Culture, tradition help fight abuse

Page 17

Helping Native adult offenders beat alcohol and drug addictions means getting to the root of the problem, say counsellors at Edmonton's Grierson Centre.

The minimum security facility's seven-week-long Family Life Improvement Program is designed to help drug and alcohol abusers understand the mental and psychological causes of their addictions and replace those behaviors with better life skills, said program trainer Vicky Whelan.

"You may have a drug and alcohol problems, so you may be drinking and doing drugs but now you've got to deal with the problems that led you there to begin with," she said.

Counsellors address the issues around substance abuse during the fourth week of the program, but Whelan said her group talks a lot about alcohol and drugs over the seven weeks.

Elder George Kehewin, 64, counsels inmates and teaches Native traditions and culture three days a week.

"I teach the boys about Native culture. I teach the boys about spirituality. Do the pipe ceremony, sweat lodges, counselling one-to-one.

On Fridays, he holds a sweatlodge with several of the inmates on a property west of the city. The excursion lasts most of the day and provides the inmates with a chance to experience a part of their culture and explore their own spirituality.

This exposure to Native culture is the first experience many inmates ever have with their own spirituality, Whelan said.

By teaching inmates the traditions of Native life, Kehewin hopes to give them new mechanisms to cope with problems.

A recovering alcoholic himself, Kehewin learned Native tradition from his grandfather on the Kehewin reserve near St. Paul in east-central Alberta.

"I don't go to (alcoholics Anonymous) now," he said. "I go to sweats. It's the same thing. You meditate, you have people inside that are praying with you, asking the Great Spirit for blessings that you want."

Kehewin works with several groups throughout Alberta, both on and off reserves, as his form of thanks for the help he once received with his own alcoholism.

"We know we have success here."

"When the boys leave, they come back and visit us here. And some of them phone from far away."