We are thankful for the knowledge and wisdom shared by Elders and Knowledge Keepers, youth, health professionals, and community members. Despite recruiting through social media and connecting with representatives of youth programs offered at Indigenous organizations, we were unable to recruit a desirable number of youth to this study. Secondly, the provincial Alberta Government’s 2020–2023 fiscal plan commits $100 M for a new mental health and addiction strategy, which is intended to address the ongoing challenges of mental health and addictions in Alberta . Firstly, the forum was inclusive of diverse perspectives from people of Métis and First Nations ancestry, and across urban and rural community settings. It is important that we highlight the strength and resilience of Indigenous peoples during challenging and traumatic events like a natural disaster or public health crisis. The cumulative stress caused by natural disasters and the current global COVID-19 pandemic is detrimental to the mental health and well-being of children, youth, and families .
For example, Indigenous people in Toronto can contact Anishnawbe Health Toronto about health and support services in the city. Some regions in Ontario do have centralized places to find Indigenous services, often including mental health services. Services such as recreational supports, homework clubs, school programs, support groups, cultural ceremonies and drop-in services are often much quicker to access than psychiatric services. A variety of health centres, clinics, mental health agencies, psychiatric hospitals and psychiatric units at general hospitals provide mental health services in Ontario for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth. Everywhere, the cultures of indigenous peoples have been repressed, challenged, or overwhelmed by larger populations and more powerful states. But there are contributing factors — such as historical trauma, racism, and disparities in healthcare access — that make them more likely to experience mental health conditions.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Perhaps most importantly, indigenous psychology has the potential to address some of the most pressing global mental health challenges. By bringing together researchers from different cultural backgrounds, we can develop more comprehensive and universally applicable theories of human behavior and mental health. There’s increasing global recognition of the value of diverse cultural perspectives in mental health, driven in part by the limitations of purely Western approaches in addressing global mental health challenges. The principles of indigenous psychology can be applied in a variety of settings, offering fresh perspectives and innovative solutions to mental health challenges. In this worldview, individual mental health is inextricably linked to the health of the community as a whole. At the heart of indigenous psychology lies a holistic approach to mental health.
The Role of Historical Trauma in Shaping Mental Health Outcomes
And instead of having two dedicated workers to suicide prevention, we put some suicide prevention FTE full-time equivalent into all of the mental health workers. Most agencies built on existing ATAPS initiatives in order to establish Indigenous ATAPS services. Interviewee responses referring to both Indigenous ATAPS services are summarised in the following, with illustrative quotes provided. The 18 participating agencies represented 94.7% of the 19 agencies originally targeted for participation in this study, and 29.5% of all 61 existing Medicare Locals. Data saturation was reached regarding agency staff interviews, but not in relation to mental health professional and referrer interviews. Yet despite these evident gains in service uptake, little is known about key factors that were underpinning and driving the successful national implementation of Indigenous ATAPS services.
Colonization has created enduring trauma in Indigenous communities. Every print subscription comes with full digital access We pay our respects to https://www.cswe.org/centers-initiatives/minority-fellowship-program/news/march-2020/ the people, the cultures and the Elders past and present.
- However, studies have shown that Indigenous populations were two to three times more likely to experience PTSD (Gone and Trimble, 2012) ranging from 15.9 to 21.9 per cent, with a major risk factor being trauma exposure (Robin et al., 1997b; Beals et al., 2013a).
- Accessibility to mental health services for Indigenous people has been studied using qualitative methods, including interviews, narrative inquiries, questionnaire survey, thematic analysis, and critical analysis (Table 1).
- In summary, exposure to trauma and PTSD tends to be higher for Indigenous peoples, and rates of PTSD vary by gender and region.
- Nonetheless, the study is strengthened by the diverse range of cross-sectoral service providers and community Elders.
- Data saturation was reached regarding agency staff interviews, but not in relation to mental health professional and referrer interviews.
Most agencies reported well established relationships with relevant non-Indigenous service partners, including hospitals and emergency departments, GPs, health services and networks, and less so with public mental health or, alcohol and substance abuse services, NGOs, paediatricians, psychiatrists, welfare and housing agencies, and the Department of Human Services. But it also meant that people who were already in our general mental health counselling service who needed Indigenous suicide prevention could stay with the same worker.’ (ML05, Male, Provider agency staff) And we ensured that we had mental health professionals who had completed appropriate cultural competency training to see Indigenous clients.’ (ML04, Female, Medicare Local staff)
All studies were rated strong for data collection as they employed validated and reliable measures. Ten studies were given a ‘N/A’ for confounders as they were single-group pre–post studies, two were weak for controlling for less than 60% of confounders and eight were strong for controlling all confounders in either the design (e.g. RCT) or analysis. Nine studies were moderate as participants were somewhat likely to be representative of the target population and had a 60–79% response rate, or were representative of the target population with no information on response rates. Bowen et al. (2020) studied the integration of collaborative care management in primary care. Varcoe et al. (2017, 2021) used teaching circles with Elders and cultural activities.