Action Guide for Communities

Looking at the ways in which we are all interconnected, and drawing on our collective knowledge, can help to mobilize a collective response to the goal of supporting life promoting communities:

• Find out which cultural teachings and ceremonies have offered guidance for getting through difficult times in the past
• Connect with the knowledge keepers in your community who can help share those and other teachings.
• Learn about the history and effects of colonization in order to recognize the shared nature of current challenges.
• Learn from and highlight the stories of resistance and strength that have endured in your community
• See the ‘Changing the Narrative’ section of this Action Guide for strategies to ‘lead with the language of life.’

Common approaches to suicide prevention tend to focus on what’s not working, but it’s hard to find answers and solutions there. Instead, look to what is already working and going well:

• What are the moments or places in which young people seem to thrive in your community? Are there certain times of year, ceremonies, people, or places in your community that seem to make young people ‘light up’?
• What are the conditions that make those moments or places work for young people?
• What supports and resources could help deepen the connection young people have with life and living in those and other moments and places? How can you go about reaching other young people in your community?

Guided by the people and teachings within your community, consider how you can also look beyond your community to get support for your local efforts in the short- and long-term:

• Strengthening relationships among families is one of many ways that community life can be supported.
• Developing networks with other First Nations can help build solidarity, reduce isolation, and broaden your experience of community.
• Advocating, and finding allies, at a policy level can help to remove some of the barriers and even access resources for your community.
• Consider whether there are ways to connect with non-Indigenous allies in your region. Could this foster longer term changes that might lead to reconciliation and decolonization?

Indigenous families, extended kin, and strong connections with Ancestors provide the resources for living well. Intergenerational familial relationships have often suffered as a result of colonization, and the response from many child welfare systems has all too often been to ‘protect’ children by removing them from their families. Research shows, however, that supporting strong family relationships, and providing culturally relevant support for Indigenous parents to look after their own children, serve as protective factors and help to promote individual, family, and collective wellbeing over time. Supporting this level of relationship will require critical reflection on the current practices of child protection systems in order to ensure families receive culturally appropriate and meaningful support (see Gerlach, Browne, Sinha, and Elliot, 2017).

• How can families be strengthened and nurtured in your community?
• What opportunities exist for families to come together in community, and experience themselves in a good way?
• How can families who are struggling seek support in a way that builds them up?
• What current practices interfere with family relationships, and how can they be meaningfully altered?

While much of mainstream/urban society has become more age-segregated, and the professionalization of services has often led to fragmentation and distance in our communities, research shows that relationships between young people and adults are one of the most significant factors in achieving community and family wellness. How can we find creative ways to step out of our silos and connect with one another more often?

• Develop opportunities for Elders, community members, volunteers, extended family members, and youth leaders to come together to talk about their vision for a shared community life
• Find opportunities for communication and ideas to “travel” in more than one direction.
• Ensure there are accessible and free public spaces in your community, for informal opportunities to connect (ie. community garden, gazebo, fire pit, wharf, playground, soccer field, child care centre, community hall).
• Sharing food and hosting feasts are natural ways to nurture relationships within community – which First Nations peoples have practiced for centuries
• ‘How-to’ workshops can bring diverse community members into the room together. Ideas include: canning salmon, weaving cedar, washing and separating wool, or any other skill community members are willing to share.
• Develop creative partnerships around specific projects. Seek unlikely partners (corporate, government, individual, academic, or otherwise) to build bridges where they did not previously exist.
• Take advantage of existing opportunities to bring community members together. For example, early childhood development programs, such as Aboriginal Head Start, can serve as the ‘hub’ or focal point for coordinating life promotion and community wellbeing efforts.

