It gives me hope’: New program uses Indigenous knowledge to help survivors of domestic violence – CBC
‘I, myself, I have lost my culture, and this is a way to get that back, and be stronger’
May 17, 2017
Rita Taypayosatum desperately wanted to end the cycle of abuse she says has followed her most of her life.
“I’ve been abused in all sorts of different ways — verbally, physically, mentally — throughout my life since I was about 12. That’s why I figured the trauma would be something I could look at. Why I’m drawn to certain people.”
But Taypayosatum has never felt comfortable with conventional forms of counselling.
“I don’t like people who are book knowledge. I won’t listen to them because they always try to tell you they know what life is like, and they’ve never experienced anything, so how can they actually know what we go through?”
