Traditions raised at Dilico conference

The use of traditional and cultural ways to help combat prescription drug abuse was raised at Dilico’s Revisiting Our Journey: Healing Starts at Home conference.
“Our First Nations ... are trying to gather together and use their culture, use their knowledge of traditional ways as well as mainstream ways to put together things that are going to help and heal them in their own community,” said Rose Pittis, director of mental health and addictions services at Dilico Anishinabek Family Care. “We want people to use the things that they are used to and go back to their roots to help themselves heal.”
Pittis said prescription drug abuse is a “fairly large problem” in the 13 First Nation communities Dilico serves in the Thunder Bay area.
“But we have to recognize that it is a really large problem across Ontario, and it’s not just First Nation communities,” Pittis said.
Pittis said youth in the 13 Dilico communities are affected by prescription drug abuse, both through using themselves and watching their parents using.
“We have a six-bed children’s residential unit and they have a lot of mental health issues, but it is also flavoured with addictions,” Pittis said.
“What we’re trying to do is catch them early enough that we can work with them therapeutically and have them managed in a way that is healthy so they can go on and become healthy adults.”
The addictions treatment and healing conference was held Feb. 14-15 at the Victoria Inn in Thunder Bay to provide participants with knowledge, understanding and takeaway tools for communities coping with issues of substance abuse and misuse.
The need for a conference on the issue was identified in Dilico’s community drug strategy, which was developed in 2010 with the cooperation of the 13 First Nation communities.
“We really want to provide community members with a place to start, which comes from identifying strengths within their own communities,” Pittis said. “It is our hope that those in attendance will take what they learn over here the next two days back to their First Nations and share it with the people who live there.”