​​​A new evaluation report is showcasing how the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) and First Nations communities are revitalizing and reclaiming traditional land-based healing practices.

The importance of traditional land-based healing is important to the wholistic health of First Nations community members:

“Land-based healing saves lives. We take men that are young parents stuck in addiction and do one-on-one counselling. It's so powerful, the changes that the men have . . . That is our treatment centre, being outside. We have the ability to bring people who may be in a critical space to do the protocol, and call the spirit back. Sweat lodge ceremony, traditional songs, our healing and cultural tools, the hand drum, rattle. They are coming back to it through opening the doors of land-based healing." – Land-based healing practitioner

A new FNHA evaluation report explores how the Indigenous Treatment and Land-Based Healing Fund created in FY 2018/19 has supported 147 First Nations-led initiatives to relearn, reclaim and revitalize traditional land-based healing practices throughout the province.

For participating nations, the initiatives are revitalizing important traditional ways:

“The initiatives inspired our Nation. With this funding I saw our dreams put into action. Colonization has not succeeded in taking away our sacred practices and teachings. Our partners must recognize that revitalizing these practices and teachings will not occur through western ways of knowing and being. The impact of these initiatives is that we are revitalizing, rebuilding and coming back to our own in greater ways than ever before." – Community staff leading land-based healing funded initiatives.

The reporting products showcase examples of diverse and innovative initiatives undertaken by communities, and identify learnings and opportunities for the FNHA and BC Ministry of Health to enhance ongoing support aligned with First Nations' vision of land-based healing.

“The importance of the Fund is allowing First Nations people in BC to build their own programs, and not have it be prescribed. There was very limited structure, policy or bureaucracy around the funding, and it allowed First Nations to enhance what they were already doing on the land. These newly funded initiatives are giving the design and implementation to First Nations to do what they need to do to heal." – Duanna Johnston-Virgo, Executive Director, Mental health and Wellness.

The reports can be found at: www.fnha.ca/about/governance-and-accountability/evaluations under the heading “Evaluation of the Land-Based Healing Fund ."​