INUVIK
Inuvik's community counsellors are breaking down mental health stigma one hot dog at a time.

Staff and friends of Inuvik's community counselling program gathered at Aurora College June 25 for an appreciation barbecue. From left are Sheree Mcleod, Shirley Elia, Lyn Dunn, Ruth Wright, Donald Prince, Ruth Grandon; front, Darrell Taylor and Alice Hunter. - Meagan Leonard/NNSL photo

Friends and staff of the community counselling services gathered at Aurora College June 25 for a barbecue to reflect on the past year and celebrate the program's appreciation week.

Although there continues to be gaps in service when it comes to treatment in smaller centres, mental health clinical supervisor Darrell Taylor says keeping the counselling at home plays a key role in the long-term success of patients.

In particular, the relatively new on-the-land programming has been a successful way to treat addiction, depression and stress without having to send people out of territory for help, he says.

"It seems for a lot of people being on the land in and of itself is a healing experience ... it's more focused and you don't have all the distractions," he said. "Being in town, there's our famous liquor store and we've got a couple of bars, so you don't have to go far if you want to fall off the wagon."

He said that typically, patients will be sent to Edmonton for help only as a last resort because it can be a culture shock and ultimately do more harm than good in the long run.

"If they go out of territory, they might have a very positive experience and get clean and sober for a period of time, but they still have to face the problems back home among friends and family," he said. "It's not a magic solution to their problems to go out of territory. That's where ... community-based programs come in."

In this way, Taylor says they take a three-pronged approach, offering in-hospital services, individual counselling at their offices and wellness activities in a group setting.

Wellness activities can include anything from traditional sewing and craft-making to workshops on self-esteem, explained Taylor. They also run a group therapy session once a week for men seeking help with addiction and violence.

However, he says they still struggle to make known what programs are available. During awareness and appreciation weeks, the group really tries to get the message out that mental health has no narrow definiton.

"There's still stigma attached to mental health and what it means," he said. "Do (you) have to be crazy to get help? No - it could just be stress ... or if you're a couple going through a rough spot - that's for everybody."

He said addiction and domestic violence are the two most pressing issues he deals with on a regular basis - and they go hand in hand. Recently, the focus has been on training members of the community who work in the shelters and schools in mental health first aid and suicide intervention.

"The high suicide rates - especially among young people - are always a concern, so we not only work with people who are having thoughts of suicide but we do workshops on suicide intervention and prevention," he explained. "Those are for everybody - for regular people, not just professionals."

Although the media has been focusing more on mental health issues in the North as of late, Taylor said it is a generational phenomena that does not discriminate based on geography; however, he admits the North has its own unique challenges.

"Mental health is a big issue all across Canada because there's so much rapid social change, there's so many stressors now - life is very complicated," he said. "In the North, we have the added dimension of the impact of the residential school systems ... so that makes it even more important to have services like counselling and wellness."

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