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Introducing
the Mushkegowuk Health and Social Services Department…
- Providing guidance, advice
and assistance to the Mushkegowuk First Nations on various issues
relating to Health and Social Services
- Providing guidance and
assistance in the development of short and long term community plans
- Proposal development and
program implementation
- Providing leadership,
liaison function, and developing effective partnerships with care
providers and various organizations
- Assist First Nations in
improving the overall wellbeing of its members
- Providing training on
issues identified by member communities
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Health
and Social Services Program Staff
Lucie Edwards, Health and Social Services
Coordinator
Email: lucieedwards@mushkegowuk.ca
Phone: 705 658-4222 Ext. 254
Fax: 705 658-4250
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DID
YOU KNOW...?
- Mushkegowuk Health staff
visited the communities of Attawapiskat, Kash, and Fort Albany to
introduce the Health and Social Services Department of Mushkegowuk?
Our next stop is Taykwa Tagamou, Missanabie and Chapleau Cree.
- Fort Albany is having
their Healing and Wellness conference on February 21, 22 and 23,
2006?
- Local Health Integration
Network (Northeast) launched their health plan? A section on
Aboriginal People is included in the plan. For information please go
to www.lhins.on.ca and click on Northeast LHIN
- Health Integration
Steering Committee provided an update of the Health Integration
project on December 2006? To view the latest information, please go
to Weeneebayko Health website: www.wha.on.ca . Click on December
2006 under the heading of health integration.
- Mushkegowuk Health Staff
is planning a networking and information sharing for all Health
Departments of its member communities? More information to follow.
- Drinking eight glasses of
water and excercising regularly will give you more energy?
- Global warming is a fact
and is affecting our winter road?
- Repeating positive
affirmations on a daily basis promotes mental wellbeing?
- Walking is not only a
great form of exercise but also helps relieve stress.
- Domestic violence has many
forms and does not only include physical assault.
- Bullying in the schools or
community is a form of domestic violence.
- Suicide is another form of
domestic violence and can be prevented.
- When a crisis happens in a
family unit it also impacts the whole community.
- The four natural laws
given to all people are Kindness, Honesty, Sharing, and Strength.
- When you follow these four
laws you start to walk in balance with your environment.
- Children are a gift given
to us and caring for them is our responsibility as human beings.
- That the ear has the smallest
bone in your body.
- That laughter is the best
medicine.
- The tongue is the
strongest muscle in your body.
- Diabetes is becoming an
epidemic in our communities.
- Fish is considered brain
food.
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Regional
Crisis Intervention Program
The Regional Crisis
Intervention Program is funded by the Aboriginal Healing & Wellness
Strategy and all funding is filtered through Nishnawbi-Aski Nation. The
funding for the Regional Program has been set up for a five year period
and has currently operated out of Mushkegowuk Council for the past two
years.
As with our sister
Tribal Council’s the Regional Crisis Intervention Worker Position was
created as a liaison between the communities and NAN in regards to
responding to crisis in our region. The primary clients for this position
are the Coordinator’s in each community plus their Volunteer Crisis
Team’s. At the regional level the position has been created to provide
support and training to the Crisis Coordinator’s, Volunteer Crisis Teams,
and community members that are within Mushkegowuk Council Territory.
The main objective of
having a Crisis Intervention Program is to address the impacts of
Domestic Violence and Suicide that has affected our Nation. Workshops and
information sessions have to be presented to all levels of the
communities to educate and help the membership identify helping
techniques to start the healing for our communities with regards to the
impacts of the many forms of Domestic Violence and Suicide. The impacts
of Domestic Violence and Suicide have affected all levels of our
communities starting from birth to our community elders and all those in
between.
One of the objectives
for this position is to create a Regional Crisis Response Manual that
will include all the communities Crisis Response Plans. Another objective
is to provide support and to access training for the Coordinator’s their
Teams, community professionals, various community based programs, and
also all community members in this region. All programming and support
services are to address the impacts that the many forms of Domestic
Violence and Suicide has and the crisis mode that happens after each
incident within our communities.
