Land as a Process of Reconciliation: Transforming Health Narratives Among Land-Based Healing Camp Facilitators
Citation
Johnson-Jennings, M., Huyser, K., Collins, K., Jessome, M., Christianson, T., Smith, J., Chavez, T., & Lockhart, F. (June 2023). Land as a Process of Reconciliation: Transforming Health Narratives Among Land-Based Healing Camp Facilitators [Poster Abstract]. CoVaRR-Net Spring 2023 Meeting, Ottawa, ON, Canada. https://covarrnet.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/lbh-covarr-net_conference-poster-2023.pdf.
Colonialism has created long-lasting harms for Indigenous peoples, including isolation, limited access to services, and major health inequalities. These harms also increase Indigenous peoples’ risk of COVID-19. Despite these challenges, Indigenous communities have found ways to thrive. One important approach they have used is land-based healing, which supports Indigenous health by reconnecting people with their culture and the land.
In this project, CIEDAR (CoVaRR-Net’s Indigenous Engagement, Development, and Research Pillar 7) partnered with Taché Waters Healing Society to work toward two goals:
- Co-developing a land-based healing camp grounded in culture to facilitate healing from the ongoing impacts of settler-colonialism, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Evaluating the land-based healing camp pilot by asking the following question: How does being guided upon the land influence facilitators perspectives of health and wellbeing?
The Indigenous Worldviews guiding the camp created a decolonizing space. In this environment, camp facilitators were able to rethink their ideas about health and well-being. Instead of viewing health only through a Western lens, they began to see well-being as a holistic process. With this shift in understanding, facilitators built stronger connections with each other, with themselves, and with the land, all of which supported their overall well-being.
Abstract
Colonialism has resulted in isolation, lack of services, and health disparities experienced by Indigenous peoples (IPs)1 which increased risk for COVID-19. Despite this, IPs have found ways to thrive. For example, they have implemented land-based healing (LBH) interventions2, 3, 4. Increasing cultural continuity through reconnecting to the land has broad implications for the health and wellbeing of IPs. As such, CIEDAR (CoVaRR-Net’s Indigenous Engagement, Development, and Research Pillar 7) partnered with Taché Waters Healing Society (TWHS) to achieve the following objectives.
- To co-develop a LBH camp grounded in culture to facilitate healing from the ongoing impacts of settler-colonialism, exacerbated by the pandemic.
- To evaluate the LBH camp pilot by asking the following question: How does being guided upon the land influence facilitators perspectives of health and wellbeing?
The Indigenous Worldviews that informed the camp created a decolonizing space. This allowed camp facilitators to shift their narrative about health and wellbeing from one that was Westernized towards one that sees wellbeing as a holistic process. After this shift in understanding occurred, facilitators formed connections with others, themselves, and place, which facilitated wellbeing.