Gathering will focus on health and healing within the Aboriginal community

A symposium will bring together Aboriginal artists, art therapists, health professionals, front line workers and community and cultural leaders from May 13 to 14.
Sharing a vision of approaching health and healing in community through culture and the arts is the first focus of the conference.
The gathering, organized by the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute in Nelson, BC, is taking a medicine wheel approach to Aboriginal issues in health with a focus on the value of arts and culture in prevention, rehabilitation and therapeutic treatment.The workshops and presentations promise to focus on all aspects and essential needs of human beings. Aboriginal cultures have traditionally integrated arts and culture in healing practices and the contemporary use of Art Therapy is promoted by the institute as a very valuable method in addressing many of the physical and emotional issues facing Aboriginal communities today.
The symposium is intended to establish healing and reconnection through the arts and igniting a fire of compassion and community action and creativity. Workshops and speakers featured aim to offer experiential art therapy, speakers who will address the underlying disruptions to health and the need for arts in healing. Also offered are panels and presentations on the arts and healing with physical, mental health and emotional issues: substance abuse, diabetes, suicide, trauma and abuse, grief, residential schools, FAS/FAD, ethical issues and dilemmas.
The Kutenai Art Therapy Institute is a private post-secondary school with a diploma program that began in 1995. The institute is modeled on Dr. Martin A. Fischer's method of training art therapists which is about the importance of deep personal exploration through the process of art therapy.
The symposium will take place at the Mir Centre for Peace at Selkirk College in Castlegar, BC.