TOPIC:Healing Our Spirit Worldwide Conference

AUTHOR:Whisper Chase

TOPIC:Healing Our Spirit Worldwide Conference

DATES:August 6-11, 2006

Being that this was my first conference experience, I was very nervous about meeting people and how I would be received. Within moments of arriving, I realized that I was home. I was home in terms of being able to be myself and relax and have the ability to mingle without hesitation.

The Healing Our Spirits Worldwide 2006 Conference was definitely a comforting place to be with smiling faces, insightful conversations and spiritual presences from all around our world. This conference offered a certain sense of connectedness among everyone who attended from the tiny little toddlers to the wonderfully wise and virtuous elders. This conference was specifically directed at Aboriginal or Indigenous people and Addictions around the world. One did not have to be Aboriginal or Indigenous to attend or to have addictions problems, but if you had a vested interest in the greater good of mankind, than you were able to find many things that would be a benefit personally, academically or professionally. This experience could be likened to that of a giant family reunion, where maybe you do not know everyone, but they are sure glad you are there and you are sure glad you came.

The opening ceremonies were held at a nearby reserve outside of Edmonton, at the Poundmaker’s Lodge. We were welcomed by Indigenous nations across the globe (Hawaii, Pacific Islands, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, etc.) in traditional attire and with flags that were representative of their tribes. Each nation offered prayers and also some had prepared some performance art to entertain the crowd. The songs, prayers, dances, costumes, customs and speeches allowed the crowd to have a better understanding of each nation and it also offered a sense of inclusion for those who were spectators. The ceremonies were followed by a traditional feast that was representative of the foods that Indigenous Canadians eat. The food was very healthy and definitely helped to promote the theme of healthy eating to reduce the high-risk of Diabetes among Indigenous peoples.

The first workshop that I attended was titled: The Forefathers Presentation presented by Herewini Jones from New Zealand. This presentation definitely sparked my own personal interest in this conference and it set the precedent for everything I was to learn in the upcoming week. The main theme of this workshop was that we are all connected and it can all be traced back to our genealogy. Herewini spoke with such eloquence and emotional vigour, and his knowledge and expertise of genealogy and his people, our people, demonstrated his familiarity and personal engagement with the material. What I learned in this workshop is the concept of cohesiveness and in a project like our CIHR project that element is crucial. Another crux of this workshop was the understanding that there is always a greater force at work and we are but one small element in something so large, but our strength is not measured by our size, but by our involvement. Also this can be applied to the CIHR project, as we are but the researchers, and we may take the attitude of “researching subjects” or we can take the approach based on community and cohesiveness and understand that in helping others help themselves, we are all helping one another. This approach extends beyond being involved in “research” but rather being involved in a partnership or a friendship within the community.

I attended the NNAPF National Training Conference 2006 training session provided by the CCSA presented by Dr. Colleen Anne Dell. This training was titled: Conducting Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR): Lessons Learned & Questions to Consider. In this workshop we learned the importance of CBPR and I learned it’s usefulness to the CIHR project in particular. A strength of CBPR is that is fosters an understanding that helps to create links of the past, present and future of research. It is not simply conducting research as a means to an end, but to understand holistically, where the potential problems have arisen from, why they are perpetuated and ways to improve or eradicate said problems from recurring in the future. More specifically, a good researcher explains to the participants the aims of one’s study and keeps participants actively engaged, much like our own CIHR project. This project will allow for some critical analyses but also the possibility to be creative in ways that we conduct our research. Also we have learned the importance of establishing community partnerships, and that each partnership requires the appropriate time and consideration for optimal involvement in the project. A strong element of flexibility and adaptability on the researcher’s behalf is integral to have the community partners feel at ease with their involvement and efforts in CBPR. We have learned within our own project that establishing partnerships, has required adaptability on behalf of the entire research team and community partners, but the end resultant remains the same. We all have a goal in mind and we will reach our target because we have the strength of a mutual relationship and incredible enthusiasm on all facets of the project. The CIHR project is one that I believe will benefit most by use of CBPR and other ways of handling it, would not be able to produce the relationship that it has among everyone involved.

