Grant: Project Grant

As a result of colonialism, Inuit youth in Nunavut continue to face extreme adversities. Racism and loss of cultural identity have led to significant mental health challenges, including some of the highest adolescent suicide rates in the world. Inuit communities are expressing an urgent need for innovative approaches to address this crisis. Our youth- and community-directed initiative is designed to establish a new path toward Inuit youth wellness and the collective prevention of self- and community harms. Our design uses a Two-Eyed Seeing model, which combines local Inuit cultural knowledges alongside evidence-based mental health strategies. The project activities will be led by the youth themselves, supported by their Elders and other community mentors. Youth will design science-based mental wellness tools using state-of-the-art technologies such as e-games and immersive virtual reality. The resulting virtual interactions and spaces will simulate Qaggiqs or "meeting places", large igloos that facilitate community renewal and celebration. Thus, together with the communities, we will develop and assess a wellness program that acknowledges the colonial roots of youth's existing struggles while promoting novel asset-building and resilience strategies. This project focuses on cultural identity, and develops strategies for reducing anxiety, boredom, depression, and hopelessness (considerations in the development of suicidality in Inuit Youth). Youth will: 1) identify factors that they believe most contribute to current rates of mental health challenges, 2) select from a range of known protective strategies to address those challenges, 3) incorporate the selected strategies in new e-tools that they design, and 4) rigorously evaluate the new tools. The integration of these new tools within virtual Qaggiqs may open doors to novel mental health-enhancing approaches needed to support resilience and remedy the unacceptable rates of suicidality in remote Nunavut communities.