Wellness centre a step closer
Government says it has reviewed KFN proposal for former treatment centre
Kirsten Fenn
Northern News Services
Monday, November 14, 2016
K'ATLODEECHE/HAY RIVER RESERVE
A proposed Dene Wellness Centre in K'atlodeeche First Nation (KFN) is one step closer to becoming a reality, although a specific timeline for when it could open is still unclear.
The territorial government has reviewed the community's proposal for a wellness centre and is in negotiations on how to transfer ownership of the former Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre to KFN, said Health and Social Services Minister Glen Abernethy.
"What they're proposing is great because they're offering more than healing for just addictions," Abernethy said.
"They're offering healing for other experiences like residential schools, colonization, trauma - all of those types of things. It's a broader model and it will be delivered by people in the community for the community."
KFN's proposal included plans to address the impact of residential schools and alcohol, traditional land-based methods of healing as well as hunting, said Beatrice Lepine, who was hired by KFN as a consultant on the project.
It was supported with $25,000 in funding from the Department of Health and Social Services in the spring.
Immersing people in their culture is key to giving people strength, she said.
Many of the ideas for how the centre would be used are based on the First Nations Mental Wellness Continuum Framework, Lepine said. It states that individuals who have a sense of purpose, hope, belonging and meaning are more likely to experience mental wellness.
"If you have those four present in your life, you're able to go forward and live a good life free of addictions," Lepine said. "So that's what the new programming was based on and that's the approach that the KFN is using in looking at their community wellness, is those four outcomes.
"They're very important."
Abernethy said KFN's proposal also asked for an $80,0000 program contribution.
The government will not provide those funds. It does however plan to help KFN with the operations and management of the wellness facility.
"We've indicated that we'd help them with the running of the building itself," which would cover things like heat and electricity, Abernethy said.
Since the spring, KFN has been using the former treatment centre to run programs while the GNWT has continued to own it and cover operation and maintenance costs.
Abernethy added the proposal indicated KFN has identified a number of other possible sources of funding for the wellness centre's programming.
"After that's all done, then we'll work with them to identify some one-off projects that we hope to partner with them (on) to deliver out of that facility," Abernethy said. "We hope to do a couple things a year with them."
The Dene Wellness Centre will take the place of the former Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre, the last of four residential addictions treatment facilities in the territory.
It closed in 2013 partly as a result of staffing issues. Abernethy added the facility was only ever running at half of its capacity or less.
Now NWT residents seeking residential addictions treatment are directed to southern facilities, which have a larger capacity and resources such as psychologists and psychiatrists that Abernethy said the NWT was never able to maintain.
Indigenous leaders say there is still a need for Dene-run healing options in the Northwest Territories.
"Alcohol and drugs is the biggest problem we have right now," K'atlodeeche First Nation Chief Roy Fabian said. "Part of the reason is because of the residential schools."
That traumatic legacy has damaged Dene healing and belief systems, he said, leaving many indigenous people without the ability to cope in today's world.
 | Struggling with a loss of identity. | 
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When the government and a number of mental health experts conducted a community addictions forum across the territory in 2012, "there was a real big cry for on-the-land healing," Fabian said.
"Treatment facilities are not the only option," Abernethy said, explaining that people want a variety of options.
"Everybody's situation is unique and everybody's path to healing will be unique."
Fabian said the problem is that people are struggling with a loss of identity.
"Traditional healing methods have to be applied so that Dene people can heal one other," he said.
"We can take people out on the land and stuff like that, but they live in the communities," Fabian said.
"So we need to be able to prepare them to be able to be functional. Right now the problem is they're not getting the capacity to be able to cope in the world today."
Abernethy said he does not have an exact timeline on when negotiations on the transfer of the former Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre and the Dene Wellness Centre proposal would be concluded.
"Obviously we want to get it done as quickly as we can so they can get up and running with their business plan," Abernethy said.
"We're excited by the K'atlodeeche coming forward with a plan focused on wellness, not just of their residents but Dene residents from across the territories. It's a good thing."
