Storytelling at ONECA conference

Brenda Mason’s stories about working with students with mental illness were a hit during the Ontario Native Education Counsellors Association’s 28th Annual Conference.
“Her format was storytelling and the oral traditions that she brought from her childhood that she heard from her grandparents and so on,” said Roger Chum, an Aboriginal learning unit counsellor at Canadore College and Moose Cree band member. “And applying that to the four models of the medicine wheel, the physical, mental, spiritual and emotional.”
Chum said Mason’s presentation on Strategies for Supporting Students with Mental Illness was
“so touching because it was so simple.”
“It’s the way our people work with each other; we look at it in a holistic sense,” Chum said.
“We look at the individual in all those aspects. We don’t say ‘you’ve got a mental issue, that’s it.’”
Mason, a Sandy Lake band member, described her experiences during 21 years in the mental health field.
“I talked about what mental illness is and what it is not,” Mason said. “I offered some suggestions on how to work with people to prevent the illness and to support students. That’s what they need — to be supported.”
Held May 28-30 at the Valhalla Inn in Thunder Bay, the conference also featured the rollout of a Transitions website and toolkit for students, parents, teachers, education counsellors and communities aimed at improving education results.
Chum was involved during the research stage of the Transitions project by providing information about challenges at the college level.
“Our First Nation students come from communities that are obviously challenged by the quality of the education and the resources to have that smooth transition to college or university,” Chum said. “It will be a great resource with input from far and wide across Ontario and a lot of quality feedback.”
Cindy Fisher, ONECA’s president and a Pic River band member, said the Transitions toolkit is a “one-stop shopping” resource for students, parents, teachers, education counsellors and communities on transitions from preschool to elementary, elementary to secondary, secondary to postsecondary, between institutions, postsecondary to home and/or postsecondary to career.
“There are different tips on how to make that transition possible,” Fisher said. “We all know there are great difficulties when you go out into the world and then come home. There is a transition phase because you are the only one who has changed, really.”
Eric Kamenawatamin, a counsellor with Nodin Child and Family Intervention Services, called for a conference to raise awareness of the current education situation facing First Nations youth.
“Right now, the way it looks is that we’re failing our youth with the education system that is in place and we are graduating high school students who are not prepared for college and university,” Kamenawatamin said. “With this conference, I’m hoping it will raise more awareness so that we can set up some sort of plan address this issue.”
The Transitions website and toolkits are located at www.oneca.com/transitions.