AT-A-GLANCE
Indigenous adults in the Prince George area experiencing economic precarity and/or with lived experience of substance use.
Community Counselling Fund
What This Grantee Is Doing for Community Counselling
Central Interior Native Health Society (CINHS) is a primary care centre dedicated to the promotion of Indigenous health. Their approach is holistic and considers the physical, mental, social, spiritual and cultural aspects inherent to wellness and healing.
With Community Counselling Funding, CINHS created a new position of a Jr. Elder that integrates Indigenous culture and approaches to health and healing into their model of service delivery. The Jr. Elder offers traditional cultural supports via medical, food-based, crafting and land-based practices. In times of grief and loss the Jr. Elder provides “Letting Go Ceremonies” to bring peace to clients and their family members. CINHS also used Community Counselling funding to establish Natsoolyis' ("Let Us Rest"), which serves as a flexible cultural hub for the community and space for group counselling, community events, vaccine clinics and food security.
Quotes
"A significant part of the funding for our cultural immersion and counselling clinic comes from the CAI. It enabled us to fulfill our mandate as a native health society by providing us with the financial tools we needed to create a culturally safe environment for our clients and to reconnect them with their true stories. For instance, one of our clients who regularly attends our cultural practices and drumming sessions, once expressed that he enjoyed attending our cultural clinic because we helped reconnect him with his culture and assist him on his healing journey by allowing him to sing his songs and use his story to inspire others. The center has also assisted several clients in discovering their strengths and inspiring others through their stories. According to one of our unique clients that participates in the women’s cultural group 'I’m glad I’m here… this is where I need to be'. We would not have been able to accomplish these tasks without the funding and support we received from CAI. "