Supporting Wellbeing hosted a week-long training in partnership with the Dehcho First Nations (DFN)’s Department of Health & Wellness, held at DFN Health & Wellness Division’s new office space in Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę / Fort Simpson.  The training is for people who coordinate or lead land-based programming.  It provides tools and resources for responding to mental health challenges.

All DFN Health & Wellness staff participated in the training. Additional participant spots were quickly filled by other land-based programmers in the Dehcho.  Participants came from multiple Dehcho organizations and from the communities of Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę, Tthets’éhk’édélı̨ / Jean Marie River, and Zhatıé Kų́ę́ / Fort Providence.

This was Dëneze Nakehk’o and Kat Thomas’s first time facilitating the training, though both of them have been working with the content for some time now.  As Facilitators-in-Training, they were mentored by Rachel Cluderay. Cindy Browning provided much appreciated emotional support to the participants and facilitators during this training.  Cindy was emotional support at our original Facilitator Training back in 2022 — it was great to have her at this recent training and for her to see how much the curriculum has changed!

The training had been highly anticipated and all of the participants showed up fully, engaged in conversations and took the content to heart. Repeated frequently throughout the training was the idea that the communities needed more mental health resources and the importance of having a shared vocabulary about day-to-day mental health topics. Many participants expressed that conversations they had in the training pushed them to overcome personal challenges.

DFN coordinated land-based activities for the group on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.  On Tuesday, we were privileged to take part in a language lesson with Dene linguist Andy Norwegian at the Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę camground.  On Thursday, the group walked across the Dehcho to Bobby Norwegian’s camp.  There, Bobby shared stories about the Dehcho that “had no beginning and no end”, DFN’s Karen Felker showed us how to set up a rabbit snare, and we cooked fish and potatoes over a fire.  Afterwards, some of us caught a skidoo ride back to town, and some powered through the long trek across the river.

As a bonus, on the morning of the last day of training, we were visited by Leela Gilday. Leela shared her knowledge about Dene songs and drumming, and the power of music and its impact on wellbeing.

Aside from these beautiful additions to the regular training, participants shared that their other highlights included:

• Kat and Dëneze’s acting
• Delicious food made by Mary Isaiah
• Learning conflict resolution skills
• Lots of laughter and deep conversations related to the content
• Impactful and well-planned circles, led by participants
• Closing out the training with a final circle, followed by local drumming and a prayer song

At the end of the training, participants shared that they felt more equipped to lead and support on the land camps, that they are planning to use the skills they’ve gained both at work and on the land, and that they felt the objectives of the training were exceeded.  We can’t wait to see what sort of programming this group puts together!

We are so thankful for DFN for hosting us and co-coordinating the training, for the truly fantastic participants, and for everyone who helped to make this happen.  Mahsi cho!