NWT Wellness Map & Indigenous Wellness Programs

The Cause

In the Northwest Territories, we are experiencing a severe mental health and addictions crisis. This project aims to help bridge gaps within the current healthcare systems, where community members may not have access to culturally safe and quality mental health care, support, accurate information and resources. In having 33 communities in the NWT, much of these communities are remote, often having to rely on heavy airplane traffic to gain access to mental health supports, and/or having to rely on professionals to come into their community to provide mental health support. The age for quality internet and access to virtual based systems to healthcare is taking flight, and this project aims to help provide our NWT residents with information readily available at their fingertips. This project will provide readily available access to indigenous mental health care providers, indigenous elders and spiritual leaders, indigenous healers, health and wellness organizations and businesses, all found on a virtual platform showcasing on an interactive map to find each provider right at the tip of their fingers.

In addition to this project, Kristielyn, will be offering free program services to attend her one of a kind, Indigenous Aftercare Virtual Program, for those who are seeking addictions recovery support for the long-term. The second program, Trauma-informed Resilience Program, designed for those seeking safety & stabilization after having experienced challenging life circumstances. This could include, but not limited to, working within a safe space to help process their experience in the wildfire evacuations and other climate-related crises and life events. Climate change has impacted the North heavily over the years, and has been acting as a compounding effect from the ripple effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was in this era where mental and physical health became paramount and access to virtual-based services became urgently important.

The two main components of this project will help to ensure that those who are living in remote communities can find who and what they are looking for on our digital and interactive NWT Wellness Map, which will be found on Sweetgrass Healing Centre’s website. In addition, NWT communities can access specifically designed indigenous values-based and trauma-informed wellness programs for addictions aftercare and indigenous resilience, through a virtual landscape, can help to connect our NWT residents with each other.

Who Will it Benefit?

This project will benefit all of the NWT residents who have experienced any type of fallout from mental health and addictions issues, and are at any stage in their recovery from these mental illnesses. Whether the participant has been directly impacted by a loved one who has a mental health disorder or is in active addiction, can participant and benefit from accessing these resources and programs. Furthermore, anyone who may have known someone in the past who suffered from mental health disorders and active addiction, could gain important insights, healing support and understanding from accessing these resources and programs. And of course, those who have been impacted by any climate related crisis events, such as the Fort Simpson flooding evacuation, or the Hay River flooding and fire evacuation, the entire South Slave, North Slave and Deh Cho residents were forced to leave their homes in 2023’s wildfire season. These traumatic life events can often leave people with a feeling of restlessness and frustration, coupled with an activated nervous system with no place to process these events, it could lead to long-term physical, emotional, mental and spiritual consequences.

By ensuring that we are providing access to quality care mental health support services and resources, while equipping our residents with the tools and understanding necessary to support themselves in times of crisis, we are actively creating a foundation for resilience to the mental health and climate crisis. This inturn creates a ripple effect, by having one NWT participant creating safety and stability in their own lives, which impacts the quality of life for their children and family members. Teaching them these tools at a young age could help to equip them for life’s challenges, while maintaining our Northern integrity and culture; not to mention it will help to de-stigmatize mental health and addictions challenges, as we all experience them in one form or another. In addition, through the participation of these programs and services, NWT residents have a choice to cultivate a stronger sense of empathy, understanding and compassion for themselves and others, potentially resulting in a better quality of life. This could be understood with the polyvagal theory for emotional regulation, creating a healthier resilience through developing one’s window of tolerance for stressful events, and the strengthening of their “resilience muscle”.