The Role of Place for Indigenous Youth Mental Health

NANATAWIHOWIKAMIK The Role of Place for Indigenous Youth Mental Health

ANGELA SNOWSHOE

MIRANDA FIELD

RHONDA STEVENSON

Principal Investigator

Research Assistant

Research Assistant

Acknowledgments and Notes The current study was conducted on Treaty 4 and 6, the traditional lands of the Cree, Saulteaux, Dakota, Lakota, Natoka peoples and homeland to the Métis peoples.

Kichi miigwetch (thank you) to our funders, community partners, participants, traditional Elders, Knowledge Keepers, as well as the Ancestors and more-than-human world for the guidance and support that made this research possible.

This research was approved by the University of Regina Research Ethics Board and Regina Public Schools Ethics Board. Research funding was provided by the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF) and project funding was provided by the University of Regina Faculty of Education.

Photographs included in this report have been done so with consent of participants and from the individuals depicted. Photo credit is given Courtney Milne, University of Saskatchewan Archives, where indicated.

December 2017

Indigenous Youth Mental Health

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Introduction What is "place" and why does it matter?

Research Process Our team approach and key partners.

Methods Our use of Indigenous methodologies.

Theory of Place Our decolonized place-based health model.

Social Determinants of Mental Health Social factors impacting mental well-being.

Final Thoughts Implications of our findings & next steps.

INTRODUCTION There are many structural factors that determine an individual's well-being, such as social support, education, and living conditions. For many Indigenous peoples, there is a long-standing relationship with physical environments (e.g., the land), the activities that take place within those environments, and the meaning that is derived from their experiences in those places, all of which are rooted in cultural ways of knowing and being and play a critical role for Indigenous peoples’ holistic health (Greenwood, de Leeuw, Lindsay, & Reading, 2015; Tuck & McKenzie, 2015). As such, it is important that Indigenous youth be empowered to reclaim places that have historical and cultural meaning to them, but also that we challenge colonial ideas of what constitutes “a place” in the development of new physical environments, such as those found at educational institutions and mental health organizations.

Greenwood and colleagues (2015) emphasize the importance of "place" as an overlooked social determinant of health for Indigenous peoples in Canada. Using a definition of place as “being-in-the-world,” they argue that “spaces and places are not passive neutral entities or blank tablets upon which life unfolds, but instead are active forces that bear down on human lives and organize how we behave, feel, live, and structure ourselves and our systems of being... humans actively transform and impact the spaces and places – including our natural environments – in which we exist” (pg.

93).

Research Question: What is the role of place for Indigenous youth mental health in decolonized counselling environments?

4 RESEARCH PROCESS All too often, depthless cultural adaptations or “add-ons” are made in an attempt to address the unique social determinants of health for Indigenous youth without first identifying and disrupting the power imbalances that are embedded in Western health structures that serve to marginalize and oppress Indigenous ways of knowing and being (Reading & Wein, 2009). The current project attempted to disrupt colonial understandings of what constituted a "place" by using an Indigenous-qualitativequantitative blended methodology to (a) identify the characteristics (i.e., elements, concepts, and outcomes) that makes a space an Indigenous one, and; (b) to explore the circumstances by which place is activated as a social determinant of mental health for Indigenous youth.

An Indigenous paradigm comes from the fundamental belief that knowledge is relational; knowledge is shared with all of creation (Wilson, 2001, p. 176).

The research process began by each member of the research team "situating themselves" in the research. This involves deep self-analysis by asking oneself, "Why am I doing this research, and why am I doing it in this way?" (Kovach, 2009). Traditional Elder consultation and ceremony was embedded in every stage of the research process to ensure the project is being carried out "in a good way" (Wilson, 2008).

