Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Inuit is a course designed by Inuit for Inuit and those who work with Inuit.
The Rankin session was led by master trainer Esther Powell and facilitator Delma Autut.
The three-day course encourages people across Inuit Nunangat to have conversations about mental wellness with family, friends and colleagues.
Addressing the stigma associated with mental health and wellness can be challenging, and MHFA Inuit is designed to provide a foundation from which participants have an opportunity to learn from their own people in a culturally safe and competent environment.
The course is delivered by two facilitators to ensure cultural competency with regards to Inuit Nunangat being comprised of unique communities with majority Inuit populations, that community supports are different in each region, and that Inuit realities, culture and language can vary depending on community and region.
MHFA Inuit is the first Inuit-specific program which includes teachings on Inuit language, culture and traditions, as well as the impact colonization and residential schools have had on Inuit.
It is designed to teach about mental health and mental-health issues with dialogue on traditional ways Inuit dealt with mental-health issues in the past, and how to provide first aid for someone experiencing a mental-health crisis without being judgmental.
The Rankin course trained participants from Coral Harbour, Baker Lake, Rankin Inlet, Iqaluit and Cambridge Bay to become instructors so that they can teach mental-health awareness, and how to help someone in a mental-health crisis.
The program compares its approach to that of providing standard first aid, in that once trained, participants are able to provide life-saving support until professional help arrives.
Course participant Noel Kaludjak, a counsellor-facilitator with the the Rankin Healing Facility, said MHFA Inuit originates from Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami's programming on mental health first aid, and Powell played a big role in course development for Inuit in the North.
He said there was an existing program aimed, for the most part, at people in the southern parts of Canada but nothing designed specifically for Inuit using cultural and traditional teachings.
"The impact, for example, of colonization and residential schools is included in the course and that's so very, very important," said Kaludjak.
"Esther (Powell) also played a big part in having this course available in Rankin with delegates from the Kitikmeot and Baffin regions also participating.
"The people who took the Rankin course this past week are front-line workers such as counsellors and those who work with groups and/or students, and everyone had a solid background of working with people in other areas who need help."
Kaludjak said the course was quite informal, and, although parts of it were not new to him, he benefitted from it being delivered from a different perspective.
He said the course content and its delivery were impressive, and he was further motivated by the fact the training would certify him to teach anyone who wants to become a mental health first aider.
"One of the first things taught is how to become a good listener, how to listen properly to someone who is in need of mental help, to understand what someone in need of mental help is going through, and to recognize any red flags that may be present."
Martin Kreelak of Baker Lake spent eight years working with Kivalliq Counselling and Support Services, and he said the course was an eye-opening experience for him.
He said he jumped at the opportunity to take the course when contacted about it by Powell.
"I was very interested in learning more about mental health and how to help those requiring it, but I was also very interested in simply getting a better understanding, myself, of what, exactly, one's state of mental health actually is." said Kreelak.
"The course was impressive, and one thing that touched my heart was understanding more about people struggling with their mental health as a result of the effects of colonialism or residential schools.
"I didn't really understand where all this sickness was coming from but the course allowed me to better understand, in those cases, the root cause of where so much of this mental illness is coming from, and what I learned was a real eye-opener for me.
"I see a lot of people with breathing problems, and I always thought most of it was due to medical problems but now I realize the impact anxiety can have when it results from things that have happened in their lives, and the generational impact of colonization and residential schools has to do with a lot of what I see."
Kreelak said he was a residential school student at Sir Joseph Bernier Federal Day School in Chesterfield Inlet.
He said as a young man growing up, he didn't understand why he was so angry all the time.
"I didn't know where all this anger was all coming from until more than 20 years after I started my healing journey.
"Some of what I learned really struck home with me because so much of it really does have to do with the government taking Inuit to different areas or communities, the impact of residential school and what happened to many Inuit when they were young."
Kaludjak said the MHFA Inuit course would also be beneficial to people in numerous occupations.
He said talk has all ready begun on holding the course for employees of the healing facility.
"The RCMP have expressed interest in the course, and we're looking at ambulance crews, recreation workers and, really, anyone who works with the public," said Kaludjak.
"Sometimes, sadly, we just don't realize who needs help, so the more people we have trained to recognize positive and negative mental health, and be qualified to deliver mental health first aid to someone in need of help, the more people we may be able reach."
