IlikKuset-Ilingannet/Culture-Connect Final Report (April 2015)
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Transcript of IlikKuset-Ilingannet/Culture-Connect Final Report (April 2015)
Prepared by Dr. Ashlee Cunsolo Willox
IlikKuset-‐Ilingannet!
Culture-‐Connect! A cultural mentorship program in Rigolet, Makkovik, and Postville, Nunatsiavut, Labrador, Canada
Final Project Report
Background
How it All Started
This project was developed to support and foster mental health and wellness in Rigolet, Makkovik, and Postville, Nunatsiavut, Labrador, in order to develop resilience to changes in the communities, including climate change.
From research conducted in Rigolet from 2009-‐2012 (Changing Climate, Changing Health, Changing Stories project), and in Rigolet, Makkovik, Postville, Hopedale, and Nain from 2012-‐2013 (Inuit Mental Health and Adaptation to Climate Change project), residents reported that observed changes in precipitation, ice coverage and stability, storm patterns, temperature fluctuations, and changes in wildlife and vegetation related to climate change were negatively effecting mental and emotional health and well-‐being, due to decreased access to the land and land-‐based activities.
Participants also indicated that these changes in climate and environment also interacted with other mental health stressors, including loss of livelihoods, sense of self and culture, addictions, family stress, previous trauma, and already-‐present mental health challenges.
“For me, the best part was the youth taking an interest in our local traditions or cultural connections, and seeing them get excited about accomplishing a craft or skill.”
Background
“For me, I didn’t have anyone showing me skills when I was younger. ...The program is really good because it shows more skills to more people, instead of waiting for the skills to die out because they are not getting taught by Elders or family members.”
Rationale Finding strategies to support mental health in ways that reflect and celebrate Inuit culture is a priority.
One of the key findings from these previous research projects was the strong request by participants in all
communities to have more opportunities to learn cultural skills and participate in cultural activities.
Many people suggested that if land-‐based activities were going to be disrupted by climate-‐related changes, having other opportunities to feel connected to culture
and to ensure that skills get passed on through generations, could be a valuable way to support mental
health and promote positive activities in town, while simultaneously filling empty time.
Youth also requested to have the opportunity to spend time with, and learn from, positive adult role models. Many youth indicated that while they value spending
time with Elders and seniors, there isn’t always the opportunity to spend time with adults in the middle
generation—something which the youth identified as valuable to their community connectedness.
Project Description The IlikKuset-‐Ilingannet! / Culture-‐Connect! program was a pilot initiative that ran in Rigolet, Makkovik, and Postville , Nunatsiavut, Labrador, from October 2013 to March 2014.
It provided the opportunity for youth (15-‐25) to work with adult role models (35+) to learn cultural skills, such as hunting, trapping, sewing, art, carving, snowshoe making, music, and wild food preparation.
The Pilot
How it Worked
There were 5 youth and 5 mentors in each community. Each mentor was hired to provide mentorship in one skill to all five youth. Each youth had the opportunity to learn from each mentor, resulting in learning five different culturally-‐based skills. Some sessions were conducted one-‐on-‐one, and some were done in small groups. Mentors and youth spent approximately 5-‐7 hours per week together, working on the skill and developing relationships. All materials were provided, free of charge, to complete the activities.
“When you are down in the nitty-‐gritty with them [the mentors]...it gives them the opportunity to tell you their story about how they learned [their skill] and how hard they worked at it and how many years they put into it. You can’t help but really admire a person when you know the sweat and blood and pain that has gone into their craft.”
Program Organization The IlikKuset-‐Ilingannet! / Culture-‐Connect! Program was coordinated by a Local Coordinator in each community.
The Local Coordinators worked with the youth and mentors to introduce the program, organized the
scheduling, oversaw ordering of supplies, and organized regular youth gatherings and Open Houses.
The Pilot
Other Activities
During the activities, the youth and Local Coordinators also took photographs and videos to document their
experiences. These photos and videos were combined together to create a project video during a youth
gathering in Rigolet to celebrate the end of the project. Each community also held an Open House and program
celebration to share what the youth had made and learned and to demonstrate some of the skills.