As Indigenous peoples have known and practiced for hundreds of years, the land is a living system and it has so much to teach us about how to live in a good way:

• What are the sacred sites in your territory?
• Who are the knowledge keepers who would be able to guide people through a meaningful experience in those places?
• Are there certain cultural practices (ie. sweat lodge), songs, teachings, or rituals associated with those places?
• Are there seasonal activities that could be done on an annual basis (i.e. berry picking, fishing, hunting, root gathering)?
• What is required to prepare for such experiences (i.e. transportation, compensation, tools, or gear)?
• How can information about these land-based teaching opportunities be shared to ensure people who would benefit from them are invited?
• What existing opportunities and resources exist to help you think about how to design high quality land-based programs in your community?

Language is more than words. Language is culture. It connects people with themselves, their place, history, Ancestors, and ways of being in the world – all of which foster hope, belonging, meaning, and purpose. Consider the following when revitalizing language and teachings in your community:

• Who are your language speakers and knowledge keepers? What kinds of demands are on their time, and how can they be supported?
• Who are the young people in your community who show an aptitude for and interest in learning language and teachings? What kinds of demands are on their time, and how can they be supported?
• What opportunities for mentorship exist – including funding to compensate for the time contributed by those involved?
• What are the places in which people naturally gather, where learning might be integrated? i.e. day cares, community events, schools, festivals.
• Does anyone in your community keep recordings of songs and stories as they are shared?
• Are there singers in your community? Do they compose songs? Can they be supported to do so?
• Are there regular drumming circles, weaving or beading gatherings, language clubs, or communal food preparation/preservation events? Can new or more people be invited to join?
• Do you have access to a language app such as First Voices?
• Can you partner with a university or non-profit organization to find funding that can support language revitalization work in your community?

As is likely made clear by the various lists of questions in the sections above, ‘culture as healing’ will look different depending on who you are, where you are, and with whom you are working. Rather than thinking of ‘best practices’, we recommend cultivating your own ‘wise practices’, based on local wisdom and teachings.

Traditional teachings – and particularly Creation stories – often include important information about how to remain connected to, and strengthened by, identity. Find out who the traditional knowledge keepers are in your community, and consider the following questions:

What do your teachings (including Creation stories) say about:

• life’s purpose?
• finding your unique gifts?
• sharing your gifts humbly and proudly with others?
• helping others to find and share their gifts?
• moving through life’s transitions?
• facing difficult times?
• coping with loss?
• connecting with all of creation?
• What else do your teachings (including Creation stories) have to say that can help young people meaningfully connect with life through their Indigenous identity?

The words we use convey certain assumptions, beliefs, values, and expectations. Connecting with identity as a source of pride and belonging can be facilitated by being deliberate about the words we speak. A life promotion approach ‘leads with the language of life’, while still acknowledging that death and loss are part of life. Indigenous languages hold important truths about how to live a good life; ideas that often can’t be adequately expressed in English.

It may be useful to consider the following, in relation to language:

• Assuming that everyone is entitled to a long life, the phrase ‘premature death’ can be a useful substitution to the word ‘suicide’. The concept ‘premature death’ refers to life that ends in advance of its fullest potential, and it helps us attend to the entire life span, not just a single moment in it.
• The phrase ‘life promotion’ can meaningfully speak to the commitment of connecting young people with an experience of life and liveliness – not just avoiding dying (as implied by the phrase ‘suicide prevention’).
• Young people may be used to hearing damage- or problem-centered stories about being Indigenous, based on racist stereotypes or misunderstandings about colonial oppression. Deliberately centering stories that draw from their own Indigenous languages and speak to Indigenous wisdom and strength can be very important.
• Important concepts in your teachings may be most accurately conveyed in your own language (not translated into English or French). Where possible, provide access directly to these concepts by using the words that are traditionally spoken in relation to them – in the language of your people.

See Develop productive partnerships, within and beyond your community under the ‘Changing the Narrative’ section of this Action Guide for tips.

