Fourteen youth, 10 adults and 26 elders took part in the three-day event.

Event organizer Coun. Louis Taparti says he became alarmed over the complacency he sensed in the hamlet this past summer concerning attempted suicides.

"Too many youth were being misunderstood and feeling left out, so I wanted to provide a forum where they could speak out," says Taparti.

"This workshop seemed to fit the bill of what I was looking for to give those youth a voice."

Taparti started knocking on doors and applying for funding to bring the workshop to Rankin.

The hamlet covered half the cost with a $4,950 donation and the Qilaut drum dance committee contributed $1,000 towards the event.

Others to step forward and help out included Sanajiit Construction Ltd, the Nunavut Implementation Training Committee, Kivalliq Inuit Association and the Northern store.

Taparti says youth in the workshop took full advantage of the chance to address their concerns.

"They spoke out from the first day. Our facilitator, Carol Macek of the Recovery Foundation in Tucson, Ariz., was impressed by how quickly they opened up.

"She has an office in Yellowknife and conducts workshops across Canada."

Taparti says role-playing exercises were among the many highlights of the workshop, during which youth and adults swapped roles.

He says the idea of the exercise is to see how each age group perceives the other.

"Role playing generated a lot of discussion on opinion versus reality. Some took offence, while others said the portrayal was right on."

Many at the event spoke of dealing with issues in their own lives and what they did to turn things around.

Taparti says hearing those stories made a definite impact on the youth.

"The youth learned by example and it seemed to work very well. The people I've talked to are happy to have had the opportunity to speak out and start the healing process.

"The next challenge will be to ensure the progress made at the workshop carries on, and programs are put in place to enable the dialogue between youth and elders in the community to continue."