Fort Qu'Appelle White Raven Healing Centre

When the All Nations Healing Hospital opened its doors on June 12, 2004, the facility replaced the old Fort Qu’Appelle Indian Hospital built nearly 80 years ago. The hospital provides acute, palliative care, emergency services, women's health and midwife services, and laboratory and radiology services. As a hospital it includes 13 acute care beds, one palliative care bed, a large outpatient and diagnostic area and support services.  

The White Raven Healing Centre provides mental health services and a spiritual cultural program. The culturally sensitive design elements incorporated into the facility accommodate an approach to health care that recognizes the relationship between mind, spirit, body and community.

We were lucky to spend some time here to learn from Wendell, Dallas, Donna and Lorna.

The birthing centre

Notice the star-blanket on the bed. To give a blanket is to demonstrate great respect, honor and admiration for an individual. When receiving a blanket as a gift, the giver holds the individual in very high respects for their generosity and accomplishments. It is believed that receiving a blanket will bring good dreams and prosperity.

When a blanket is placed on an individual, it is like wrapping the respect and admiration of everyone in the community around them physically and spiritually.
Blankets are meant to be “circular” or wrapped around a person so that no square edges or corners. Just fluid lines of color and texture, which convey a sense of motion.

Just to the side of the All Nations Healing Hospital lies the White Raven Healing Centre. This centre's main aim is to assist with the trans-generational trauma of the Indian Residential School system.

The vision of the White Raven Healing Centre is to provide client-centered mental health and addictions services that integrates the best of mainstream therapeutic techniques with traditional First Nation healing practices to provide a holistic approach to heal from past traumatic experiences and current psychological issues. 

The mission is to promote guiding principles that will encourage open communication with all individuals, families and communities. Its primary focus is to provide traditional and conventional counseling designed to address the legacy of inter-generational impacts of residential schools and unresolved trauma and family violence. 

The White Raven Healing Centre was obtained through a traditional naming ceremony and was named by the Grandmother Spirit, White Raven, the  head Grandmother who sits in the West. 

The White Raven Healing Centre is a program of the File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council. The File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council has eleven (11) member First Nations. The mission of the File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council is to:

Protect and Implement Inherent Treaty Rights Promote Self-Determination Assist in the development of productive and safe communities Provide technical and advisory services Address the common interests of First Nations in an equitable and professional manner while respecting the priorities of culture.

The mandate of the First Nation Integrated Mental Health Centre is to provide holistic counseling programs in a safe, culturally sensitive environment to assist individuals, families and communities in healing past trauma and to maintain emotional wellness. The Centre operates within a First Nation culturally appropriate, community specific framework, utilizing the principle of empowerment to promote and facilitate individual and collective development.

The healing philosophy:

The White Raven Healing Centre philosophy of "Traditional Healing" is to use culture as healing. This encompasses the concept that the human body is an organism with self-healing and strong recuperative capabilities, which when maintained properly is capable of on-going health and longevity. Where disease does exist, a Traditional Healer aims to correct both the internal and external imbalances between the four aspects of human beings. In First Nations cultures healing is the process of bringing one's body, mind, spirit to a deeper level of inner knowing that leads towards integration and balance. Euro-Canadian physicians seek to cure disease, First Nations Traditional Healers do not claim to cure the disease but work to facilitate the body's own recuperative power. Our traditional and contemporary healing methods strive to assist individuals in restoring balance in a holistic manner.

I read this book when I was doing my PhD on Indigenous Midwifery!

Another star-blanket

Aren't you glad you quit???

 

 

Again, notice all the round walls - no corners

Donna Okeeweehow - Elder Harry's daughter

The healing room was very powerful

We were invited into the Medicine Room where all traditional medicines were stored and prepared for usage at the hospital. Wendell Starblanket and Dallas shared learning stories for hours - wow, what an amazing experience we had!

First up he gave us something to chew...and then we listened.

Sweet grass. When I close my eyes I can still smell the sweet smell...

 

 

Afterwards we ended the afternoon over at Treaty 4 Governance Centre (each province of Canada has their own treaty - Saskatchewan is number 4). The File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council is a strong vibrant organization evolving to assist, enhance and promote First Nations entities and it’s people, based on the spirit and intent of the Treaties.

Wendell did the Tipi Teaching's with us

I cannot thank Wendell Starblanket enough - what an amazing man. He reminded me of the importance of patience and being thankful. Two crucial aspects of today that is so often lost in our everyday chase of living.

Meegwetch!