Experiential learning is the recommended way to support First Nations youth to connect personally with their own cultural teachings – and in turn their identity. There is no end to the ways experiential learning can be facilitated, but here are a few key things to consider:

• Provide opportunities to commune with the natural world.
• Provide a range of opportunities for modelling to occur, in multiple directions (e.g. across generations, between teachers and learners).
• Provide regular opportunities for deep reflection on meaningful questions that can help learners integrate their experiences in their own personal/unique ways.
• Use rituals that are significant for your community as a way of grounding the learning experiences that are taking place.

Depending on your particular teachings and practices, sharing circles and/or stories may be useful ways to obtain feedback about the processes you are engaged in.

For more detail about evaluation, see the ‘how do we know if we’re making a difference’ section at the end of this Action Guide.

People who give of themselves to support others during times of crisis, also gain something through it. Providing care and offering support to others is usually very life-affirming for the person offering the care. Ensure your team is nurtured and supported to serve your community well, and also to grow and heal through the process. Some of the ways this can occur are:

• Provide ongoing training and culturally grounded professional development.
• Find ways to express appreciation and gratitude regularly.
• Honour their expertise and gifts.
• Find out how they wish to be engaged in this work, and support them towards their goals.
• Allow for flexibility, as life events occur for members of your team.
• Advocate for them to gain credentials and/or recognition for their work where appropriate.
• If members of your team move on to other things, find ways to continue reaching out to them to acknowledge the role they’ve played.

You (and your team) don’t have to do this alone. See Develop productive partnerships, within and beyond your community for ideas about leveraging existing resources to support your work.

Culture is expressed through language, creation stories, relationships with land, people and animals, and by knowledge handed down from the Ancestors, which shifts over time. How can this wisdom support life promotion in your community? Here are some questions you may reflect on to guide your approach:

• What do we know about the journey of the Spirit through every phase of life?
• What are some of the stages of life, and transitions during which the Spirit could use some support?
• What are some practices and rituals we have to support the Spirit during these times?
• Who in our community conducts ceremonies, and can help us in these processes?
• What is the Spirit’s journey after it moves into the next life? How can we support it?
• Are there significant times or dates that survivors will need support after a loved one has passed? How can they be supported?
• Are there concepts, words, or language that can help us better understand some of these teachings and practices?
• Are there significant places or sites that are significant to visit? Are there sacred medicines that we can harvest or use during these practices?
• Who are the knowledge keepers who can help us deepen our understandings of these and other teachings?

Respectfully and meaningfully engaging after a suicide death is relational and emotional work. In order to do this work over the long term, you will require a team. Given the range of skills required, it makes sense to build this team on the basis of their unique gifts and talents. This will ensure sustainability over the long term. Here are some of the skills and gifts that may be useful to have on your team:

• Traditional knowledge, teachings, protocols, and language
• Cultural ceremonies (including cultural practices surrounding death)
• Communication
• Social media
• Emotional support
• Organization and logistics
• Finances
• Driving
• Preparing food
• Etc.

While Indigenous teachings central to this work, some communities have had great success ‘marrying’ Western frameworks and approaches to suicide prevention/life promotion with Indigenous ways of knowing. When making adaptations, it is important to ensure that these are thoughtfully done and community-specific. Tokenizing or generalizing Indigenous ways of knowing are neither effective nor appropriate. Draw on local language, teachings, and culture – as described above – to develop frameworks and approaches that are meaningful and practical in your community.

Recognize the gifts in all young people in your community, particularly those who might be struggling. Don’t just look for ‘naturally emerging’ leaders, but foster leadership among young people who may not yet recognize themselves as such:

• Are there young people in your community who seem to be struggling? Who do they connect with and trust? How can you connect with them?
• What are they interested in? Are there ways of creating opportunities for them to come together around those interests?
• Can you involve these young people meaningfully in creating those opportunities? Are there ways of engaging them in the creation and delivery of those opportunities so that they can gradually take some ownership of them?
• How can you connect them with traditional knowledge-keepers, to ensure traditional teachings are informing their experience?
• Focus less on ‘service delivery’ and more on co-creating culturally rich experiences together. The more young people are involved, the more meaningful the experiences will be for them.

