The funds were used in three ways:
Parenting to the Moon and Back – the Regional Outreach Worker spent year 1 researching and designing a parenting program that combined traditional values/knowledge with best practices in parenting as per current research. In year 2 the program was piloted on a group of mothers and fathers (when interested) by holding a series of workshops. It was a weekly session that started with some powerpoint information and followed by a lot of discussion among the parents and staff. There was initially no incentive offered to the families for attending, yet there was almost perfect attendance every week. The 6-week program culminated with a family weekend trip on the land to Reindeer Station where the families lived together, played together and worked together as it used to be. There was sewing, cooking, dry meat making, etc. happening at camp. It was very well-received by the families who attended.
ASIST Trainer Development Program – IRC hosted an ASIST T4T session to train local, from-the-community, staff. By having trainers in almost all ISR communities, ASIST workshops can be hosted more regularly to spread the word of suicide prevention and intervention.
Community Initiatives Fund for Youth Programming – The purpose of IRC’s ‘youth initiative fund’ is to increase community-led mental wellness programming for youth. This could include: gaining skills and knowledge rooted in culture, making healthy lifestyle choices such as reducing alcohol and drug use, being more physically active, connections with peers, adults and Elders, gaining confidence in themselves and their ability to contribute to the community or family, etc. In order to do this, IRC offered a portion of the funding to each community organization who was in charge of the Youth Centers or youth programming.
Inuvialuit Regional Corporation
Other
