Deninu Kųę́ First Nation healing program 'making a difference' in Fort Resolution, N.W.T.

Since January, Deninu Kųę́ First Nation has been running an on-the-land healing program in Fort Resolution, N.W.T., and facilitators say it's already changing lives.

The six-week initiative, called Healing Our Way, combines trauma-based therapy with traditional land-based practices. It's hosted in the centre of the community, where participants can access support without leaving their community.

Ruby Prince and her husband, Francois, co-own NEYU Professional Services in Fort St. James, B.C. For over a decade, they've been offering prevention and wellness programming in Fort Resolution, including suicide prevention, residential school healing, and addiction recovery.

"We've seen youth that have empowered themselves and are now in college and university," Ruby said. "We've seen people who are long-term alcoholics find their [sobriety] journey."

The program can take up to 12 people at a time. Participants stay in donated trailers that have been converted to provide accommodation and support for the program participants. Sessions also include time on the land at places like Mission Island and Little Buffalo.

Ruby said participants continue to see their family and community members throughout the program, which helps them stay connected and supported and not separated from everyday life.

"They're getting connected back to their own roots," she said. "When they're dealing with their trauma, they're able to work through it from the lens of where they come from."

She said healing in the community lets people work through their trauma in real time, and in the same environment they're learning to navigate. That's something people don't get when they seek treatment outside of the territory, Ruby says.

​​"As soon as they're back in community, they're feeling the trauma all over again," she said. "Everything that they were able to put away while they were in [a] treatment program slowly creep back in."

Three sessions have taken place since January in Fort Resolution. Ruby said that while the program prioritizes local residents, she now has a waiting list of people from elsewhere.

"I have applicants from all over the Northwest Territories that want to come," she said. "It's making a difference."

'Community members helping community members'

Ruby said an important part of the program is ensuring it's rooted in local knowledge. Instead of bringing in an outside team, she works with people from Fort Resolution and surrounding communities, including local elders, to lead and support the healing work.

"Community members helping community members," is how she described it.

Kevin Boucher is a member of Deninu Kųę́ First Nation who has been sober since December. He has taken all three programs offered since January, each time learning something new and solidifying his commitment to sobriety.

Boucher has been on a sobriety journey for decades, with periods of relapse and recovery. He said everyone deserves a chance at recovery and to trust that each attempt brings you closer to healing.

"As long as you get a piece of that goodness out of that little time, that's what carries a person through," he said. "If I can get there again, you know, even though it may not work the first time, but maybe the second time it will."

Boucher said doing the work in his own community has made a big difference. Family, friends, and neighbours offer him support and help hold him accountable, and he hopes that might help some of them start their own journey.

"To inspire your own people to say, 'Hey, I could do that too,'" he said.

"Because a lot of people know who I am, what I went through, the things that I've done... they see me transform in front of their eyes."

He said the program has helped him regain a sense of self, rebuild his confidence, and has put him on a path to starting a new career. Something he never thought was possible, after years of carrying childhood trauma.

"We're looking at generational damage, generations of guilt, shame, self-worthlessness, resentments, anger," he said. "We have a long history of generations of trauma in our people."

One of the biggest reasons Boucher says he chose to get sober was his children. He says losing connection with them was one of the most challenging times in his life and he's now focused on making up for that time and rebuilding those relationships.

"I can see my future a lot more clear now. This program has given me another chance, a bigger chance."