Rankin Inlet (Feb 21/05) - A group of front-line workers from across Nunavut were introduced to a new concept in the battle against fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) during a workshop in Rankin Inlet earlier this month.

Asset mapping was created by Dr. Kathy Jones and Elsie Flette as a community-development approach to address FASD in First Nation and Inuit communities.

It looks at what any given community has to offer instead of what is missing, said Leona Nelson, who helped facilitate the FASD workshop in Rankin.

She says the new approach aims to make people aware that there are strengths within each individual, family and community.

"We've often been told, in order to get funding, we need to tell the government of all the deficits in our communities," says Nelson.

"This approach has really turned that around because we're moving away from the deficit model and looking more towards a strengths approach."

Health Canada picked up the concept in December of 2003, and it's now run by the FASD program through the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch.

The workshop concentrates on ways to avoid FASD, rather than dealing with the affliction once it strikes.

Nelson says the goal is to teach people what they can do in their communities that will act as preventive measures.

She says simply teaching young children about healthy eating and lifestyles can lessen the impact of FASD.

"The workshop begins with the sharing of knowledge on FASD. From there we get into learning the asset mapping tool and how to use it in a community, as well as teaching other people how to do it.

"Essentially, we want to train people how to do this with the hope they will train others and it will have a great snowball affect."

Nelson says the Nunavut group was quick to grab the concept of asset mapping.

"They had more drive and passion to address FASD than we've seen in other areas of the country.

"We were impressed with the ideas they came up with and the ways they want to share knowledge about FASD."