‘It’s going to make a big difference in their lives’: Indigenous counselling training program returns

A program designed to train Indigenous counsellors to work in the North is getting a second run — and those behind the program say it’s helping to fill a gap in service for Indigenous people seeking counselling.

The Northern Indigenous Counselling Program is an initiative by the Dene Wellness Warriors, which partnered with Rhodes Wellness College. In May, 15 people from 10 communities graduated from the first run of the program.

Roy and Jean Erasmus, who own the Dene Wellness Warriors healing group in Yellowknife, created the program because they wanted to have Indigenous counsellors helping Indigenous people in the N.W.T.

“That’s our goal, to have our people working with Indigenous services to provide counselling services to residential school survivors and their families,” Jean said.

Completing the two-year program gives participants a professional counsellor diploma, a wellness counsellor diploma and certification as a life coach.

Both Jean and Roy took a similar program together 10 years ago and realized the importance of the holistic and hands-on training format. They say the program itself acts as a tool for healing and recovery for the student.

“They’re learning about trauma-informed practices, they’re working on themselves to help get better emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually,” said Jean.

This makes the program very emotionally heavy, said Roy. This is why they decided applicants need to be sober for a year before taking the program.

“We want people healthier when they finish,” said Roy. “There are high emotions, It’s a lot easier to handle that when you’ve been clean and sober for a year prior to starting.”

‘It helped me deal with a lot of my issues’

Burnice Mandeville graduated from the first program. She was already utilizing the counselling services from Dene Wellness Warriors, but said she always wanted to be a counsellor.

She is now working as the healing and wellness program assistant in Fort Resolution, where she is currently working on a project called Rocher River Return.

“We’ll be taking some people out to Rocher River in March,” said Mandeville. “We’re going to do a sharing circle. Hopefully, bring some healing.”

Mandeville said the program also contributed to her healing journey, which she started over 20 years ago. She said the intensity of the program, which included students counselling each other, took her to a new level of healing, even going back to her childhood.

“It helped me deal with a lot of my issues,” said Mandeville. “It’s an awesome feeling, to get healed. But there’s always more.”

Mandeville said she highly recommends the program to others. It was a safe learning space for her and now she’s able to use those tools to help her community.

“It’s going to make a big difference in their lives — they won’t regret it,” she said.

Roy and Jean also talked about other graduates who are working in the community. One of their graduates is counselling at the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre in Yellowknife and co-facilitates a men’s circle that meets twice a week.

Another is a counsellor at the Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation’s on-the-land program in Yellowknife and works with residential school survivors and their families. There is also a graduate working within the Government of Northwest Territories’ community wellness programs in Inuvik.

‘It takes a lot of time and energy’

With the second run of the program confirmed, Jean and Roy said this will most likely be the last program for a while. They hope to bring it back again one day if they can find a balance between this and their counselling practice.

“It takes a lot of time and energy, from both our perspectives as well as Rhodes Wellness College,” said Roy. “They have to arrange to send their instructors over here, so it’s a lot of work.”

They said they are still committed to making an impact with this latest cohort.

“We’re hoping to have counsellors trained in each of the regions,” said Jean, “as well as hoping that it would reach every community and every community would have at least one counsellor.”

Roy recognized that the Government of the Northwest Territories wants to put counsellors in each of the communities in the North but said the counselling jobs being offered usually require the applicants to have an advanced degree.

He acknowledged most postings say equivalencies are accepted, but it can still discourage northerners from applying because it doesn’t tell them what the equivalencies are. He said the issue it presents is counsellors come from outside the Northwest Territories but don’t stay long enough to make a difference — and that’s why we need more Indigenous counsellors.

“Someone who’s from a small community understands what it’s like,” said Roy, “and the social problems and issues arising from those small communities,”

The Dene Wellness Warriors are now accepting applications for the second instalment of the program. To apply, email [email protected].