 | E-mail this story |  | Write letter to editor |  | Order a classified ad |
| E-mail this story | | Write letter to editor | | Order a classified ad |
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Tusarvik school hosted a mental health workshop open to students and members of the community.
The drug, alcohol and suicide prevention workshop was run by Mitch Bourbonniere, a social worker at the Manitoba Adolescent Treatment Centre, and Dr. Rodger Gringer, who met mostly with elders in the community.
The workshop came about due to the efforts of Tusarvik school teacher Leonie Aissouie, who wrote a mental wellness proposal to Brighter Futures.
Aissouie says the workshop was a big success and many students were excited about participating.
She says the workshop was attended mostly by Tusarvik students and interaction between the youths and the course facilitator went well.
The students opened up during the workshop, producing a wide-ranging field of emotions throughout its discussions.
"This workshop was badly needed," says Aissaoui.
"We had a person commit suicide in our hamlet not that long ago and there is a problem with drug and alcohol abuse here. I also planned the workshop to run for at least 25 hours, so the participating high school students could earn one credit toward their Grade 12 graduation."
Aissouie has been a resident of Repulse Bay for eight years.
The teacher and local cadet instructor says that, although the number of suicides appears to have decreased during that time, even one person taking their own life in the community is one person too many.
She says the idea behind holding these types of workshops is to make support available to local residents to help avoid suicides altogether.
"It's important we provide this support to the community. In fact, I'm writing a proposal to see if we can get the necessary funding to have a follow-up workshop to this one," she says.
"I'd also like to be able to bring an elder into the school to work with the students as a sort of community counsellor."