Photo Credit: Courtney Milne

METHODS The current research project explored the role of place for Indigenous youth mental health by gathering understandings from Indigenous youth themselves, traditional Elders, and early career counsellors about what elements, concepts, and outcomes are needed to create an Indigenous healing place that allows cultural healing practices to be integrated into the counselling setting. Participants’ stories and experiences about what particular physical environments, activities/services, and meanings are required to promote healing and foster wellness among Indigenous youth were collected from conversational interviews, PhotoVoice (i.e., using photos to tell a story), talking circles, and an Indigenous storytelling tool.

Indigenous methodologies are not solely relational but involve a decolonizing aim and the focus on tribal epistemologies; both of which are in unique relationship with Indigenous land (Kovach, 2009, p. 35).

In addition to this rich qualitative data, the research team piloted a number of short quantitative wellness measures with school-aged Indigenous youth (n=48) to explore the extent to which cultural connectedness (i.e., identity, traditions, and spirituality), sense of self-in-the-present and -future, awareness of connectedness (i.e., self, family, community, and nature), and school connectedness are related (Sources of measures: Snowshoe, Crooks, Tremblay, & Hinson, 2017; Karcher, 2011; and Mohatt, Fok, Burket, Henry, & Allen, 2011). These measures helped us to better understand our youth sample and their school environments (i.e., the place-based context).

All wellness measures had good to excellent internal reliability and all significant correlations were in the positive direction. Key statistical findings from the current research study are the following:

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✔ a strong, positive relationship between school connectedness and sense of self-in-the-

present (e.g., "I can name 3 things that other kids like about me") and sense of self-in-thefuture (e.g., "I do things outside of school to prepare for my future"). This means that those youth who place value in their educational careers also tend to have a cohesive sense of self (i.e., purpose) that extends into the future.

✔ similarly, sense of self-in-the present was also positively correlated with connectedness

to youths' community (e.g., "I believe I have a lot to give to my community"), while sense of self-in-the-future was also related to connectedness to self (e.g. "I give without expecting anything in return") and family (e.g., "My family's happiness is part of my happiness") in addition to community connectedness.

✔ strong to moderate positive relationships were found between cultural identity (e.g., "I

have spent time trying to find out about being Indigenous") and connectedness to self, family, community, and nature (e.g., "We come from the land and will return to the land").

A similar, but slightly weaker, pattern was found between these variables and cultural traditions (e.g., "I offer tobacco for guidance"). Interestingly, spirituality (i.e., I believe that things like animals and rocks have a spirit like Indigenous peoples") was moderately correlated with nature alone.

Summary of Findings: When youth know 'who they are' and 'where they are going' as cultural beings, they tend to feel more connected to other aspects of the world around them (including school, family, community, and the more-than-human world).

Photo Credit: Angela Snowshoe

THEORY OF PLACE All data obtained from the interviews, photos, talking circles, and stories were gathered and synthesized to build a Decolonized Theory of Place model (see below). This theoretical model serves as a framework for those seeking guidance on what core elements, concepts, and outcomes are required to successfully create a healing place for Indigenous youth.

One overarching finding was that (in addition to the physical environment, activities/services, and meaning themes) relationships also emerged as a key aspect of what makes a healing place an Indigenous one; these relationships include the more-than-human world (i.e., air, water, rocks, soil, trees, animals, Ancestors, etc.) as part of a larger social support network that extends beyond human-to-human interactions.

All findings taken together, the Decolonized Theory of Place model is organized in four different, but overlapping realms, namely (going clockwise), environment, relationships, programming, and meaning. Within each realm (as signified by the colours, yellow, red, blue, and white), the subcategories that emerged from the data are placed from external/community-based factors (e.g., "sense of belonging" for the meaning realm) on the outermost layer of the circle to internal/individual-based factors (e.g., "life purpose" for the meaning realm) on the innermost layer. According to the Decolonized Theory of Place model,

all aspects of the model are required for optimal healing to

occur among Indigenous youth in any given contemporary context.

