In the spirit of ᐃᑲᔪᖅᑎᒌᓐᓂᖅ - Piliriqatigiinniq/Ikajuqtigiinniq- Learning ways to integrate services impacting early childhood mental health

Background: Mental health services in Cambridge Bay/Iqaluktuuttiaq, Nunavut, for children aged 0–5 are poorly defined and fragmented. In Cambridge Bay, children aged 0-14 years represent 26.9% of the population, and of those children, 33% are between the age of 0-4 years old. Supporting mental health and wellness during the first years of life positively impacts mental and physical health throughout the life course. In Canada, Inuit families experience mental health challenges at higher rates than non-Indigenous Canadians. The suicide rate in Nunavut is ten times Canada's national average.

 

 The Kitikmeot Friendship Society, based in Cambridge Bay, is working to address systemic barriers to culturally safer services and are developing relevant early childhood mental health programs and services to support Inuit children and families.

 Racism, colonization, and medical models of service delivery have resulted in difficult to access, siloed services, which compound health challenges for children and families in Cambridge Bay. While evidence indicates that integrated systems improve health and wellness outcomes; there is a gap in knowledge regarding how to transform complex systems from nodular forms to integrated structures in the high Arctic.

 

Approach: This community based participatory action research study is grounded in postcolonial theory and a collaborative decision-making framework. Data analysis utilizes interpretive description and, the knowledge to action framework guides implementation of findings. Service providers, service users and knowledge holders participated in interviews and focus groups to co-create shared awareness of current needs and related services for early childhood mental health. They identified how early childhood mental health systems should be improved or integrated in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. Results: Wise practices are the combination of locally appropriate actions, tools, principles or decisions that contribute significantly to the development of sustainable and equitable conditions.

 

They are contextually relevant and not standardized due to their contextual connections. They recognize the wisdom in each Indigenous community and in the community’s own stories of achieving success. The findings of the study validate and reinforce the wise practices for early childhood mental health supports. Interventions essential to positive early childhood mental health are complicated by non-complimentary processes and multiple points of access.

 

This is confounding for both service users and service providers. Implications: The intended impact of the research is co-developing resources for service providers, families, and non-government organizations to best support children’s mental health in Cambridge Bay, NU. The work will further inform programs and practices for early mental health services to ensure equity, inclusion, accessibility, and culturally safer care.