Presenters and slide deck
Evelyn Finlayson, Indigenous Elder
Melody Recollet, Youth Mental Health Advocate
Cynthia Bell-Clayton - Executive Director, ENAGB (Eshkiniigjik Naandwechigegamig Aabiish Gaa Binjibaaying) Indigenous Youth Agency
Loretta Assinewai-Fox, Implementation Specialist, Shkaabe Makwa, CAMH Sudbury
Presentation Summary
Indigenous ways of working are different, and many Indigenous agencies and services provide a range of holistic programs that are grounded in the community and culture. What does it mean for Indigenous youth to access services, what does it look like? How can service providers better understand what it means to help Indigenous youth? This session enabled attendees to explore with the experiences, history, and contexts in which to provide care and welcoming spaces for Indigenous youth and their families.
Key Learnings
- It is important to think about how the physical space can be welcoming for Indigenous youth. Cultural imagery is only tokenism if it isn’t supported by an explanation and context.
- Agencies are urged to include elders and traditional language as part of their work. Including them at the beginning as part of new partnerships with Indigenous community members and organizations is essential.
- While it is important to ask an Indigenous youth client and their family how they would like to be addressed and included, service providers can also do individual and organization-level knowledge development on their own through cultural competency training.
Identified Gaps in Research, Practice, and/or Policy
Indigenous youth and their families should be supported together. To separate a family by offering different services for youth and adults and not a family approach, the system may recreate colonial relationships that separate families.
Quotes
“Develop the relationships with the youth so they can feel comfortable talking to you – jump out of a plane with the youth, go to a beach with youth, watch movies with them. When you do these activities that they want to do, you get the conversations about mental health from them.” Cynthia Bell-Clayton
Contact Email of Presenter
To connect with the speakers, please email Kat Irngaut at kirngaut@hotmail.ca