Mamisarvik offers troubled Inuit a chance to cope

OTTAWA — A group of Inuit sit in a circle of cozy chairs, watching a video about how trauma and addictions go hand-in-hand: this is just one of the many activities for clients at the Ottawa-based Mamisarvik Healing Centre during its eight-week treatment and recovery program for trauma and addictions.

According to its brochure, Mamisarvik, funded mainly by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and the Government of Nunavut, focuses on helping Inuit recover from “the legacy of residential schools and forced relocation from traditional lands.”

But more simply put, Mamisarvik wants Inuit to love themselves and make healthy decisions.

“The idea is to look at issues like addictions and trauma and learn coping skills,” says Pam Stellick, Mamisarvik’s director of counseling services.

Tungasuvvingat Inuit, which provides services to Inuit in Ontario, has operated Mamisarvik, located at TI’s former offices at 604 Laurier St. West, since September, 2004.

There, Mamisarvik offers day and residential treatment program, with residents from outside Ottawa staying in the nearby Pigiarvik House, TI’s former transitional residence for homeless Inuit.

Apart from the Isuarsivik treatment centre’s one-month treatment program in Kuujjuaq, no other residential treatment program for Inuit is available in Canada.

A typical Mamisarvik session includes 12 clients, from ages 18 to 64, from everywhere in Canada. As Mamisarvik enters its 11th treatment session, counselors say more women than men have participated to date, and that the majority have been referred from the South.

Mamisarvik’s staff is 80 per cent Inuit, and interpreters are available for unilingual clients. There’s always at least one Inuk counsellor present during every session, and everyone is encouraged to speak in whatever language they’re more comfortable in: Inuktitut or English.

When clients arrive at Mamisarvik, their photo is taken; when they leave, another photo is taken: most can’t believe the positive changes that show clearly in their faces.

This transformation is accomplished through a structured program, involving lots of group therapy sessions, one-on-one counselling, good food as well as a wide range of additional activities, including elders’ visits, exercise, martial arts and wilderness camping.

After “graduation,” clients go home, with an individualized after-treatment plan. Most will be on their own, although now there is a support group in Iqaluit for Mamisarvik “grads.”

“The treatment isn’t eight weeks. It’s the beginning of a healing journey, and it takes much longer than eight weeks,’ says Barbara Sevigny, trauma and addictions therapist.

And the program’s success, Sevigny says, can’t be measured by whether someone never drinks or smokes pot again — that’s because clients set their own goals before they enter treatment. Some want complete abstinence; others just want to live healthier lives by choosing “harm reduction,” or responsible alcohol use.

“But people come here and say they’ll do harm reduction and end up choosing abstinence,” Sevigny says.

If they meet their personal goals, then Sevigny says the Mamirsavik treatment can be considered a success.

Some clients come through treatment more than once because issues aren’t always resolved in eight weeks; some have to enter detox programs first; and, others come to treatment, but then leave after a couple of days, mainly because they weren’t aware of the treatment process and what it demands.

To date, 161 clients have attended treatment, including at least 40 from the Baffin region and one from Nunavik. Clients are referred from TI, Nunavut’s health and social services, friendship centres, Nunavik’s health and social services board, the courts and by individuals who decide they want to get help.

Start dates for the next two cycles are Jan. 23 and April 17.

“But people should start the application process well in advance of those dates. In fact, they can contact us as soon as they feel ready, and we will go ahead with the assessment and get them on the list,” Stellick says.

But even while Mamisarvik is continuing to offer treatment, it’s teetering on the edge of uncertainty: in 2007 the Aboriginal Healing Fund’s annual grant of $567,000 ends. The yearly contract of $171,000 from the GN doesn’t even begin to cover the costs of providing treatment, room and board to the 20 clients it sends during the year.

“We’re worried. There are not a lot of treatment resources for Inuit,” Stellick says.

At the same time, there’s also a need for more prevention activities, youth and family treatment, training and more trauma recovery services as well as a centralized office for TI. That group is now spread over five different locations in Ottawa, not to mention the replacement of TI’s two sites which Mamirsavik now uses for its treatment program.

Mamisarvik staff doesn’t know what lies ahead, but the healing centre’s closure, says Sevigny, “would be a big loss for Inuit.”