“I think it’s kind of an innate thing [to do cultural activities]...I think it’s kind of an inborn thing, something that’s just in you to do...I saw in everybody a real connection to a certain thing, and it was just magic to watch it unfold and to watch the youth and mentor connect over this one thing. ...They realized what was absent and what almost they were destined to do.”
Youth-‐Mentor Hours Each youth spent approximately 30 hours with each
mentor, for a total of approximately 150 hours of programming for each youth. In total, the program provided approximately 2,250 youth-‐mentor hours.
Program Impacts The IlikKuset-‐Ilingannet! / Culture-‐Connect! program was, by all measures, an incredible success and a very positive and well-‐supported program. 100% of participants stated it was one of the best activities in which they ever participated, and 100% of the youth and mentors said that, without a doubt, it should continue.
Youth and mentors cited many positive benefits: • increased pride and confidence; • strengthened relationships with youth and mentors; • increased knowledge transmission and sharing; • decreased stress and anxiety; and • increased happiness and self-‐esteem.
In addition, everyone connected with the program indicated that it was a great way for people to fill time in a positive and enriching manner, while gaining valuable skills and ensuring that knowledge is passed down to future generations.
All of the responses indicated that this program has positive benefits for mental health, and fosters and supports many protective factors.
Tes4monies
“It’s a sense of self, it’s important, it’s a part of your cultural identity. It makes you proud to be an Inuit person and it makes you proud to be from Labrador. It makes you proud, and shows pride and hard work and it shows that you’re dedicated to sustaining your life in the North.”
Participant Suggestions Since this was a pilot program, we had the opportunity to
evaluate the program, and ask participants how to strengthen the program for future iterations:
1. Increase the length of time to September to May for seasonal variations and to give more time for each skill
2. Increase the number of youth in each community from 5 to at least 8-‐10 to provide more youth with the
opportunity to participate
3. Consider adding an additional mentor if the program is lengthened to encourage more skills learning
4. Have more small-‐group sessions (rather than one-‐on-‐one)
5. Incorporate opportunities to gain specific accreditation, such as a Trapping Course or a Bear Safety course
6. Add hunting to the skills in each community (especially if the program is lengthened)
7. Have more participant gatherings throughout the program (just youth, just mentors, youth and mentors)
8. Have a dedicated space for some of the activities in each community, rather than mentors’ homes
Improvements
“Awesome! I really, really enjoyed it! I don’t know what I’m going to do once it’s done. The experience has been great, and I hope it can happen in the future so others can enjoy it too!”
Local Coordinators Inez Shiwak, Rigolet Gemma Andersen, Makkovik Rebecca Brennen, Postville
Youth Rigolet Makkovik Pam Campbell Megan Andersen Kerry Pottle Cassie Jararuse Anita Rich Ocean Lane Melinda Rich Maddie McNeill Dillon Shiwak Jacqueline Winters Postville Alanna Edmunds Grant Gear Jenelle Gear Greg Jacque Jordan Sheppard
Par4cipants
“When you start a program like this, and when you teach somebody something, you’re always building them up, you’re always improving their self-‐esteem and their mental health. When someone learns something, it only betters them. ...They became people who had a place to go and were respected and were admired and people were proud of them and they were put to hard work. ...They came to build them up, instead of going somewhere where they could be torn down.”
Par4cipants
Mentors Rigolet
Paul Jararuse, Wood Carving Derrick Pottle, Carving Jane Shiwak, Sewing
Jason Shiwak, Sealskin Art David Wolfrey, Trapping
Makkovik
Tony Andersen, Wild food cooking Katie Haye, Inuttitut
Henry Jacque, Snowshoe making Ryan Pottle, Trapping
Blanche Winters, Sewing
Postville Bryce Gear, Outdoor living
Polly Jacque, Sewing Ruth Jacque, Music
Samantha Jacque, Snowshoe making Jennifer Jacque-‐Pool, Cooking
“For mentors, I think it was something that they could teach...I think it gave them a lot of pride. It was someone stopping and taking notice that ‘hey you can do this’, and we respect you for what you can do, we’re grateful you can teach us, we think a lot of your skill, and we’re glad you’re taking the time out of your day to teach us.”
