Family Treatment Program

Program Synopsis

Since colonization, First Nations people have suffered a number of hardships and our communities continue to be plagued by substance use and abuse. First Nations people are lost too often to addictions, ravaging families and communities. We are seeing children and youth starting to use substances at younger ages and repeating this pattern of behaviour and inevitably falling victim to this lifestyle.

Too often we see this pattern of hurt in our communities with services lacking resources to support the magnitude of these issues. The communities have spoken and will not be complacent in what is truly a matter of life and death for their people. Change must be brought forth to better support our families that are affected by substance abuse to promote a healthy lifestyle for all and to improve child welfare outcomes.

Nogdawindamin’s Family Treatment Program has been tasked with assessing the current landscape of addictions services in the communities and determining the gaps in services to work with communities to develop a model of care that will better meet the needs of the communities and better reflect the wants of the people who will be accessing the services. A few major questions that we will be asking throughout this project:

-          What services and supports currently exist that are working well?

-          What areas of service require more resources and support to work better?

-          How can we make the services more user friendly?

-          How can we make the services more collaborative and cohesive?

-          What new services might we have to introduce to better meet the needs of the communities?

-          How will these new services work with existing services to provide more of a wrap-around model of care?

-          How can we better support not only the person struggling with addiction but the entire family unit?

-          How can we ensure that our efforts will improve child welfare outcomes?

The Family Treatment Program wishes to promote and support a culturally grounded model of care that mindfully addresses the root causes of substance abuse in our communities. We intend to work collaboratively with the communities to put forth alternatives and solutions and to inform the path forward. We hope to better serve you and your communities by supporting individuals and families affected by substance abuse through all the phases of their healing journey.

If you would like to share your story or provide our program with feedback and ideas, please visit our engagement platform at www.7Engage.ca. Our website will be live May 3, 2021. We want to create a model of care that will work for you and your community!