Here are several mental-health and wellness programs by and for Indigenous youth in Canada. Each entry includes a link and a short description of the program.

Program Description & LinK

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Mind Medicine (YMCA BC + Indigenous-serving orgs) A free 7-week group early-intervention mental wellness program for ages ~13-30 experiencing stress or mild-to-moderate anxiety, delivered by Indigenous-serving organiZations and built with input from Indigenous youth and communities. Link YMCA BC

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Indigenous Youth Mental Health Literacy (IYMHL) Resource A school-based mental health literacy curriculum resource being developed with Indigenous youth, communities and academics, to centre Indigenous worldviews and improve mental-health literacy among Indigenous youth in Canada. Link IYMHL

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Indigenous Mental Health & Wellness Program (IMHWP) (Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres)Program developed for urban Indigenous youth in Ontario, through Friendship Centres, recognizing traditional roles of youth, connection to culture, and providing supports. Link OFIFC

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Brighter Days: An Indigenous Wellness Program (Kids Help Phone) A virtual group program (via Zoom) for First Nations, Inuit or Métis youth aged 6-29, developed by Indigenous educators, school counsellors and community program workers, focusing on wellness, culturally safe spaces, mental-health tools and resources. Link Kids Help Phone+1

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Youth Mental Health and Wellness (First Nations Health Authority – BC)Provincial-level Indigenous youth wellness initiative offering wellness promotion, suicide prevention, youth forums, culturally-grounded healing and identity work for First Nations youth. Link FNHA

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KIJIKATIG Carving Program An Indigenous-led, art-based program engaging youth in traditional carving, land-based and cultural activities to promote holistic wellness, inter-generational healing and Indigenous youth empowerment. (described in CIHR announcement) Link to article cihr.gc.ca

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Gathering Our Medicine: Strengthening and Healing the Kinship Circle

Gathering Our Medicine began in 2019 as part of an Indigenous parenting program created in response to communities asking for culturally distinct programming for parents of Indigenous youth experiencing mental health challenges, however, has since evolved into a framework informing community and family healing programming beyond parenting interventions with consistently positive results.  The Gathering Our Medicine framework was developed Denise Findlay, a Coast Salish practitioner of Sḵwx̱wú7mesh ancestry, in collaboration with advisory and working groups comprised of community members, helping professionals, elders, youth, and knowledge carriers from throughout British Columbia. https://www.denisefindlay.ca/gathering-our-medicine/

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"There exists a strong tendency, in the field of education and mental health, to perpetuate colonizing perspectives that centre scientism as the answer while failing to acknowledge Indigenous traditional knowledge systems. Despite research and literature in favour of traditional knowledges and cultural practices, the time-tested traditions of Indigenous Peoples are still placed in question by the standards of western forms of scientific research designed to prove efficacy (Kirmayer, 2012). While the author and programme developer sees value in the western scientific method, they also feel it is important to maintain a critical position. Indigenous Peoples have long standing, complex, traditional knowledge systems that have evolved slowly over time and that have been empirically measured using Indigenous methodologies of close observation across generations. These methods and knowledges are continuously eclipsed by colonial knowledge systems that privilege western scientific methods of evidencing. Traditional knowledges should be regarded as equally—if not more—capable of responding to the need for healing for Indigenous Peoples, independent of the criticisms of western science."

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