After enduring the effects of the Indian residential school system, generations of Aboriginal people have turned to substance abuse. Olivia Condon speaks to Clinical Psychologist Dr. Brenda Saxe about the issues. 32 | NEW TRIBE Special Edition | Spring 2012
Olivia Condon: Tell me a little bit about yourself Dr. Brenda Saxe: I’m a clinical psychologist. I’m one of the founders of the Center for Treatment of Sexual Abuse and Childhood Trauma here in Ottawa. I’ve been practicing since 1991 at the center. I stepped back in some respects to make way for the younger generation in the field however, I still have a huge private practice. I do a lot of teaching and lecturing in the area of childhood trauma. Some of my specialties are dissociation. In my
early days, I visited Sanikiluaq, Nunavut to work with Inuit individuals who were dealing with a lot of residential school abuse. Our center is very open to working with Aboriginal individuals through the Health Canada system that supports them. There are a lot of substance abuse problems in trauma survivors everywhere but particularly with Inuit and Aboriginal populations especially those who have suffered through residential school abuse. O: What is your personal definition of an addiction?