For example, many communities have found that having a designated youth space (such as a resource centre) that is youth-led is a very important part of any life promotion initiative.

Being ‘youth led’ does not mean youth should be left on their own to make things happen. Ensure they are given the tools they need to experience success, and the mentorship to hone the skills needed to build their capacities:

• Start small, no matter what the initiative is. With stakes low, risks are safer to take and young people can slowly step outside of their comfort zones. As they experience small successes, they may take on more responsibility and leadership in their community.
• Try to avoid a distinction between those providing and those participating in programs where possible. Ensure there is a role for everyone at various steps.
• Recognize that mentorship can travel in every direction: What are the gifts, skills and passions of young people in your community? How can you help to create platforms for them to share those gifts, skills and passions with others?
• Guide from behind. This doesn’t mean leaving young people without any guidance at all, but ensuring they are determining the direction, and know you are there to support them through the process.
• Be a role model. Having role models, especially Elders, can provide hope and direction for young people.
• Allow for mistakes to be made and learned from.
• When possible, see if certifications and trainings can fit into the initiatives being pursued.
• Wherever possible provide financial or other compensation for young peoples’ time.

When young people are given opportunities to lead, they can sometimes feel a heavy burden to make things happen on their own. How can the broader community lighten the load and support youth-led initiatives? What partnerships in the community can support the initiatives youth are seeking?

• What cultural teachings – including languages, stories, protocols, and practices – can help foster leadership among youth in the community? Who in the community has access to this knowledge and how can they be meaningfully connected with young people who wish to learn?
• Can leadership/government provide: space to access, training opportunities, or supplies to access?
• Are there neighbouring businesses that can sponsor fundraising efforts?
• Can schools be engaged to reach more young people and/or integrate cultural or other programming and curriculum?
• Are there service providers who can partner with youth-led initiatives to provide access to guidance, support, and potentially even funding or resources?
• What cultural events and practices are already occurring in your community? Can they actively reach out to young people to build bridges among generations in the community?
• When training or cultural opportunities arise, is it possible to send multiple people from your community, including both youth and adults?
• Are young people and Elders in your community provided the opportunity to build meaningful and ongoing connections with one another?
• In what other ways can an ongoing community of support be built around youth-led initiatives in your community?

While every community is unique, many also face similar challenges. Particularly for rural and isolated communities, it can be beneficial to find ways to network with other First Nations communities. Learning from the experiences of other communities (such as the examples provided on this website), sharing ideas and experience with other communities, and pooling resources are all ways that your community can increase its capacity to nurture youth. Particularly when facing obstacles, networks among communities can help to maintain hope and momentum.

• What other First Nations communities are in your region? What do you have in common? What do you offer that is unique?
• Do you have any personal or professional connections with other communities in your region? How might you reach out to or connect with them?
• Is there an overarching body (organizational or governmental) that connects you with other communities in your region? Might they support you to come together (monthly, for instance) to support your youth in community?
• How else might you bring together adults and youth from each community in your region? Can you connect virtually? How can you learn from each other’s experiences, and support each other moving forward?

Problematic substance use and suicide are two of a number of challenges faced by some First Nations communities. Taken together, these challenges can be understood as precipitated by the distress, poverty, and discrimination that have resulted from settler-colonialism and its legacy. When Indigenous people have been severed or separated from land, teachings, cultural practices, and communities, problematic substance use and suicide rates have often increased.

Consider how your prevention initiative might focus on some of these root causes. What knowledge, teachings, and resources will you need to access in order to intervene at this level in your community?

You have a foundation of knowledge and teachings that can ground your initiative in a way that is meaningful and relevant for your community. See Ground the work in Indigenous ways of knowing for ideas about ensuring your initiative is culturally grounded from the very start.

Many funding models and programs are organized around distinct issues (such as ‘suicide prevention’ or ‘substance use’), which can make it difficult to develop an initiative that focuses on the whole person and community resilience. However, there are resources that can help you find the language and processes to advocate for a more holistic approach to healing. See Healing through Culture for some concrete ways to foster wellness in First Nations communities.

