Youth say what they need
Mental health through culture and arts is outcome of forum
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Monday, May 16, 2016
QAMANITTUAQ/BAKER LAKE
The Baker Lake Youth Forum, a three-day series of workshops held in the community of Baker Lake in April, resulted in youth requesting and planning for two new programs for youth.
Between 32 and 43 youth attended on any given day April 22 to 24.
The forum was organized by BLAST - Baker Lake Youth Against Suicide Team - a group founded about 10 years ago.
"A couple of youth started (BLAST) around 2006. They saw that youth in the community needed something. There was nothing there at the time. So they took the initiative," said Kevin Stoddart, a member of BLAST who works at the Qamanittuaq Recreation Centre.
In the past, youth forums have led to action, such as addressing "the need for a place the youth could call their own and we were able to acquire the very space the youth centre is located now."
Stoddart says the group fundraises and organizes events and are focused not only on healthy youth but the "health and well-being of everybody in town."
BLAST has done a number of things in the past, such as a Sweethearts Valentines Dinner for the community to enjoy their time with their other halves. Entertainment was provided by local artists, a World Suicide Prevention Day weekend event with Kelly Fraser, Sam Tutanuak and local artists to entertain the community. "We also screened the documentary Sol during this event, while professionals were there for support for those that were affected by suicide," he said.
BLAST meetings are informal, said Stoddart.
"You can come in and be yourself. Sometimes we have a bonfire or wiener roast. We want to make our youth feel comfortable so they can say whatever they want. But there's also a focus to the meeting. We're taking minutes. We brainstorm ideas."
In 2014, the Community Health and Wellness Committee in Baker Lake held a community radio consultation.
"One of the outcomes from the community radio consultation was the expressed need to provide youth an opportunity to speak about their needs. What was expressed during the radio consultation was the fact that many people called in and spoke about what youth needed," BLAST stated in a news release.
"The youth forum was a response to the challenge posed to young people to speak for themselves and articulate their needs, priorities, fears and dreams for themselves and their community."
Stoddart says youth need to be heard.
"So we all worked together to get this going."
Workshops were held on self esteem, leadership skills and youth engagement as a tool for advocacy.
And youth discussed the community.
"The youth were asked to identify the assets the community has, what it doesn't have. What it needs. We had facilitators talk about education, their experiences and why education is important."
For example, one facilitator from Baker Lake went away from the community and is now a nurse.
The youth split out into groups to discuss what they wanted to see in the community.
"They pretty much had the same answers. But the one answer that stood out most was mental health. They're youth and they're saying we need a better system. Our youth are acknowledging the system is not as good as it should be - that's saying something."
The main way forward was related to culture and arts.
"Two programs are being created out of the forum. One for culture - tradition, Inuktitut-speaking, hunting and all that. And one for arts - throatsinging, drum dancing, music, arts and crafts, like drawing and painting."
Stoddart and Bobbi-Jo Sweetland will be helping with proposals and implementation of the new programs.
"I believe these programs the youth have chosen are necessary, because they have made it clear this is what they want and that this is what they need. They have chosen culture and arts programs, and these programs will help to build character, self esteem and they will also help to find self-identity," said Stoddart.
