Wi ci ti zon offers a safe haven for teen girls

Page 7

According to Saskatchewan Health, alcohol and drug addiction among the province's youth is double the national average. And, according to a 2001 report, Aboriginal women made up two-thirds of substance abusers in Saskatchewan despite the fact that Aboriginal people made up only nine per cent of the entire provincial population. Those startling statistics are what make centres like the Wi ci ti zon treatment group home necessary.

Wi ci ti zon is one of only a few places in Saskatchewan where teenaged Aboriginal girls can turn for help in facing addictions and other problems, and it took a lot of dedication to build it.

Chief Philip Quewezance of the Keeseekoose First Nation had been a social worker for eight years when he decided to set up a resource centre for troubled teen girls. During his employment with Saskatchewan social services he found that there were few places for First Nation girls to get help.

Quewezance teamed up with fellow social worker Robert Stevenson, now the program manager, to get funding. He attributes their work experience for their success in getting the treatment centre up and running.

"We worked together with the province and we had a clear understanding of what mandate they had and what to access. We had a strong background in social work so we knew where to go with it," explained Quewezance.

Determined to help their youth, the Keeseekoose First Nation was also instrumental in making the project happen. "We got donations in terms of setting up the rooms, like $1,000 a room from different sponsors, but as far as the actual building costs, which was over a quarter million dollars, that came from Keeseekoose itself," said Quewezance.

The 12- bed facility was up and running nine months after the process began, with its first client arriving April 17, 2001. Three-and-a-half years later, the facility has been home to more than 100 girls from 11 to 17 years of age.

Substance abuse is a symptom of greater problems, and that's why the group home offers a holistic and culturally based healing experience. "We're talking about sexual abuse, abandonment issues, grieving, drug and alcohol, a lot of relationship building, low self-esteem, suicidal tendency," said Quewezance. "You're dealing with a youth that have some serious behaviour problems, and just working them back into the community and regular school systems."

For alcohol and drug addiction treatment, the centre starts with awareness.

"Some of them don't even know that they're addicted to it," explained Stevenson. "We get away from the drugs ... to have a look at it from the outside in. 'This is how we are when we're sober,'compared to what you are when you're stoned or high."

The staff uses the community resources that are available to the centre to talk about the effects of alcohol and drugs. They bring in the RCMP and ex-substance abusers as guest speakers and the staff share their own life experiences. The goal is to demonstrate that what the girls are experiencing has been lived by somebody else already and that it is possible to get through it. Stevenson called this "reality therapy."

One of the reasons Wi ci ti zon is important to the community is because there are not other centres like it that are First Nations owned and that employs First Nations workers, Stevenson said. With that, he said, comes cultural sensitivity. Elders often visit the group home to teach the girls about their culture, and the centre encourages home visits for cultural ceremonies and powwows.

Many of the girls have been taught to mistrust non-Aboriginal people, one of the legacies of the abuse suffered by their parents and grandparents in the residential schools. These girls find it hard to trust non-Aboriginal counsellors and social workers, added Stevenson, making centres like Wi ci ti zon that much more valuable.

Richelle Kakakaway, a 17-year-old from White Bear First Nation, said she feels lucky to have gone to W ci ti zon. "They let me know that there's other girls around Saskatchewan that are going through the same things," she said.

"When you go to the group home there will be ups and downs but going there, you will become stronger."

According to Stevenson, it takes up to two months for a girl to unlearn her negative habits. "Then a month or two down the line it's good to hear the laughter that's coming from them. It sounds like a kid again, you know. That's when we're getting to them, when we're making them enjoy life as a kid again."

Although Kakakaway did not go to the group home for a drug or alcohol addiction, she did admit to occasional substance abuse, something her time at Wi ci ti zon has helped her come to terms with.

"[The staff] can show you how to have fun without the drugs or the alcohol. They joke around too, but they're also serious enough to talk to you and you can trust them. I believe you can trust them all," said Kakakaway.

"The girls develop such good relationships with the staff that it's unbelievable. You don't see that with other group homes, you know, other non-Aboriginal group homes," Stevenson said.

Kakakaway said her change in attitude towards herself, her family and her life was the biggest benefit of coming to Wi ci ti zon. Before she went to the group home, she said, she had no goals. Now after finishing high school she plans to go on a one-year student exchange to another country then return home to pursue a degree, probably in arts at the University of Regina.