If you are writing a proposal, developing a program, or need to make a case for culturally grounded, holistic approaches, visit the Annotated Bibliography on this website to see some of the published research that can help you advocate for your approach.

Consider if and how the ways you implement your program match the stated values. For instance:

• How are cultural teachings and practices supporting you and your team not only in the content of what you are developing, but in your ways of working together?
• How are you creating a supportive and safe environment for your staff and/or volunteers?
• Are the ways you are tracking success and evaluating your initiative congruent with the values that inform it?
• How else can and do you embody wellbeing as you work towards supporting young people in your community?

It can be very important for young people to have a trusting relationship with – or at least access to – someone who lives a life they deem to be ‘healthy’. For instance, if a young person is seeking a life of sobriety, it can be nice to know a trusted sober adult. With this in mind, support local people in your community to be the champions of your project – this can help to build lasting relationships and community capacity that will extend long after a time-limited program ends. See Engage supportive adults for more ideas about how to identify and engage potential role models and mentors.

However, these people will also need support. What are some ways that you can:

• provide enough structure that they can trust they will succeed, and enough flexibility that they can bring their own gifts to their role?
• build relationships among them to foster a community of support?
• ensure lines of communication are open in all directions?
• provide opportunities for debriefing, follow up, and ongoing development of skills and knowledge?

Because of colonial imposition, many young people may not have access to skills related to food harvesting, processing, and preserving or other cultural food practices, including related rituals. Connecting children and youth with Elders and others who carry that knowledge is a way to revitalize food practices in your community:

• Is there formal programming that already exists through which these connections can take place, particularly if there is compensation for Elders and knowledge keepers?
• Could a workshop series specific to traditional food practices be a way for people in the community to gain valuable professional or personal development?
• Are there informal ways Elders and knowledge keepers already come together in your community? Can learning about traditional food practices be woven into these moments?  Can more people be actively invited into these spaces?

Rather than thinking of the regeneration of food practices as its own separate initiative, there are many ways it can be integrated into existing programming or events. This can eventually be ‘scaled up’ as resources, time, and capacity allow:

• Is there capacity to serve traditional foods one day a week at the childcare center? Can local people be supported to source and provide the food?
• Do you have seasonal curriculum at the school and/or childcare center? This can be achieved by inviting traditional harvesters to teach about what they do, bringing children onto the land with them, learning songs and dances related to these practices, inviting Elders in as storytellers.
• Are there certain community members already taking on some of the particular duties related to food practices (such as smoking fish, harvesting clams, drying meat, or picking berries)?  If so, can children and youth be mentored during these times?  Can they get school credit for their participation?
• Are there are already ‘cultural nights’ or regular gatherings in your community, in which you can include engaging in traditional food practices in what you do together?
• Is there the possibility of a regular column about revitalizing traditional food practices in your community paper, perhaps including recipes?
• Can Traditional Wellness and other health services can integrate traditional foods into their program delivery?
• Are there community events for which volunteers are needed, and coordination of this incorporate traditional food practices?

It can be useful to build creative partnerships with organizations or groups in order to enhance capacity around food practices. On the one hand, a caution here might be to ensure the focus of the partnering organization does not interfere with your own community’s interests around revitalizing your own traditional food practices. On the other hand, starting with a focus on accessing healthy food in general can be a great first step to a phased approach towards revitalization of Indigenous food practices in your community. Your community can decide which starting place is the best fit.

See ‘develop productive partnerships, within and beyond your community’ under the ‘changing the narrative’ section of this Action Guide for tips.

Access to land and rights to land-based practices are vital for regenerating Indigenous food practices.

See ‘build and nurture relationships with land’ under the ‘healing through culture’ section of this Action Guide for tips.