"I have a view about how certain things that should be done spiritually, [but that] doesn’t mean that logistically they can happen, so we try to meet some compromise as to not be offensive but to be cooperative, to try to make some form of compromise or some form of accommodation so that those kind of 'give-and-take' situations happen. There are certain things that cannot be done spiritually [in a Western context], of course... but there are other concepts that you can accommodate as between, you know, the Western world and our own spiritually… that’s the beauty of developing and designing a space like that; you can make things happen and, as I said, the psychologists bring a certain conceptual approach and worldview -- the two meet." ~ Indigenous Life Speaker Participant

Photo Credit: Courtney Milne

environment The physical environment is the part of the natural world which includes the physical design of a building and elements like rocks, soil, trees, air, water, and animals (i.e., four-legged, two-legged, winged ones, swimmers, and crawlers).

"It’s a place that allows you to get in tune with yourself, you know, that will allow you to search and to bring out any issue that you have, or problem, or pain, and the one that does that for me: ...There’s counsellors in there and there’s a smudging room the shape a circle/round/ēwâwēyiyâk. As soon as I walk there, I feel that I can just sit in there; it almost represents the inside of a sweatlodge, you know. It welcomes you, and you can sense that it’s a good place to be, it’s a clean place to be and it helps you open your mind and that’s how that room affects me." ~ Kētēh-nohtikwēw-iskwēw

Photo Credit: JoLee Sasakamoose

relationships

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Relationships are the ways in which two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected (either physically or spiritually or both); it is the state of being connected.

"I think it’s pretty cool to have Elderly advice. I went to [Elder's name] a couple of times when I had my bad days. We would smudge and talk about it. It makes me think of my grandmas and grandpas and everything. And I don’t have any grandmas or grandpas anymore and just know that I can approach one. With Elder [name] there, we had talked a lot when he was here [at school] last year. After school, he would ask me what I am doing. He said he would keep me in his prayers and that… he cares. I know everyone cares, all the teachers, but the Elders makes me feel like… warm… happy. I don’t know, it just makes me feel comfortable. It makes me think of my grandparents." ~ Indigenous Youth Participant

Photo Credit: Miranda Field

programming Programming involves activities and services which create conditions for the action of engagement through helping or doing.

"It’s not just a circle for the sake of being a circle, you know…. The circular fashion that people can feel part of and it’s a very psychological concept that belongs to Indigenous peoples and also the teaching methods. All of these designs are conducive to the teaching methodologies of Indigenous peoples... When we incorporate Indigenous concepts into teaching, Indigenous students learn more readily than they would in a purely non-Indigenous or academic way, so that’s the beauty of being able to live in both worlds and being able to understand in both worlds." ~ Indigenous Life Speaker Participant

Photo Credit: Miranda Field

meaning

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Meaning is a sense of (implied or explicit) importance in one's life or value attached to something, someone, or some event  from the perspective of that person.  "It feels nice to have my culture in the school. And seeing a tipi... you may never experience living in a tipi but... it feels good to have it a part of [school name].

Like for me, it's feeling like I belong" ~ Indigenous Youth Participant

Photo Credit: Miranda Field

Selected Youth Participant Photos

Photo Credit: Rhonda Stevenson

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SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF MENTAL HEALTH

The findings from the current research study emphasize the idea that places are not neutral; rather, they are “alive” and impact your relationships with your inner “self,” your family, your community, and the world around you. Places that are built on colonial concepts tend to fragment the integral relationships between the four aspects of oneself (i.e., physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual) and those with the more-than-human world. On the contrary, places that incorporate natural elements, strengthen connections to culture, prioritize Indigenous ways of healing, and facilitate understandings of life purpose will help to strengthen these relationships that allow one to live in balance with oneself and "in-relation" to all else.

Each of the four social determinants of mental health that emerged from our research

nature, cultural connectedness, ways of healing, and purpose, have been

findings - that is,

placed in the innermost circle of the Decolonized Theory of Place model to articulate their importance for promoting healing and maintaining wellness, and will be discussed separately on the following pages:

Artist: Wayne Leslie Goodwill

Photo Credit: Courtney Milne

Nature nature: is the phenomeana of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations.

