Communities know best ? report

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The unique nature of the Native community necessitates the need for specialized mental health care for both children and families, says Murray Armstrong the author of a newly released report.

The report, Exploring the Circle, A Journey into Native Children's Mental Health, was commissioned in 1986 by Alberta Mental Services as part of a children's mental health project designed to explore and to make recommendations on all children's mental health issues.

However, it was discovered that Native children and their families were "different enough to require a specific look at them," explains Armstrong in a telephone interview from his Calgary office.

Unlike other Alberta families, Native families have other influences in their lives such as status, tribal, cultural and historical differences.

The report, which takes all of these differences into account makes strong recommendations for Native involvement in any mental health services developed for their communities.

"I'm not about to sit here and say I know what's best . . . kids and families know what's best for them," says Armstrong, who is also the co-ordinator of Native mental health.

The report does not supply all the answers nor it is the final word on developing mental health service for Native children, he adds.

Now, he is using the report as a consultation tool to stimulate discussion and receive feedback from Native groups, communities and individuals.

Once Native communities have had the opportunity to discuss the contents of the report, Alberta Mental Health Services will decide how they will address issues facing Native people.

The department "is very committed to doing something," says Armstrong, but he doesn't know when, or if, the recommendations will be implemented.

However, he emphasizes that mental health services must be Native controlled and community based in order to be successful.

"Historically, any human service to Native people has been imposed by the dominant society with little attention paid to the needs of Native people as defined by them. There is danger that history could be repeated while developing a Native children's mental health service," he states in the report.

Although there are serious problems in the Native community, such as the high suicide rate, there are also indications the situation is improving.

He points to local initiatives such as the Plains Indian Cultural Survival School in Calgary and the Kipohtakew school on the Alexander reserve, which use teaching methods based on holistic learning techniques as indicators of a growing and often unrecognized strength Native communities use to take care of their own people.

In defining Native children's mental health issues, Armstrong talks about loneliness, alienation and prejudice.

"If a kid is leaving the reserve for education reasons and going to the city . . . that could be a mental health issue because that kid may need financial and spiritual support (and) may need to be connected to other Native people in the city.

"It's not only kids sniffing glue," he says, who require mental health services.