A better mix for healing required.

Justice Murray Sinclair, chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, strongly believes that residential school survivors, their families and their communities will heal without help.

Speaking to a full auditorium at the University of Winnipeg in September, Sinclair said healing will come from within, "but they're going to need help in order to do that. We have to change the way professionals consider the problem; we have to change the way society considers the problem."

Already working successfully in a new approach to help residential school survivors is the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council's Quu'a sa program, which uses a combination of western counseling techniques and traditional ways.

"From what we've experienced, culture creates safety and our people gravitate toward our culture," said Quu'asa's acting mental health supervisor Anita Charleson.

Speaking from her own experience, Charleson, whose parents attended residential schools, said she sought help from mainstream counseling and found herself isolated.

"When I first started on my own healing ... it was a culture shock. There was a lack of understanding for my culture and my beliefs. A lot of times, I felt judged because the counselor I was seeing didn't understand the value of how ... I'm connected to extended family."

So many First Nations people will attend the initial mainstream counseling session and not pursue follow up counseling.

"It goes back to cultural safety," Charleson said.

The keys to the Quu'asa program's success, said Kim Rai, assistant supervisor for Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council's mental health programs, are to provide easy service with an understanding of cultural ways.

With clinicians, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, and cultural workers travelling to Nuu-chah-nulth Nations' various reserves, isolation and transportation are no longer factors.

Rai said Nuu-chah-nulth's mental health program is a combination of mainstream services and traditional ways "acknowledging the two different worlds."

"We have a blend," said Rai, "even in our Quu'asa program counselors use western practices in their counseling."

Mike Cachagee, executive director with the National Residential School Survivors Society, agrees there needs to be a combination of traditional means and western medicine available to help residential school survivors heal.

"We lost a large segment of our culture in residential schools. Now when we come back to reclaim that, where do we get it from?"

Cachagee is also a residential school survivor.

"There are pockets of culture, of rejuvenation. Some (people) maintained a strong sense of culture, but most are fragmented."

It's this fragmentation that makes it necessary for residential school survivors to have both western and traditional ways of healing made available to them.

"For me, there's the strong and healing influence of Christianity," said Cachagee. "We have to respect what a person chooses."

Cachagee noted that he feels more comfortable sharing his story and concerns while talking in a circle.

Charleson strongly believes that if Quu'asa is adapted to meet the various cultural needs of the 600-plus First Nations across Canada, the program would be a strong tool in helping residential school survivors, their families and communities in healing.

"Through this program there has been traditional healing revitalization. More people are turning to our cultural practices," said Charleson.

Sinclair is a firm believer that traditional healing has to be part of the package provided to First Nations people.

"People need to be able to find the peace within themselves, find peace between each other. We need to help them find that. Sometimes they can't do it alone. They can't even do it together. They need help in order to do that and we need to figure out how to (help) them, particularly when it comes to using traditional means of reconciliation, because to this point of time the approach has largely been western medical knowledge and we know that's not working," said Sinclair.

"We definitely feel that the cultural and mental health services working together would be very effective nationally. We're seeing wonderful results here with our program," said Rai.

By Shari Narine

Windspeaker Contributor