This work requires vision, and input from community members at many stages along the way. Creating a trusted advisory group as a first step can ensure community voices are part of the process from the very beginning. Some things you may wish to consider:

• Who will the advisory group be comprised of? Elders?  Youth? Knowledge Keepers? Others?
• What will the name of the group be? Is there a word or phrase in your language that captures the spirit of this work?
• How will members be compensated for their contributions? Is there a budget for honoraria?
• You may wish to begin by developing a set of guiding values and vision statement for this working group, to ensure clear focus.
• How often will the advisors meet? How will you ensure their work is integrated into decision-making processes at every level?

Policies, job descriptions, agreements, and even laws related to programs and services are often grounded in a western or colonial model. If you are striving to reform your programs and services with Indigenous knowledge at the centre, it is useful to begin there: with your own traditional language, teachings, and governance systems. Here are a few tips:

• Some communities develop strategic relationships with universities (such as with linguistics and law departments) in order to rally the human and other resources necessary for this time- consuming work.
• Identify the range of sources of knowledge for local teachings, language, and laws. This may include: archives of recordings of language speakers, storytellers, and songs; publications; research; legal and other policy documents; and more.
• Unearth the guiding principles, values, and practices that should inform services and practices today.
• Begin to map out a wellness model for your community that is grounded in these teachings.
• It can be useful to specifically define what “best interests of the child” means in your community, as this is a concept that can be vague when applied in a range of contexts.
• Be sure to share the learning from this process with all who deliver or receive services to children or families within your community.

Having a firm foundation in your own wellness model will directly inform the kinds of practices you offer. A few considerations:

• Many communities find a shift towards more inter-generational and land-based practices.
• Many communities also find a shift away from ‘siloed’ approaches to support (addressing various challenges people might face separately) towards a more holistic form of support.
• Some communities develop partnerships with universities or other organizations for Community-based or Participatory Action Research Projects as a way of ‘trying out’ new practice models and exploring their effectiveness at the same time. This can also be a useful strategy for incremental capacity building.

Community-driven programs and services centred in Indigenous knowledge can contribute to much more autonomy for communities to operate in a way that works for them. However, this does not mean provincial and federal governments do not have any responsibility. They do. It is very important to know the rights and responsibilities of all parties when it comes to delivery of services, and to create agreements to uphold them. In particular:

• It can take a lot of time to finalize the particulars of a formal agreement – taking into consideration new provincial and federal legislation, or other changes that impact programs and services. It can be useful to create and sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the provincial and federal government, which outlines Indigenous rights as they pertain to services for children and families as well as commitments to working together in a way that moves towards better upholding these rights. There are many examples from which to draw.
• Connect personally with other communities that have created formal agreements related to child and families services to learn about possibilities for your own community.
• Ensure funding is included in formal agreements once they are developed. Funding should not only be for service delivery, but also for the time taken to create agreements, and for capacity building.
• Ensure conflict resolution processes – with oversight by an independent third party – are also part of formal agreements.
• Ensure reference to your Advisory Committee is included in formal agreements.

To be community-owned, a life promotion initiative needs to be grounded in the community’s own values, knowledge, language, and history from the very beginning. Ceremonies, cultural teachings, and local protocols should provide the cultural foundation for any life promotion effort. Anything that can be done to strengthen and restore family connections and heal the wounds of intergenerational trauma (as a result of residential schools and ongoing colonization), and support the community to be self-determining will be life promoting.

Attention to cultural safety is paramount in this work. The First Nations Mental Wellness Continuum Framework states that cultural safety “includes reflecting upon cultural, historical, and structural differences and power relationships within the care that is provided. It involves a process of ongoing self-reflection and organizational growth for service providers and the system as a whole to respond effectively to First Nations people” (p. 36).

