SafeGuards Training > Courses > Type > Online > Women of the Shining Light: Indigenous Mothers, Substance Misuse, Child Welfare, and the Sacred Teachings

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Women of the Shining Light: Indigenous Mothers, Substance Misuse, Child Welfare, and the Sacred Teachings

Indigenous women experience intersecting histories of violence, abuse of various kinds, mental health challenges, incarceration, identity struggles and poverty, all which impact on their mothering. Often when mothers reach out for help, their interactions with the child welfare, health and social services systems are characterised by racism, stigma, and misinformation. Participants will come to understand why Indigenous women are the most marginalized people in Canada, and how this affects them and their children, how collaborative relationships are key and how supports for them need to be updated to meet their needs.

 

 

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Description

This training is based on research conducted by Cyndy Baskin, the trainer, a non-Indigenous researcher, Indigenous research assistants and an Elder in Toronto, Ontario. From planning to publication, the project was guided by an advisory committee made up of Indigenous community and social services agencies representatives who work with Indigenous mothers with substance misuse challenges and child welfare involvement. The research methodology for this project was based in Indigenous worldviews, using Anishinaabe storytelling circles, the medicine wheel, and Seven Sacred Teachings.

The content is grounded in pre-contact Indigenous knowledges/worldviews in terms of family supports and child raising, the history of colonization and its current impacts on Indigenous mothers, their families and communities. It looks at ways to lessen the tensions amongst them, substance misuse treatment and child welfare systems. Findings from the project highlights the need for Indigenous family healing centres, the building of relationships between mothers, counsellors and child welfare workers, diverse solutions and ways of helping, and the need for systemic change.

The format of the online training will include lecture, visuals, group discussions, question periods and interactive exercises.

Learning Outcomes

1) Gain a critical, anti-colonial understanding of how colonization continues to impact Indigenous women and how to be a part of dismantling racist, sexist systems

2) Dispel the inaccurate information regarding pregnant/parenting Indigenous mothers in health and social services

3) Learn how to implement aspects of an Indigenous harm reduction model

4) Build collaborative relationships between service providers, particularly within treatment services and child welfare

5) Achieve a level of understanding of Indigenous research approaches

Price

This is a nine hour training over 3 sessions.

 

Member Fee; $169.50 (includes HST)

Non-Member Fee: $220.35 (includes HST)

 

GROUP DISCOUNT: Save 20% off individual fee with group registration of 4 or more participants. Contact: angela@safeguards-training.net

Course Dates & Location

Available for in service

Instructor

Cyndy Baskin, PhD

Cyndy is of Mi’kmaq and Celtic descent, originally from NB who has been living in Toronto for many years. Her clan is the fish and her spirit name translates as something like “The Woman Who Passes on the Teachings”. She is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work and Academic Coordinator of the Certificate in Aboriginal Knowledges and Experiences at Ryerson University. Her teaching, research and writing interests involve how Indigenous worldviews can inform education, spirituality, anti-violence approaches towards Indigenous women and girls, mental health and decolonizing research methodologies. She is the author of two novels, a textbook, an edited book on spirituality and social work, and numerous journal articles and book chapters focusing on Indigenous Peoples. Cyndy worked as a social worker for many years within Indigenous agencies in Toronto and assisted many First Nations communities to set up culture-based programing, the latter of which she continues to do.

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