At St’uxwtéws Bonaparte First Nation (SBFN) we focus on creating a structure of balance with classes. Culture/Language, Social/Community, Physical/Fun, Family Supports- especially for high-risk youth, connection with the Elders Group/Mentorship, Spiritual and Mental.  Relationship-building is creating the results we intend to achieve.  The Elders group are a tough group; it consists of many individuals who are impacted by residential school and intergenerational trauma.  Their childhoods looked significantly different than the youth today.  This creates a barrier in terms of judgment and non-acceptance of the issues that today’s youth do face, along with a lack of understanding and compassion.  We were invited into a recent elder’s meeting and spoke for 2 hours!  Many questions were asked about the development of a service structure for youth, and how the elders can connect more with our youth.  It was incredibly positive, and we all went away from the meeting with a renewed sense of understanding of different perspectives and experiences.

The cultural classes we have created allowed us to bring in elders that are willing to share knowledge, which has been incredible.  Watching the kids develop skills to create their own rattles and drums, ribbon skirts and shirts has been so rewarding, and watching their self-esteem grow when they take home something that they made, and to then see them wear and use these at community events is an impactful display of self-sufficiency.  We have had several new kids join the groups, kids that have been staying in their basements playing video games, youth that struggle with isolation due to having parents entrenched in addicted life, and youth that have barriers to social interaction and communication.  It has been lovely to watch them come out of themselves, develop relationships and engage in classes and groups.