And finally, build on existing community strengths to enhance the sustainability of your project. The First Nations Mental Wellness Continuum Framework has identified five priorities for action in this area. These should be top of mind for any new life promotion initiative:

• First Nations Control of Services
• Building on Community Priorities
• Developing Community Wellness Plans
• Working Together in Partnership
• Investing in Community Development and Capacity Building (see more detail, beginning on p. 38)

This work cannot be done in isolation. It requires creative and strategic partnerships with people and organizations within your own community and beyond. Local, provincial, federal and First Nations governments, academic institutions, non-profit organizations, private corporations and businesses, knowledge-keepers, volunteers, passionate and committed practitioners and community members may all play a role in life promotion efforts in your community. Be sure to recognize the value of diverse partnerships in life promotion efforts.

It’s also really important to develop clear communications and expectations among those involved, at the beginning and along the way. Develop clear protocols and ways of working that ensure people feel heard and valued. Here are the priorities for action identified by the First Nations Mental Wellness Continuum Framework that relate to the development of effective collaborations:

• Defining Clear Roles and Responsibilities
• Establishing Leadership
• Creating Partnerships and Networking
• Developing System Navigators and Case Managers
• Providing Advocacy
• Raising Awareness—Reduction of Stigma and Protection of Privacy (see more detail, beginning on p. 50)

Investing in the well-being of the whole community is the best way to reduce risks for suicide and other threats to health. But life promotion initiatives don’t just need money: funding and other resources need to be provided in ways that are appropriate to the work being done. Wellbeing in communities is enhanced when funding is flexible, sustainable, sufficient and accountable.

Funding that is narrowly guided by the needs of the funder (rather than the community), bound by limited funding cycles, and burdensome to communities in terms of reporting requirements, can take good energy and time away from important life promotion efforts. It is important for funders to recognize the cross-sectoral, long-term nature of life promotion work.

Goodkind et al. (2010) list several recommendations that have been adapted and elaborated elsewhere on this website. The adapted recommendations include:

• Expand mechanisms for reimbursement for traditional healers,
• Shift emphasis from evidence-based practices to practice-based evidence
• Require health systems to take into account the current realities of First Nations youth
• Provide funding for programs that connect prevention and treatment
• Recognizing and supporting traditional healers, cultural practitioners and Elders as service providers
• Recognize the role of structural inequalities and colonial policies in the lives of First Nations children and families involved with the child welfare system
• Follow-up on federal government apology with concrete actions

Suicide is typically understood as an individual, private trouble. Current ways of thinking about suicide often emphasize the links between suicide and mental illness. This can lead to efforts that focus on individuals but overlook many of historical, contextual and political factors that contribute to suicidal despair and hopelessness. To set yourself up for success, make sure you have a good understanding of the historical and political contexts in which you are living and working.

Understand the role of colonial violence and its negative effects on First Nations children, youth, families and communities today. Be aware of the relatively recent emergence of suicide within Indigenous communities, and the relationship between suicide and colonization. Consider how your work might help to change this cycle of harm by addressing social, economic, political and structural factors that contribute to hopelessness and despair in First Nations communities.

Look for opportunities to make links between life promotion efforts and other projects that are dedicated to standing up against the effects of colonial violence in the lives of First Nations peoples, including violence towards women and children, two-spirit people, sexualized violence towards girls and women, and homelessness. Joining up with others who share the common goals of community healing, decolonization, and advancing the inherent rights of Indigenous peoples can make your collective efforts even more powerful.

Learn about the various social determinants of health (e.g. employment, safe and secure housing, income, quality childcare, education) and the interplay among them – this helps to resist the tendency to individualize problems or make individuals responsible for the solutions. That is, it can help us to see that the responsibility rests with all Canadians, and it involves collective and systemic changes. According to the First Nations Mental Wellness Continuum Framework, “At every stage of life, health is determined by complex interactions between social and economic factors, the physical environment, and individual behaviour” (p. 29). Setting up for success requires that we consider all of these factors in relation to one another.

All First Nations have unique cultures, languages, relationships with the land, and histories. There are already many gifts, strengths, and resources that you can mobilize within your community. Ensure your initiative is informed by and builds on the unique strengths of the community with(in) which you are engaging.