Evaluating the Integration of Indigenous Healing With Principals of Seeking Safety for Treatment of Indigenous Patients With a History of Trauma and Active Substance Use Disorder.

Plain-language summary

Background: The negative health outcomes experienced by Indigenous peoples may be understood as direct consequences of colonization. One of the key consequences of the colonial influence on Canada's Indigenous peoples has been intergenerational trauma (IGT). Indigenous communities in Canada face significant challenges with IGT, which often manifest in substance use disorders (SUD). Indigenous communities have identified SUD as one of their greatest health challenges(Maté 2009), with some Northern Ontario First Nations communities experiencing SUD rates of 70% (Calveson 2010). Most Elders, traditional healers, and Indigenous scholars agree that connecting treatment to culture, land, community, and spiritual practices is a pathway to healing trauma and SUD for Indigenous peoples. Recent work by Dr. Teresa Naseba Marsh has demonstrated that Indigenous Healing and Seeking Safety (IHSS) model for trauma therapy can be effectively combined for the treatment of Indigenous patients with a history of trauma and SUD. Seeking Safety incorporates the inclusion of the mind, body, spirit, and self-awareness during treatment, and the perspective of Seeking Safety is convergent with traditional Indigenous healing methods. Benbowopka Treatment Centre is a residential treatment site operated by Mamaweswen, located in the North Shore Tribal Council in Blind River, Ontario. Benbowopka's mandate is to provide treatment for Indigenous clients with trauma and SUD. They are also implementing a culturally sensitive program grounded in IHSS methodology for the treatment of Indigenous patients' trauma and SUD. Through our current collaboration with Benbowopka and Mamaweswen the applicants have collected baseline data from client files to establish historical outcomes going back three years. In 2016, we began the collaborative implementation of the Indigenous Healing and Seeking Safety (IHSS) model for trauma therapy for clients at Benbowopka. Objective: The purpose of this proposal is to evaluate the effectiveness of the IHSS intervention which blends Indigenous Healing Practices and a mainstream treatment model, Seeking Safety for the treatment of Indigenous patients with a history of trauma and SUD. Methodology: In collaboration with the North Shore Tribal Council and the Benbowopka Treatment Center, we propose a prospective evaluation of IHSS treatment for Indigenous patients with a history of trauma and SUD. Benbowopka treats approximately 90 patients per year in a residential treatment program, and the program has high quality retrospective data on their programming and outcomes. We propose to benchmark anonymized historical program outcomes by evaluating program outcomes and the impact of program completion on health systems usage. Impact of treatment on health system usage will be determined by linking anonymized patient records with records at the Institute for Clinical and Evaluative Sciences (ICES). ICES linkage will provide further insight into hospitalizations, interaction with emergency, mental health, and primary care usage before and following the implementation of the IHSS intervention. We will respect the Tricouncil Policy Statement, Chapter 9, which highlights the importance of engaging with First Nations throughout all phases of the research process. In addition, we will honour Indigenous knowledge by engaging with Elders and the North Shore Tribal council. Through the data governance protocols established at ICES, we will respect the First Nations principles of ownership, control, access and possession of data (OCAP™). Dr. Jennifer Walker Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Health at the Center for Rural and Northern Health Research and ICES Scientist will oversee the process of data sharing and linking de-identified Benbowopka treatment data to anonymized health system data at ICES. Benbowopka and the North Shore Tribal council will maintain complete ownership over the study data and its subsequent dissemination. Anticipated Outcome: We expect that patients who are treated in the IHSS treatment model will have improved outcomes as compared to previous patients of Benbowopka treated under the abstinence based model of therapy. Objectives measures will include treatment completion, substance use at program completion, substance use at follow-up, ED visits, hospitalization, and death. Patient satisfaction will be tracked using surveys administered at treatment completion and is expected to improve with implementation of IHSS. Impact: We expect to demonstrate that the IHSS is a culturally sensitive and effective treatment model for Indigenous patients who are affected by trauma and substance use disorder.

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