A series of workshops focussed on “climate resiliency” have reached three hubs of the N.W.T. Organizers say the initiative has helped to build local capacity around recovery, resilience and emergency preparedness.
The gatherings brought together about 30 representatives from Indigenous governments, Northern NGOs,community organizations, and health and wellness workers for psychological first aid training and community-led planning focused on climate resilience.
Organizers with the United Way NWT, said the meetings, held between Jan. 13 to 15 in Hay River and from Jan. 19 to 21 in Inuvik, expanded on a meeting held in the spring in Yellowknife. The branching out of the gatherings allowed for a greater “expansion” of emergency response capacity, they said.
In April, over 45 participants with lived experience of emergency response, got together in Yellowknife to identify community-led emergency planning, stronger coordination between service providers and ways to expand mental health support in the North. The program provided practical, trauma-informed tools to strengthen emotional well-being and recovery during crises.
Called the Climate Resilience Gatherings, these were part of United Way NWT’s Supporting Northern Communities in Recovery and Resilience program, which is backed by $1.472-million in support by the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.
The program is designed to help Northern communities recover from the impacts of recent wildfires and floods in the territory. The initiative also aims to build capacity that responds to challenges faced by communities around recovery, resilience and emergency preparedness.
The After Action Review report of N.W.T.’s 2023 Wildfire season found that many individuals and communities remain traumatized following what was an unprecedented devastation to the lands and people of the North.
Following the meetings in Yellowknife, a report was released documenting healing, preparedness and the building long-term resilience at the workshops. These workshops had also included the use of Psychological First Aid.
Ben Linaker, Chair of United Way NWT, said that the organization wanted to expand the meetings to more communities following the response received in Yellowknife from workshop participants.
“After we hosted the initial gathering in Yellowknife last April, we were deeply inspired to
bring these kinds of workshops and training sessions to other Northern communities,” said Linaker.
The meetings having extended to two more communities in the N.W.T. allowed for expanded local capacity to respond to emergencies. In the territory over the last few years.
“These participants now carry practical skills back to their organizations and neighbours, building lasting local capacity to support each other, especially in times of climate emergency,” added Linaker.
Shelly Howe, a Red Cross Psychological First Aid training instructor explained that the program works in conjunction with the Red Cross’ existing standard First Aid and emergency response programs. Howe explained that the program is meant to supplement the Red Cross’s existing standard First Aid program emergency response
“It supports emotional psychological and social well-being just like people might need first aid for physical body injuries, sometimes we need first aid for the mind. So that’s one way you can sort of compare the program to a regular First Aid program that people might be familiar with,” said Howe.
The program offers tools that can be adapted to different contexts and levels of response.
“Psychological First Aid, really is for everyone. It’s a tool that we can use to support ourselves and practise self-care, especially during times of stress and grief or crisis. And we also learn how to help support others during those stressful times as well,” explained Howe.
Howe said the program involves two core tools used in conjunction.
“There are really two focus areas, the first one is self-care and that’s where you do some exploring about what we can do to care for ourselves. What do we do that makes us happy, that makes us feel good, our healthy habits to work into our day-to-day lives, and what do we need to do to look after ourselves, when those stressful times occur that we often can’t control. And the other part is learning how to care for others, our friends or family members, our work colleagues. It could be somebody that you know that you meet on the street, that’s maybe not having a great day,” said Howe.
Howe spoke of another important and related tool is called “Look, Listen, Link and Live.”
“it’s a handy little tool that we can use to rely on. To help ourselves and each other get through those stressful times and then hopefully get back to a real resilient spot in our life that we can carry on living. Just like it says – ‘Look,’ we look for signs of stress within ourselves and within other people,” said Howe.
“We learn how to spot what that looks like in ourselves or what we see in our friends and our family, when they’re stressed, what that looks like and then we can “Listen,” listen to what our bodies are telling us – ‘Hey, you know, am I tired? Do I need some extra sleep? have I maybe not been eating the way that I should? Do I need a break or we can listen to to others, just to sit down and listen to somebody, let them express themselves to you, we can use the link by linking with, for instance, ourselves the tools that we have in our lives, that we know, help us out,” Howe pointed out.
Howe also emphasized that with experiencing long-term trauma or post-traumatic and Psychological First Aid is meant to be “a very first beginning” First Aid approach.. It’s not meant to take the place of important interventions.
“If people are looking for links to a system with long-term trauma or bigger events that are happening in their lives, Psychological First Aids providers could help find those links. The course isn’t meant to provide therapy or counselling to other people at all,” said Howe.
“Psychological First Aid is meant for those interactions where somebody’s having a bad day or they’re struggling with an event that’s happening. A psychological First Aid provider might sit with someone, listen, be present with them, ask them if they’d like some assistance in finding additional supports or help or family members,” added Howe.