Budget This program is cost effective to run, and for minimal investment (~$41,000 per community), can yield large and long-‐lasting benefits for the youth participants, the mentors, and for the community in terms of cultural skills and continuity, mental health, wellbeing, and sense of pride and connectedness. Since this project fosters and supports these known protective factors for youth mental health, this program may also increase longer term resilience and well-‐being.
The main budget items are salaries for the Local Coordinators; supplies and materials; honorariums for the adult mentors and the youth; and administrative fees (room rental, phone/fax, postage, and photocopying).
Costs
IlikKuset-‐Ilingannet!/Culture-‐Connect! Program Budget
Descrip4on Amount Number Totals
Salaries & Honorariums
Local Coordinators (25 hours per week at $15/hour for 36 weeks $15,000 3 $45,000
Mentor Honorariums (6 per community: $2000 honorarium + $500 bonus on compleIon) $2,500 18 $45,000
* Youth Honorariums (8 youth per community, $250 each) $250 8 $2,000
Materials and Supplies
Supplies per mentor (6 per community) $1,500 18 $27,000
Opera4ng and Administra4on
PrinIng & Photocopying $150 3 $450
Postage & shipping $800 3 $2,400
Office supplies $500 3 $1,500
Phone Usage $500 3 $1,500
Room rental for Open Houses $150 6 $900
In-‐Kind Support (from pilot project)
Cameras $350 3 $1,050
Laptop computers $1,200 3 $3,600
Office space in each community $5,000 3 $15,000
Project Subtotal $125,750
Total In-‐Kind Support $19,650
Total Project Costs $145,400
TOTAL FUNDS REQUIRED $125,750
* This item could be removed. The pilot program included an honorarium of $500 per youth.
Par?cipants agreed it could be lessened or removed.
“I think a lot of the youth came to my house as part of the program rather than drinking.”
Acknowledgements
A huge thank you to all the youth and mentors involved in this program. Without you, nothing would have been
possible! We are grateful for the support from and participation of the communities and Inuit Community Governments of Rigolet, Makkovik. Special thanks to
Charlotte Wolfrey, Herb Jacque, Diane Gear, Chris Brennen, Melva Williams, and Michele Wood for all your project
support, advice, and guidance. Thanks also to Jordan Konek/Konek Productions for editing the final video and Joanna
Petrasek MacDonald for video assistance. All pictures courtesy of the IlikKuset-‐Ilingannet! / Culture-‐Connect! Team.
Funding
This research was supported through funding from Health Canada’s Climate Change and Health Adaptation in Northern
First Nations and Inuit Communities program. Complementary funding was received from the Nasivvik Centre for Inuit Health and Changing Environments, the
Children and Youth in Challenging Contexts Network, and Cape Breton University.
With Thanks
To view a video about the program, please visit: h_ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAulcH3uXnc
Project Team
Community Leads & Partners Charlotte Wolfrey, Rigolet Inuit Community Government Herb Jacque, Makkovik Inuit Community Government Diane Gear, Postville Inuit Community Government
Principal Investigator Dr. Ashlee Cunsolo Willox, Cape Breton University Local Research Coordinators Inez Shiwak, Rigolet Gemma Andersen, Makkovik Rebecca Brennen, Postville Research Advisor Michele Wood, Nunatsiavut Department of Health & Social Development
For more information, please contact: Dr. Ashlee Cunsolo Willox
Canada Research Chair in Determinants of Healthy Communities Assistant Professor in Community Health
Cape Breton University E: [email protected] | P: 902-‐563-‐1949
IlikKuset-‐Ilingannet!
Culture-‐Connect! A cultural mentorship program in Rigolet, Makkovik, and Postville, Nunatsiavut, Labrador, Canada
“I think this is a program that should definitely continue, because it’s one where it’s
showing the value of cultural activities. And
it’s not always just learning, it’s participating
and feeling involved in something cultural. It’s
important. It’s a mental health outlet. It’s
somewhere to go when maybe someone
doesn’t have somewhere to go. It’s a place
where you feel valued and you are respected
and we’re glad you’re there and you’re glad to
be there and it should be something that
continues.”