Camosun College is launching a new program this fall for Indigenous students that teaches the integration of Indigenous perspectives and practices into organizations and the greater community. The Indigenous Community Wellness program is a 10-month certificate that can be taken full-time or part-time at the Saanich Adult Education Centre.
Program leader Meagan Saulnier is looking forward to the intake of students in September. Along with supporting students and staff members, she will also be teaching a class in the program, which she says is one of her favourite parts of the job.
“I’m so excited,” says Saulnier. “There’s a lot of land-based work that we’re going to be doing and we have elders coming into the class and working with medicine and it’s going to be really, really beautiful.”
The Indigenous Community Wellness certificate is essentially a revamping of the Indigenous Family Support certificate that ran for roughly 20 years. Saulnier explains that members of the community were consulted regarding what the new certificate should entail.
“Before it was geared more towards family support social services,” she says. “And now this is more holistic, all-encompassing, Indigenous community wellness. What we know is that we need more than just family support—we need wellness in our community in various aspects: language, land-based access to traditional foods, regalia. So, that is kind of what informed the changing of the program.”
Saulnier says that there are healing-centred aspects of the program, so students will have the opportunity to leave the classroom to participate in Indigenous practices.
“My motto is ‘Nothing about us without us,’” she says. “And I’ve worked in the field for about 20 years. So, I’m coming off of the frontline and going more into teaching people how to work in our community in a good way now. And so, the healing component is woven throughout the course in the program. So, we’ll go on medicine walks, we may do a sweat, smudging will be part of it. So, it’s kind of like embodying it and practicing it ourselves. And also, just like helping people step into their gifts and powers that they hold as Indigenous people and the teachings from their family.”
Saulnier believes that one of the most important parts of the certificate is the various relationships the program focuses on and how exploring these relations could help inspire balance and healing.
“I think this is important because I think the most important thing in life is relations, right? Like, relations with yourself, relations with others. And I think that, as humans, we’ve gotten really far away from that, as well. So, if we can get back to that… We’re all always trying to be in balance, whatever that looks like, right? And sometimes when things come in, like addiction or mental illness, it’s about being out of balance. So, this is so important because we need healing, we need space to do that, we need to reclaim our cultural ways.”
Saulnier wants to encourage students who are hesitant about taking the program to give it a shot and says that they will be welcomed wherever they are in their healing journey.
“I would say to a student if they’re considering it, then it’s for a good reason,” she says. “So, they should really just step into that. Often, I find a lot of the time why people get stuck is from shame, right? Like, maybe we’re not in a place where we think we should be when we hear the word ‘wellness.’ But that’s not the case, because it’s a continuum and everyone is on a journey of wellness. So that’s something that I would want students to hear and just to try it out, because it’s going to be really fun.”
See camosun.ca/programs-courses/indigenous-community-wellness-certificate for more information on the new program.