When Roy and Jean Erasmus, owners of the Dene Wellness Warriors healing and counselling service, recently decided to begin the process of establishing a healing lodge for NWT residents suffering from trauma, Roy said they knew the perfect location for it.
“Initially, it was going to be in the old treatment centre in the K’atl’odeeche First Nation Reserve,” Roy said of the South Slave location. “But the problem is now that with all the fires there, the band office burnt down, the Dene Wellness Institute burnt down and around 15 homes burnt down, so we are not going to be able to access that former treatment centre for a long time.”
As a result of the devastation caused by the wildfire this spring, the couple is now tasked with reorganizing their plans. With the help of a feasibility study currently underway, they will now search for another location to possibly build the lodge, he added.
“The reason we wanted to have it in Hay River is that the facility there was built as a treatment centre. It has bedrooms and bathrooms and it was all set up for a residential centre for people to attend. It was for addictions to be treated and in our case, it was going to be (for) traumas,” Roy said.
He said funding is in the process of being secured for the lodge and they have garnered widespread support for the project.
An Indigenous Advisory Committee consisting of one member from each NWT region is providing guidance and ideas on how best to proceed with the program, he added.
He said it’s their hope that there will be graduates from the two-year counsellor training program they offer who one day will want to be employed at the new trauma lodge.
Call to action
“One of the calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was to support healing centres and in particular in the NWT and Nunavut and for the federal government to provide funding for these centres so hopefully the federal government will heed that call and assist us. We are going to have to get other sources as well,” he said.
With a high rate of addictions, mental health issues, sexual assaults, incarceration and children in care in the NWT, Roy said a facility that heals the trauma that causes these serious problems is greatly needed.
He said a trauma lodge differs from an addictions treatment facility because the emphasis is on dealing with the root causes of addictions and other issues.
“When people go to addictions treatment they start working on their traumas, but that is not the focus. The focus is to help them stop drinking. The focus in a trauma healing lodge is to work on traumas.”
Step in the right direction
Katherine Arden, the community wellness manager at the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre in Yellowknife, which offers alcohol and drug counselling, said having a facility to help heal one’s trauma would be of benefit to NWT residents.
“The Northwest Territories needs a trauma unit or recovery place for people to go after they come for treatment,” Arden said. “I believe that the trauma centre that they are putting together would be a great place for people to go and continue getting the support they need after going to treatment.”
A trauma centre in the NWT would mean people would also be able to stay within their home territory, she added.
Roy said dealing with or having trauma is complex, and people don’t always realize that they are suffering from it.
“Most people don’t (know they have it),” he said. “You hear people all the time say, ‘Just get over it, that happened 20 years ago.’ So people think that things that happened to you in the past to forget about it, and it shouldn’t be bothering you, but in reality, those things pile up and keep bothering us and often we don’t know why we can’t sleep or are depressed or why we are angry or anxious or have high blood pressure.”
He said a trauma lodge would allow people to participate in daily treatment and counselling for several months to help develop new skills for dealing with trauma. Anyone going to the lodge for treatment would have to be alcohol and drug-free prior to participating in the program.
“You are totally away from all your old buddies and temptations and that is the way to go for drinking and for trauma it is the same thing — that is the way to go,” said Roy.
Editor’s note: Roy Erasmus is also a columnist for Northern News Services.