Mental Wellness Needs Of Two Indigenous Communities: Bases For Culturally Competent Clinical Services

To address known gaps in mental health care and services for Indigenous peoples, we explored the mental wellness needs of members of 2 Prince Edward Island Mi'kmaq communities. A community-based, participatory research method within an Indigenous relational paradigm drove the research approach. We used the Photovoice process, which provides cameras to participants and empowers them to document the community's needs and resources from their own experience. Elicited photographs and captions were the catalyst for discussions during 8 meetings attended by 11 Lennox Island and Abegweit First Nation band members. Themes on mental wellness needs were derived using Braun and Clarke's (2006) 6 phases of thematic analysis and were grouped at the systems level, community level, and individual level. Emergent themes were analyzed with participants during 3 additional meetings. Mental wellness was conceptualised by each Mi'kmaq community as holistic and requiring attention at a cultural and systems level that includes past and present acts of colonization. Both the creation of stronger community ties based on traditions, pride, and connection and the establishment of intergenerational care across the life span were considered important by band members. Although diagnosis and treatment were also deemed important, mental wellness was perceived as being broader than a specific mental health phenomenon. Therefore, we encourage clinicians to blend multiple cultural worldviews and healing approaches, such as "two-eyed seeing," that embrace the value of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous ways of knowing when providing mental health care. In summary, effective clinical services for Indigenous communities should focus on mental wellness promotion through the strengthening of community connectedness, culture, and Indigenous identity.