Indigenous Mental Health & Research: Organizations

A Health & Wellness page provides links to a number of organizations and websites which address mental health

The FNMWC Framework was developed through collaboration between the Assembly of First Nations, Health Canada’s First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, the National Native Addictions Partnership Foundation, the Native Mental Health Association, and other community mental health leaders.

We are a group of seven leading mental health and substance non-profit agencies. Since 2003, we've been working together to help people live well and better prevent and manage mental health and substance use problems.

In 2010, iCON expanded to include activities to meet the needs of specific Indigenous communities and health priorities. These efforts have focused on engaging communities, patients, practitioners, administrators, and policy makers in dialogues around culturally safe care, and ways to meet the Call to Action #22 from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission:

We call upon those who can effect change within the Canadian health-care system to recognize the value of Aboriginal healing practices and use them in the treatment of Aboriginal patients in collaboration with Aboriginal healers and Elders where requested by Aboriginal patients.

In collaboration with health authorities and various Indigenous communities across BC, iCON has focused on the integration of traditional practices into western primary and acute care settings.

Clinical counsellors provide support to help address issues affecting mental health through:
Individual counselling;
Group sessions;
Referrals to other mental health professionals.

This initiative began in 2005 at the University of Saskatchewan as a resource for faculty, students, researchers, and members of the community and currently links to about 65,000 items. Anyone can use the freely available materials in the iPortal but some resources are licensed and may only be available from your own library.

In collaboration with our advisory board, IIPH asks the health research questions, and provides funding to support researchers who will look into the important answers. We encourage Indigenous students to take up health research, so that they can bring Indigenous perspectives and work with Indigenous communities to improve the health of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples. Where non- Indigenous researchers do the research, we make sure that they work well with communities, engaging with them, and partnering with them, so that community wishes are respected.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) was created as part of the 2007 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, which dictated that a permanent archive would be established to contain the records of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The Centre contains all of the residential school Survivor testimony, archival documents, and other materials collected by the TRC from 2009 to 2015.