First Peoples Child & Family Review
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Making space for community-based practice experience and spirit in the academy: Journeying towards the making of an Indigenous academic
No full textThis narrative recounts four experiences of an Indigenous social work academic employed at a mainstream university in Canada. They include (1) valuing community-based practice and spiritual experiences prior to entering the academy, (2) bringing those into an Indigenous doctoral cohort, (3) retaining them through the hiring process into a tenure-track faculty position in a mainstream university, and (4) including them in securing research grant applications, teaching, scholarly and service expectations. Finally, this narrative identifies systemic academic issues from the perspectives of four other Indigenous and women academics of colour, and teachings that may assist new Indigenous faculty entering mainstream university employment
Alcohol is a great destroyer: A call for insight on ceremonial approaches for coping with FASD
No full textAs a seasoned community helper, I worry about the generation now assuming roles as healers, leaders and warriors, and continuing the fight for fundamental change in the relationship between Canada’s Indigenous peoples and those privileged to inherit colonial legacies of European global colonization. I now view my personal journey of self discovery as an unending marathon. I honour “Runners” like Tom Longboat who represented the strength and vitality of healthy and sober communities. Traditional runners were as dependent on path-finders as we are today, yet they travelled with dedication and carried important information that sustained community integrity. Open discussion about the devastation of FASD is the most important conversation required across our territories today. We need to prepare good messages and good minds for the next generation to bring forward. This self-reflective paper seeks solace in rituals such as the Haudenasaunee Reqickening Addresses to allow those who suffer to “stand again in front of the people.
An exploratory study on the use of Photovoice as a method for approaching FASD prevention in the Northwest Territories
No full textThe Brightening Our Home Fires (BOHF) Project was a project that took place in four communities in the Northwest Territories (NT) from 2011-2012. The purpose of this project was to explore the issue of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) prevention as a health concern in the NT, and to develop an approach that was meaningful for women participants. The intent of the project was to develop a culturally-responsive intervention study addressing links between trauma, and FASD prevention from a social determinant of women’s health perspective through a Participatory Action Research framework. While the project was intended to explore and inform on the topic of FASD prevention work, the primary research question was: What does health and healing look like for you in your community? Thirty women from four communities participated in this project: Yellowknife, Lutsel ‘ke, Behchokö, and Ulukhaktok. This research had differing impacts on participants but an overarching construct was that participation in Photovoice supported women to see their lives in new ways and to reflect upon different struggles and possibilities. Engaging in this research was intended to build relationships, develop community based research partnerships and intended to develop a framework for informing services and practice responses, or enhancements to current service delivery frameworks around FASD prevention and related health concerns
Voices of women living with FASD: Perspectives on promising approaches in substance use treatment, programs and care
No full textResearch and practice wisdom tells us that women who themselves have FASD are at high risk of having concurrent substance use and mental health problems, and of having a baby with FASD. Despite this, there is a dearth of published information that has focused on the support needs of women with FASD who have substance use problems, or on effective practice in providing substance use treatment and care for women with FASD.This article presents findings based on interviews with 13 substance-using women with FASD, which was a key facet of a three-year research project that had three inter-related components. The research also included a review of the literature regarding promising approaches to substance use treatment and care with women with FASD and interviews with multl-disciplinary service providers across British Columbia to identify promising and innovative programs, resources and approaches relating to substance use treatment for women with FASD. Highlighted are promising approaches and good practice and/or programs for women with FASD who have addictions problems, from the perspective of individuals most directly affected by the issues: women with FASD who have substance use problems.Keywords: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, FASD, FASD Prevention, substance use treatment for women, promising practice
Journal on Developmental Disabilities special issue on FASD
No full textThe First Peoples Child & Family Review was honored to partner with the Journal on Developmental Disabilities (JoDD) to produce sister issues on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. The following are abstracts from the JoDD’s upcoming issue
Mining Our Lives for the Diamonds
No full textIt is time, she said, we have strayed far enough, and need a light to guide us home, will you hold up your life so we can see? (Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, 2009)Aboriginal women across Canada have waited far too patiently for wrongs to be righted and senseless historic and contemporary pain to cease. Today, through narratives like this one, we are undertaking a heroic journey, a journey that begins with truth; in fact, it is a journey that begins with the laying down of seven profound Indigenous values, values that are stepping stones to an ancestral home some of us have never visited in our entire lives. This means the gathering up of a collective courage, a willingness to begin, to step out and into to what we know to be true and waiting for release. So, this is my story, a story that begins like many others…once upon a time
An examination of three key factors: Alcohol, trauma and child welfare: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and the Northwest Territories of Canada. Brightening Our Home Fires
No full textThis article was generated from the research project “Brightening Our Home Fires” (BOHF), a Photovoice project on woman’s health and wellness that took place in the Northwest Territories (NT) from 2010-2012. This research was funded by the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch (FNIHB) of Canada. Approximately 30 women from four different communities in the NT participated in this project; Behchokö, Ulukhaktok, Yellowknife and Lutsel 'ke. The method utilized in this study was Photovoice, a Participatory Action Research (PAR) model that is identified as a qualitative research approach. While the research project was a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) prevention project, the broader focus was on issues related to health and healing within a northern context in the NT from the perspective of northern women, and within the construct of health. The primary focus of this article is the presentation of a model that was generated from a review of the research literature gaining a deeper understanding of broader social concerns in the NT. Three key factors are highlighted as critical in developing a deeper understanding of the context of women’s health issues that are important to consider in FASD prevention work: 1) trauma, 2) alcohol abuse and 3) child welfare involvement and the impact on communities in the northern territories of Canada as it presently exists in the NT. This research served to provide a broad perspective of social problems that may be mitigating factors in the presentation of FASD in a northern context.Key words: Northern Canada, alcohol, trauma, child, welfare, FASD, Aboriginal, Photovoice, social determinants of healt
Improving substance use treatment for First Nations and Inuit women – Recommendations arising from a virtual inquiry project
No full textThis article describes the work undertaken by participants in a virtual community, who came together online over a 15 month period to discuss how to improve supports for First Nations and Inuit women with substance use problems at risk of having a child affected by FASD. The project exemplifies a collaborative process, inclusive of people from various geographical locations, cultures and professional sectors, affording participants the opportunity to weave together research, practice wisdom, policy expertise, and Indigenous Knowledge(s) in a voluntary, nonhierarchical context. Such virtual processes have the potential to support the development of nuanced recommendations reflective of the complexities of FASD prevention in Indigenous contexts taking into account multiple influences on women’s substance use, and a continuum of treatment responses. The article includes participants’ recommendations for improving Canada’s substance use system of care to address the treatment and support needs of First Nations and Inuit women.
Healing Through Culture for Incarcerated Aboriginal People
No full textStatistically, Aboriginal peoples in Canada are over represented in prisons throughout the country (Perreault, 2009; Waldram, 1997; Rymhs, 2008; Hayman, 2006). While representatives from the Canadian government recognize that the Aboriginal incarceration rates are an issue (Perreault, 2009; CBC, 2013), they have failed to find a solution. A link has been found to demonstrate how an erosion of Aboriginal culture through the legacy of residential schools has contributed to the current inflated Aboriginal incarceration statistics (Waldram, 1997). As such, cultural healing in prisons may be a crucial factor to Aboriginal inmates’ rehabilitation. Cultural healing can be implemented in prisons by: providing inmates with access to Elders, allowing Elders to perform ceremonies, providing inmates with access to sacred medicines, and increasing the number of healing lodges and sacred circles