Umingmak Centre continues to support Nunavut’s children and youth, despite COVID-19 challenges

From phone calls to wellness packages, Iqaluit’s Umingmak Child and Youth Support Centre is continuing to do what it can for Nunavut’s youngest.

Opened in October, Umingmak is Nunavut’s first child advocacy centre for victims of child abuse. Like many services across the territory, they’ve had to adjust their activities due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“For kids right now, especially the younger ones, their little brains are just coming up with their own interpretations and trying to fill in what might be happening or not happening,” said Daniel Afram, the centre’s clinical director and trauma therapist.

Fortunately, Afram said that many families have done a good job of explaining the situation to their children.

Of course, having to explain the concept of the ongoing pandemic is just one of many challenges facing Nunavut families, with the ongoing cancellation of school being another major source of stress.

For parents, school provides respite, said Afram, and with classes cancelled until at least April 20, not having that relief can really amplify parenting pressures.

For children, school typically provides a good place for them to meet many of their emotional, social and learning needs.

These challenges come in addition to the big issues already faced by many Nunavut children and their families before the pandemic—such as overcrowded housing and a lack of food security—meaning the centre’s work is as important as ever.

“One of the things about the COVID and all this social distancing means that we’re all trying to get creative around services,” said Afram.

A lot of the children would come to the centre after school or during the day, but with no classes and the ongoing physical distancing measures, that has stopped, and Afram said it’s a big change for them.

In order to continue to provide services, Afram and his colleagues have turned to phone calls with clients, typically one at the beginning of the week and another one at the end of the week.

“The one thing that we are able to do is some of these phone check-ins, and we’ve got a connection to our relationship with our kids. Then, if things were to come up or things were happening at home that they needed to share, we could likely mobilize other community supports and our partners to be able to keep that child safe,” said Afram.

The Umingmak Centre has also created and distributed wellness bags for families with younger children struggling with structure and routine.

The bags include age-appropriate books, supplies for arts and crafts like coloured pencils, a child-friendly wellness information page about COVID-19, calming techniques and a letter with some suggested activities that can be done with the materials in the bag.

“We don’t know how long the COVID [pandemic] is going to last, so if we’re able to have that connection with that child still and maintain it, then it makes it that much easier further down the road,” said Afram.

Afram says it’s still too early to tell whether the centre has seen an influx in the cases they deal with as a result of the COVID-19 response measures, such as the cancellation of school or self-isolation orders.

“I think we’ve averaged a case every week over the last few weeks, which is pretty average I would say, so we’re not sure at the end of this what things are going to look like,” said Afram.

Right now, Nunavut residents have a chance to help out by picking up the phone and calling friends, family, neighbours and colleagues to check in and see how they’re doing, Afram said.

“There’s a lot of things out of our control right now, but I think simple phone calls like that can be really, really reassuring and validating for a lot of our families.”

Although the Umingmak Centre typically co-ordinates the complicated cases of abuse that are reported to them by the Department of Family Services, they remind Nunavummiut that the department is an essential service that’s available to help 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

For a full list of the Children and Family Services’ office numbers, visit the department’s website.