Srividya Iyer is partnering with Chris Mushquash, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Mental Health and Addiction; Indigenous youths, Elders, communities, leaders, service providers and organizations; and provincial integrated youth services (IYS) initiatives and researchers from across Canada to grow and co-lead an Indigenous youth services research network under CIHR’s IYS-Net initiative. This work builds on the efforts of the ACCESS Open Minds Indigenous Council since 2014.
We recognize the ongoing effects of colonialism on Indigenous youth well-being, and the urgent need to promote health and wellness for Indigenous youth, particularly those facing additional disadvantages linked to gender, poverty, intersecting identities, remoteness, etc. Our network is identifying, developing, testing, and scaling wise practices and innovations such as land-based programming, roles for community workers or non-specialists, and adapted “Western” interventions aligned with “two-eyed seeing”. It is also asking novel questions about how Indigenous youths, service providers, and decision-makers view the acceptability and adoption of a learning health system.
Inclusive governance is central to our approach. Our team follows the principles of community-based participatory research, which values diverse forms of knowledge and lived experiences; and emphasizes respect and co-learning between researchers and community partners. This is congruent with the Tri-Council Policy Statement for Research involving the First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples of Canada. Our approach also aligns with the First Nations principles of ownership, control, access and possession (OCAP) whereby research priorities and processes for collecting, sharing, accessing data and using results are determined and controlled by First Nations; and the Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, and Ethics (CARE) principles for Indigenous data governance.
Our network’s larger goals are to identify culturally and contextually relevant outcomes, interventions, and measures; bring Indigenous ways of knowing to learning health systems and integrated youth services; and help improve services and the mental health and wellness of Indigenous youths.
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