Support services have
been provided to communities that have suffered loss through fire,
homicide, accidental deaths, sudden death, attempted suicides, domestic
assaults, bullying in the school systems, flooding / evacuations, or any
form of trauma that a community may be going through. Services such as
debriefing and stabilizing supports have been provided, also the
identification of issues then referrals to appropriate resources that are
available in the community or region. There have also been spiritual
supports accessed for communities and families that have been under going
many traumatic situations.
Support services are
also provided to the Coordinators in all aspects of office procedures,
documentation and reports that are required for funding purposes. The
support that the Coordinators require is extensive in some communities as
crisis situations happen on a regular or consistent bases so weekly or
daily debriefing has to be completed via the telephone.
Within the communities
of Attawapiskat, Kashechewan, Fort Albany and Moose Factory there is
funding for four full time Coordinators, and in Taykwa Tagamou, Chapleau,
and Missanabie (Sault St. Marie) they have funding for a half time Crisis
Coordinator. Currently all Crisis Programs are operating out of the
community Health Services.
The Crisis
Coordinator’s within this region are as follows:
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1.
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Attawapiskat
First Nation
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Dennis
Koostachin
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2.
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Kashechewan
First Nation
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George
Rueben
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3.
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Fort
Albany First Nation
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Robert
Gillies
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4.
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Moose
Cree First Nation
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Larry
Rickard
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5.
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Taykwa
Tagamou First Nation
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Nancy
Sackaney
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6.
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Chapleau
Cree First Nation
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Tracy
Martin
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7.
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Missanabie
Cree First Nation
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Gladys
Hawkins
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The coordinators have a multitude of responsibilities and the one main
responsibility is to recruit a volunteer crisis team and obtain training
for crisis response to any variety of situations that may happen in a
community. There is also the creation of a crisis plan that has to be in
place for each community; plans of response that pertain to suicide
intervention, domestic violence intervention, and any form of crisis
situations that may arise within the community.
Each Coordinator is to
have a case load of 16 clients that are receiving either counselling or
support services. The clients can be actively involved with the
coordinator or be receiving support from one of the volunteer members on
the Crisis Team. All activities that the Crisis Coordinator or Team
members responds to, or workshops that are hosted by the Crisis
Coordinator or Team has to be documented and recorded on the statistics
that are to submitted to NAN. Ideally these statistics should also flow
through Mushkegowuk Council for tracking purposes.
There is a reporting
system in place that requires computer skills that entail entering
statistics that are submitted Semi Annual and on an Annual bases. These
statistics report how many suicides have been completed, attempted and
the services that have been referred by the Coordinator. The statistics also
identify the Domestic Violence patterns within our communities and
resources accessed. It is important that the Coordinators and their teams
are aware of the many forms of Domestic Violence and the impacts on the
community as a whole. The statistics are very important in accessing more
funding for our region as there is an increase in suicide attempts and
domestic violence within the region. This information should be flowing
through Mushkegowuk Council as this position will monitor the high risk
communities and be more prepared to implement intervention services and
crisis response.
In responding to any
form of Crisis it is important to understand the affects that each person
may be going through and that all people react differently to trauma.
Coordinators have to be trained and informed on the impacts and forms of
abuse, be it physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, elder, child,
financial, and sexual abuse. Each form of abuse affects a whole community
as each member is a part of a community and this is why the community
members have to speak up and start protecting and help in the healing
process that is available. The impacts that colonization, residential
school, cultural genocide, and assimilation has had on use is extensive;
however we have a choice today to stop the abuse and start living the
healthy life that was given to all of us.
With that perspective
in mind all presentations are to be addressed at all levels within the
communities starting with the Crisis Teams, community professionals, secondary
and elementary schools, and eventually the community members will also
receive any training that is available as a source of education and
information to start with living a healthy lifestyle.
It is one of the goals
of this program to assist the communities in helping themselves by
identifying the issues that cause our people to abuse themselves and
those they care for. The many forms of Domestic Violence have to be
identified and intervention measures have to be put in place for our
communities to become strong and healthy once again.
The idea behind having
a Regional Crisis Intervention Worker is that the Community Based Crisis
Intervention Coordinator would access the support that is available at
the Regional level.
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Mushkegowuk Council
P.O. Box 370, 12 Centre Road, Moose Factory, ON, P0L 1W0
Phone: 705-658-4222 • Fax: 705-658-4250
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