NUNAVUT
The proposed Umingmak Child and Youth Protection centre is about reducing the impact of trauma in abused children and youth and setting the groundwork for recovery.

Rachel Michael of Iqaluit, right, with Makenzie Zouboules of Yellowknife, speak at Arctic Council's mental wellness conference in Iqaluit in late March. Michael is the bilingual administrator and logistics co-ordinator for the feasibility study for the proposed Umingmak Child and Youth Protection Centre. - photo courtesy of Rachel Michael.

A team put together by the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation will be travelling to Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay this month to gather input that could eventually help provide information to eventually establish a centre.

The proposed centre is intended to be a one-stop service for children and youth who have disclosed abuse - from post-disclosure to after-care - with the goal of reducing the trauma for the child or youth who has come forward about abuse.

Rachel Michael, Iqaluit born and raised, was hired as the bilingual administrator and logistics coordinator by Roos-Remillard Consulting Services to help with the survey process. But the recently graduated 19-year-old Inuk is much more than that - she is a passionate voice about the importance of youth involved from the very beginning of the process.

"Nothing for us without us," she says, is a guiding slogan, taken from the Arctic Council Mental Wellness Symposium held in Iqaluit in late March.

Michael made a presentation at Inuksuk High School in Iqaluit about Umingmak last week and encouraged the students to participate in a youth survey lunch May 1.

"We're consulting the youth to have their input as part of the research. I was saying to the students that this project (Umingmak Centre) is for youth and for children 'Nothing for us without us' was an important quote from the youth remarks (at the symposium) and I want to continue to use that because anything that is going to help a group of people, there needs to be that representation."

A mid-term report about the Umingmak Centre project states, "Given the lack of community-based programs, services and case management support, children and youth and their families lack a variety of supports and are often re-traumatized by the crime and vilified for their audacity to disclose the abuse."

Michael knows from experience that there are gaps in the system and silence is not healthy, more often damaging. She is a survivor of child abuse.

"And I struggled as a teenager to provide my own boundaries as an individual. I was on a really dark path which, unfortunately, led to my attempted suicide. I was fortunate that they kept me at the hospital here, but one of the gaps was that I had to wait a very long time for professional support.

"And I'm not the only one that has gone through an attempt. I'm not the only one that has lost someone in my life to suicide. It touches everyone in Nunavut."

Michael says the topics around suicide which cause someone to reach the point of deciding whether or not they are going to continue to live and get through it or end it all because it's just too painful to get through need to be discussed and brought out in the open.

"I was fortunate that I was sent to Ottawa a month later to Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario to receive the support that I needed, being a risk to myself. There, I learned a lot about myself. I learned a lot about my family and the addictions that surrounded me and consumed my thoughts and my life."

After her healing experience in Ottawa and her return to Nunavut, there was no follow-up. The proposed Umingmak Centre would have that covered.

"There was in the sense that I had the option to no longer live in my own home and this is part of my experience. Telling your family that they aren't good enough is the worst thing you could tell them.

"Because you want to live in a family where you work together and where you try everything to make it a better place. But the silence, the silence just enveloped my entire family. The silence contributed to me thinking I had no other option. And that's what needs to be broken."

She adds the normalization of suicide needs to be dealt with.

"And in dealing with it, it needs to be talked about."

Finally, Michael says before suicidal thoughts even surface, the trauma of abuse needs to be dealt with in a structured, child-friendly, non-traumatizing way.

"Which is what we're aiming for with the Umingmak Child and Youth Protection Centre."

Michael says she and Makenzie Zouboules of Yellowknife together spoke about their "personal experience in mental illness and the responsibility one must take for our health" at the mental wellness symposium.

"But highlighting the importance of the community's support in gaining the confidence and skills to recognize our responsibilities."

The umingmak - musk ox in Inuktitut - was chosen as the symbol for the centre because of its natural inclination to encircle their young to protect them against predators.

The Arctic Children and Youth Foundation want as much input from as many Nunavummiut as possible for their survey and that means elders, parents and other caregivers are requested to participate.

There is a survey for the general public and one tailored for front-line workers, such as justice, social services, health and victim services workers. Both are available at the organization's dedicated site at ucypc.ca

For Nunavummiut who prefer to speak about their experiences in a confidential telephone interview that service is available as well, with the information on the website. The survey is available in Inuktitut.

Youth protection services By the numbers

Preliminary information from the Umingmak Child and Youth Protection Centre general survey shows:

Thirty-one per cent of respondents did not report incidences of suspected child abuse in their community because they do not feel there are enough supports or services to help the child/youth victim or family.

Eighty-six per cent of survey participants agree that having a child-friendly facility in the communities for interviewing, protection and trauma services would help reduce the stress from experiencing harm.

Seventy-two per cent support the establishment of a facility and/or program for child/youth victims of abuse in Nunavut.

The deadline to participate in the survey is May 31. Visit ucypc.ca for the survey or to find information on participating by confidential telephone call.

Source: Umingmak Child and Youth Protection Centre

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