SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A researcher from B.C. presented a project on Tuesday at the circumpolar health conference in Yellowknife that used on-the-land camps to try to help at-risk aboriginal youth stave off depression.

Travis Holyk presented the culture camp program he has been a part of in B.C., that aims to reduce depression and high-risk behaviour among aboriginal youth. Here, at the end of the presentation on Tuesday morning at St. Patrick High School, he is show with a collection of photos from the camp. - Tim Edwards/NNSL photo

Mental health in indigenous cultures is a major issue being discussed at the conference, in hopes that aspects of programs being used in Northern regions around the world can be applied to other regions.

Travis Holyk, who was involved with the culture camp project, said it was developed by working with elders in the Carrier First Nations of B.C. on what the elders thought was necessary for the aboriginal youth to learn in order to avoid a lifestyle of that involves high-risk behaviour and depression.

"Lack of connection to culture, lack of connection to elders and impact of drugs and alcohol" are the factors Holyk found, through talks with the elders, which contributed to depression and high-risk behaviour.

"From that, one of the things that we decided that we needed to do was return the youth to the land. Culture camps are a big part of that and we've been running two camps a year. Our goal is to run four camps – one in each season so that the youth can experience what happens in each of those seasons," said Holyk.

Some things Holyk said the camps have done so far are "fish harvesting, processing like drying, moose hunting and the youth skinned it, we've skinned other animals and they were taught how to stretch the hide, we've done basket making, they learned how to make their own drums from hide, we've done traditional medicines with them."

After the camps, they do several tests to analyze the youth's connection to culture, their understanding of their culture, and their state of mental health.

Though there are only findings for one year right now, Holyk said they are promising.

"We have our first round of findings from the first two camps and it has shown definitely that there has been a reduction in depression," said Holyk.

"At this point we haven't analyzed enough to say whether it is statistically significant, but our preliminary analysis has shown increases in knowledge of culture, and increases in sense of belonging."

Holyk's projects has also developed a manual on these camps and how to deal with depression in aboriginal communities, and this manual is now being developed into a curriculum which will be given to Carrier First Nations communities in B.C.

On the program being extended beyond B.C., Holyk said "we welcome other nations to come and see what we're doing, to learn from us and implement things that would be appropriate to their own communities."