Yellowknife's Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation in transition, shifts focus from one-on-one healing

The Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation is ending its one-on-one healing services after eight years in operation to refocus on building long-term capacity for healing initiatives in the North.

In an interview Friday, board member Dr. Nicole Redvers says the foundation modelled land-based Indigenous healing at a time when few such initiatives were running in communities.

"It's no easy decision for change to happen, knowing the amount of need in the North," said Redvers.

"At the same time, there's a recognition of the long-term needs of the community, and what's going to work best for the next 30 or 40 years is sometimes difficult when you're always dealing with crisis in the moment."

Since its inception, thousands of people have come through the Arctic Indigenous Wellness healing camp in Yellowknife, and more initiatives like this have cropped up across the N.W.T., said Redvers.

The organization is run by volunteers, relies on aging group of elders in residence and is constrained by funding tied to reporting requirements, which makes it difficult to pay for core operations and staff.

Elders in residence are getting older and the foundation is concerned with creating healing initiatives that are sustainable and built to last, said Redvers.

"Our elders and knowledge holders are getting up there in age, many of our original elders council have now passed," she said.

Redvers said the transition will focus on capacity building and education around health and well-being across the North. That work will be done in the physical space of the camp, she said.

"We have always had the intention of trying to move towards education, training and capacity building," she said.

"Due to the high degree of need in the North, we were always fairly overwhelmed by the service delivery aspect. We didn't really have the ability to focus on the long-term sustainability aspect."

The foundation is looking to develop partnerships with healing initiatives across the North, she said.

"The structure and what that will look like are still in the works."

The Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation's Facebook page describes it as "a self-determined traditional wellness initiative with the mandate of culturally reviving traditional healing.”