I attended a workshop that I found most interesting and the concept was very simple and it can be utilized by anyone. It was titled: The Walk of Life. Presented by: Dr. Murray Kelly and Georgina Woodward-Fay. Dr. Kelly is of Irish descent therefore he introduced his origins and demonstrated the similarities that exist between the cultural genocide of both Indigenous people worldwide and the Irish. This had a specific impact on me, and hit really close to home, as my lineage is comprised of both groups. Dr. Kelly designed a wheel that is divided into eight segments. The segments include: ancestors, parents, pre-natal, birth, child, teen, adult and elder. The idea is that the person who has decided to take this walk of life, must understand their past influences that have helped to shape them in their present identity. In the ancestors segment, it is believed in order to ameliorate your own situation, acknowledgement of your ancestors’ pasts, and forgiveness is necessary. Therefore he described in great detail the struggles that his forefathers experienced and his grandparents and how it has shaped his own parents. He moved through each segment of the wheel and explained how his ancestors and his parents’ pain and grief shaped him, and how he in turn will shape his children’s lives. The basic premise of this wheel is to learn to be aware of your past in order to understand your present and to fix those things that require mending in order to have a brighter future. His teachings were very powerful and I think a tool of this sort would prove to be beneficial in treatment centres, where maybe patients feel so alone in their troubles. If the treatment centre workers could initially demonstrate the forces that have helped to shape their lives perhaps, the patients would be willing to try, and from there they would learn to be accountable for their own pain and could then learn to heal. This workshop was very powerful and its use in treatment centres would prove very beneficial, but it must be demonstrated by example. Therefore I am suggesting that treatment workers do need to have a better handle on addictions and recovery through their own introspection, in order to really help and heal.

One of the cultural evenings was centred on a play titled: The Rez Sisters. This play was a humorous look at life on the reserve and it demonstrated many of the negative stereotypes that we are familiar with including: drunkenness, laziness, poverty and promiscuity. The play also touched on serious topics of sexual abuse, physical violence, grievance and addictions. This play depicted seven women’s voices and their perspectives of life on the reserve. These women shared many identities including that of: aboriginal, poor, women, less educated, unemployed, friends, spiritually connected, goal-oriented and caregivers. One character demonstrated her willingness to use drugs, alcohol and sex to cope with her pain, while another used anything else to occupy her time in order to forget her “real” life. I believe women of all colours can identify with these women on some level. They were caregivers who wanted to make the best out of the poorest situation. In one scene, a little aboriginal girl with mental retardation spoke of being sexually abused by two white men. This was a really difficult scene to witness, as this is a problem that has been happening ever since first contact from European colonizers. Women and girls are continuously being victimized because they are viewed as useless savages and a message is sent out that it is indeed okay to rape them. It was really devastating to fathom that this happens all the time and I think that it was excellent that they brought that element to life. By doing so, they are bringing awareness to a subject that others choose to ignore. This awareness and acceptance is where the healing can begin. As long as we continue to turn our heads and say that it has not happened to me, then we cannot forge ahead to heal and move away from it.

A workshop titled: Seek the Mind of a Warrior, was presented by a New Zealand woman named Tui Taurua. Tui suffered from bi-polar disorder where she would experience both manic and depressive episodes. She had dealt with many clinicians who only wanted to medicate her problem and Tui decided that she wanted clarity and that through medicine she could not achieve such. Before she had reached a turning point in her life, she had shut off her friends and family because they did not understand her condition and to her they aggravated it. Her turning point came when she decided to go off of her medication and from that moment on she learned to keep her mind active, through chess and reading. She felt as though her clinician treated her as a number and not as a person and her needs were not being met. I think the feelings that Tui expressed are quite common today in the world of western medicine, where the aims are to medicate and medicate some more. People’s needs and concerns do need to be made personalized to that individual. I believe that we will encounter the same idea in the CIHR project, where generalized treatment and concern does not work for everyone. I am sure that generalized treatment is cost-effective in some aspects, but in the long-term, the problems are never really dealt with. These problems are simply by-passed, and therefore it would be less cost-effective because the patients will be treated on several accounts for shorter periods rather than one intensive period. Tui made a personal change that in order to get her mind healthy she needed to gauge her emotions as well. The theme of understanding and accepting one’s past was also imminent in her healing. She learned to be healthy in all respects: mind, body, emotional and spiritual. This holistic approach to healing is what treatment centres and healthcare practitioners need to focus on. Every part works together to have a functioning unit, therefore when something is out of balance, it is necessary to look to these other components to ensure optimal healthy functioning.