"When we go on the outings, outside the school, it’s learning about certain medicines and roots that us as Native people use in our communities and some of them are very sacred: the roots that we pick out there, like sage and sweetgrass, and some of those ones that we use for cleaning and for communicating with the Creator. [These are] some of the things that we teach non-Native people and our children as well and some of the good things in our communities." ~ Traditional Elder Participant

Cultural Connectedness cultural connectedness: the knowledge of, and engagement with, aspects of traditional Indigenous cultures "There are a lot of different cultures, but this is showing that [Indigenous culture] is one culture but still accepting everyone else. It’s not like this is only for First Nations people, and only they can smudge; this is something that we would like to share with everyone. That’s kind of nice in that sense. It’s like celebrating culture and sharing part of the culture to make it whole." ~ Youth Participant

Ways of Healing

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ways of healing: pathways to achieving wellness by using health practices, approaches, values, and beliefs that are rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing and being.

"It’s like that woman said, “Now I’m always going to see a pile of rocks differently,” she said.

She didn’t know what those moshums (grandfathers) meant before. She just thought they were just rocks. They’re healing moshums that give up their spirit to come and listen." ~ Traditional Elder Participant

Purpose purpose: is the reason for which something is done or created, or for which something exists.

"Wetchimadiziwin; it is the spirit of life speaking out. Everything has a purpose in that circle.

Nothing is by itself. Everything needs one another. And everything respects one another.

Everything is equal in that circle." ~ Kētēh-nohtikwēw-iskwēw

Photo Credit: Indigenous Youth Participant

FINAL THOUGHTS "It is more like a circle feeling. I mean, us sitting in a circle feels a lot different then us sitting in rows at a desk. It’s like, all of a sudden you can see everyone you are learning with... Also, it inspires you in different ways. I think that rather than having the teacher just going up there and talk, a circular feeling is like, ‘we’re all here and we’re all human and we’re all going to talk about these different things’…and I think that’s nice." ~ Youth Participant

The current research study provides a solid theoretical grounding from which future research can be based. The next step is to explore what happens when we "take down all the walls" of a particular healing space by going out onto the land to (re)connect with our roots by using approaches such as land-based therapies, medicine walks, culture camps, and animalassisted healing.

Greenwood, M., de Leeuw, S., Lindsay, N. M., & Reading, C. (Eds.). (2015). Determinants of indigenous peoples' health. Toronto, ON: Canadian Scholars’ Press.

Kovach, M. (2009). Indigenous methodologies: characteristics, conversations, and contexts. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.

Karcher, M. J. (2011). The hemingway measure of adolescent connectedness: a manual for interpretation and scoring. Retrieved from http://adolescentconnectedness.com/media/HemingwayManual2012.pdf Mohatt, N. V., Fok, C. C. T., Burket, R., Henry, D., & Allen, J. (2011). Assessment of awareness of connectedness as a culturally-based protective factor for Alaska native youth. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 17(4), 444.

Reading, C. L., & Wein, F. (2009). Health inequalities and social determinants of aboriginal's people health. National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health.

Snowshoe, A., Crooks, C. V., Tremblay, P. F., & Hinson, R. E. (2017). Cultural connectedness and its relation to mental wellness for First Nations youth. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 38(1-2), 67-86.

Tuck, E. & McKenzie, E. (2015). Place in research: Theory, methodology, and method. New York, NY: Routledge.

Wilson, S. (2001). What is indigenous methodology? Canadian Journal of Native Education, 25(2), 175-179.

Wilson, S. (2008). Research is ceremony: Indigenous research methods. Black Point, NS: Fernwood Publishing.

Photo Credit: Courtney Milne

Photo Credit: Courtney Milne

Research Funding

Project Funding