelante APso) no sean discriminadas y sean aceptadas y comprendidas en sus entornos cotidianos.