A film: Muffins for Granny, was debuted and I was fortunate enough to catch one of the first screenings. This movie was a recollection of several accounts of the residential schools and the trauma and abuse that resulted and the lives it adversely affected. The main theme remains that in order to move on, we must accept the trauma and become aware of the pain, take the necessary time to grieve and then look forward for solutions. This film demonstrated the strengths of Indigenous people and it also offers a better insight as to why so many problems with addictions arise. The abuse these survivors suffered were at the hands of missionaries and the church, therefore they internalized everything they were taught because they had a devout belief in God. When they were released from the residential schooling and just thrown out into a society where they believed they did not belong, they tried to escape the pain, in anyway that they could. Many patterns of inter-generational family abuse and addictions can be traced back to the effects of residential schools.

I attended a workshop that was conducted by the treatment staff at Hey’Way’-Noqu’ titled: Healing Circle for Addictions Society. This treatment facility takes a holistic approach when caring for clients; their main emphasis is on the medicine wheel as a tool for healing. This is one of our treatment centres on board the CIHR project and I was so impressed. Their staff was very knowledgeable and they all had a caring nature that demonstrated that they loved their work. Their work with the medicine wheel involves patients examining their own attitudes about their selves and others. Their goals are to reconstruct these attitudes and behaviours in such a way that it reflects a healthier view on life and assists in having them feel better about themselves. Everyday the counsellors begin their work day with a smudge ceremony and I think that is wonderful because it starts the day off on a positive note. They offer debriefing for their counsellors if they need it and they have allotted time for themselves to focus on their own journeys per week. This treatment centre focuses on the individual and their surroundings but also includes the counsellor’s well-being. I believe that treatment centres often neglect the needs of their own workers and in order to heal others, the workers must also be acknowledged and cared for. One of the staff elders works with pre-school children and I think that is a wonderful idea because it is a way of keeping the elders young while teaching the youth to respect and be guided by their elders. Overall I am very pleased to have this treatment centre on board, they really seem to have a handle on their facility, staffing and patient-care.

The final workshop that I attended at the HOSW 2006 conference was titled: The Medicine Wheel. In this workshop they discussed the many different types of wheels including: the concepts of self, the 4 elements, nations and learning. Each wheel was balanced and worked in opposition to its other segments. The recurring theme of understanding the past, present and future was also an integral part of this workshop. Overall the use of the medicine wheel is to seek balance and restore the harmony. This is a simple enough concept but many still do not understand it in its entirety. I believe the teachings of the Medicine Wheel, would prove to be very beneficial in working with addictions and recovery. The Medicine Wheel offers much wisdom and it can relate to any facet of any persons life. The elements that are off balance are those that need to be restored and that might require introspection on the patient’s behalf. The CIHR is also representative of a Medicine Wheel as the research team is one component that relies on the community partners for support and funding; while the treatment centres and the clients complete the wheel. We all need one another to work together in harmony and to restore the balance.

I also had the pleasure of meeting some of our other treatment centre staff: Joan Breland (Sakawatamo Lodge), Ellen Smith (NNAPF), Eli Beardy (NNAPF), Frank Tavares (Marc Ami). We had a wonderful discussion centred on upcoming projects and ideas for client care. Joan Breland and her team at the Sakawatamo Lodge are working on developing a program where good children are rewarded and therefore positive aspects will be the main focus, rather than focusing on the negative. Ellen Smith wants to focus counselling on the entire family and not just individualizing the treatment. When the treatment is individualized it results in a family that feels isolated and alone from their counterpart who is now focused on healing and their own well-being. The entire family needs to be involved in treatment that way everyone can heal together and understand the road to recovery a bit better. Eli’s point of contention was that not enough time is being exchanged between the children and elders. Children do not value their elders as they should and there is a lot to learn from both standpoints. He would like to see a major re-structuring of the family dynamics and it begins in the home. He discussed that one must fully know their past in order to understand the present and future situations. I was very enthused with our discussions and I do know that we have some very excited treatment centres on board with exciting ideas and lots of opinions to offer. Now having met some of the treatment centres staff and NNAPF board members, I feel more involved in the CIHR project and I look forward to the next phases of the project where the interviewing process will begin and a plenitude of ideas and opinions can be exchanged freely.