Jean and I were dancing like cheerleaders leading a cheer on Feb. 20. Why? Because the MLAs announced that “access to healthcare and addressing the effects of trauma” was one of their four priorities. Woohoo!
Are you thinking, “What’s so exciting about that?” Well, it’s exciting because it means that the MLAs recognize that many people use drugs and alcohol to help them cope with the “effects of trauma.”
The MLAs are signalling to GNWT staff that they not only want to send people out to addiction treatment centres, they want to address the traumas that are causing people to drink. Yes!
In other words, the MLAs recognize that trauma and addictions are not the same, but traumas can lead to addictions. And, when traumas are left untreated it is much easier for people to start drinking again after coming home from addictions treatment.
Here are some examples of people experiencing traumas that will affect them all their lives if they are left untreated. A huge one for us is that the NWT has the highest proportion of Indigenous people who went to residential school, where many were physically, emotionally, mentally and/or spiritually abused.
A child is traumatized when there is drinking in the home with yelling, swearing and fighting. People are traumatized when they are bullied, whether as a child or as an adult, and being with a spouse who abuses you in various ways.
And, of course, it’s even worse if the traumas continue over long periods of time and cause PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).
Traumas include being punched and slapped around or seeing other people being assaulted. Also, being sexually assaulted severely traumatizes males or females.
Multiple deaths affect everyone in a small community because we know everybody and have many relatives in our communities, as well as in our whole region and beyond.
When something reminds us of our trauma, it’s called a trigger. Memories and thoughts about the trauma can suddenly come flooding back. We can’t stop the upsetting thoughts, and it “triggers” our emotions.
A trigger might make us feel helpless, panicked, unsafe and overwhelmed with emotion. It can take a while for our nervous system to recover and to begin feeling grounded, balanced and calm again.
Other people will feel like this all the time, without being triggered. And the effects of their traumas will continue to affect things like their sleep and what they say and do until they deal with the anxiety, depression, and so on caused by their traumas.
Trauma healing lodge
And that is why Jean and I are working on opening a trauma healing lodge for Indigenous people. We are currently working on a feasibility study, business plan and policies. We hope to open the lodge in the fall of 2025. Well, yaaaaaaaaaaaa!
We have already finished our consultation, including with Indigenous people who have experienced trauma, counsellors, all levels of government and several trauma centres. We also made presentations at four Indigenous general assemblies and one leadership meeting.
The lodge would be part of the after-care for people who come out of addictions treatment. People who don’t go to treatment can still come to the centre, but they’ll have to first be sober for a period of time.
Clients could be admitted after the first post-acute withdrawal cycle of 35 days, during which time the brain is correcting the chemical imbalances it suffered while the person was actively using drugs and/or alcohol.
Of course, people who never drank at all would be welcome, as well as people like me who have been sober for a long time. I often say I want to be one of the first clients. There would be a lot of “hootin’ and a hollerin’” at my sessions. Eschia, take it easy eh.
Our program will embrace our Northern Indigenous cultures and combine western and traditional methods of healing. The program will be 6-9 weeks long, and will work towards healing the whole person, meaning their mental, spiritual, emotional and physical health.
The idea of a trauma healing lodge has been well received. We have letters of support from seven regional Indigenous governments, the Dene Nation, and some MLAs. We have also received grants from the federal and territorial governments to assist our work.
We hope to have the healing lodge at the old treatment centre on the Hay River Reserve, and the K’atl’odeeche First Nation has indicated the site may be available as soon as their new band office is completed.
The GNWT heard the voices of the people and in October 2022 declared the NWT was “experiencing a mental health crisis.” The MLAs are saying that “addressing the effects of trauma” will help with that crisis.
Similarly, supporting an NWT trauma healing lodge would go a long ways in “addressing the effects of trauma.”