Indigenous-led mental health program launched in the London-Middlesex region – Anishinabek News
August 26, 2020
LONDON— A new mental health program is being launched to help local First Nation people in the London-Middlesex region. Co-delivered by Atlohsa Family Healing Services and St. Joseph’s Health Care London, Biigajiiskaan: Indigenous Pathways to Mental Wellness is a referral-based, mental wellness program that aims to provide accessible, culturally-safe, specialized care for Indigenous people with serious mental illness, addictions, and concurrent disorders.
The new initiative includes a dedicated Indigenous Healing Space located at St. Joseph’s Parkwood Institute in the Mental Health Care Building, which provides the opportunity to combine traditional healing medicine and Elder-guided care and ceremony with hospital-based health care practices and psychiatric treatment.
“To this day, we know that our community members continue to experience systemic racism and discrimination in institutions. Many are reluctant to go to hospital or access help from health care agencies,” says Raymond Deleary, Atlohsa’s Executive Director.
