First Nations House of Healing
Created by Greg Henderson
Gway’um of the Campbell River First Nation
The design depicts a reflection of the Tsa-Kwa Luten Lodge as a healing house. The faces reflect a man and a woman inside the house with the ceremonial Cedar Bark, as the Health Circle. The tongues of the Sisiutl are in the shape of canoes, which reflect the Healing completed and everyone on the Journey of Life.
ITHA's healing project, the First Nations House of Healing, began in 2000 and is funded by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. The FNHH delivers a variety of healing sessions for survivors of residential school and their families. The healing sessions take place at the beautiful Tsa-Kwa Luten Lodge on Quadra Island. Healing sessions run from October 16th to April 15th of every year.
FNHH offers healing programs for:
- Men and women who attended residential schools
- Elders
- Intergenerational programs
- Couples
- Lesbian, Gay and Bi-sexual peoples
- Sexual Abuse Survivors
- Single Parents and Two Parent Families
- Our people raised in adoption/foster homes
If you are interested in learning more about these Healing programs, please call 250-753-3990.
First Nations House of Healing Call for Proposals
Program related packages
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Intake Package Introduction Letter
First Nations House of Healing Program Schedule 2010-2011
Suicide Prevention back to top
Kwa-kwela.Xulit tu mustimuxw: Aboriginal Suicide Critical Response Team (ASCIRT) was created in February 2005 and has run continuously since as a direct response to high rates of attempted/completed suicides amongst ITHA member Nations.
Community-based Suicide and Critical Response Team (C-ASCIRTS)
Communities face significant challenges as they strive to prevent and respond to youth and adult suicide. They need the support and resources that might come from access to wellness/healing and community education training workshops that could promote wellness and address the issues underlying suicide. Community front-line staff and natural care givers are often required to respond to community crisis without the necessary clinical training. They are being asked to do the work without the skills or confidence to meet their community’s needs. Community-based ASCIRTeams integrate professional and non-professional services in a Community Response Team. Community Response Teams are made up of human service workers, first responders, community leaders, and natural care givers. They can offer:
• respond to individuals in crisis (i.e., struggling with emotional distress);
• respond to critical incidents within the community;
• lobby for and/or facilitate community initiatives;
• support a neighboring critical incident response team (if requested);
• invite the assistance of a neighboring Team (if required); and
• identify and facilitate educational initiatives.
Community Response Teams develop the community’s capacity to respond to their own critical incidents in an integrated fashion. This model is true community-based mobilization—empowering each community to respond to its own issues.