Introduction & Purpose

You are invited to join us in a creative reflection and journey of understanding towards how we can nurture well-being within classrooms and communities. We each have an important role and contribution to make.

This tool was developed as a learning resource and collaborative planning guide. The conceptual ideas were developed by Connected North team members at TakingITGlobal based on experiences and conversations with community members during visits and video conferencing sessions. The literature review is a growing base of knowledge that we will continue to reference as additional resources become available.

The Connected North program delivers interactive education services to schools in remote northern Indigenous communities through high-definition two-way video communication and collaboration technology. During this school year, over 1,800 virtual field trips and guest speaker sessions have been delivered to our 71 partner schools.

Each element of the diagram in this Connected North Well-being Framework includes a Visual Story shared by artist Tsista Kennedy, inviting us to both learn from his experience and reflect on our own personal and intergenerational experiences in our journey towards individual and community wellbeing.

We have chosen to share these insights in a public form as a tool to inspire and co-design approaches that support the well-being for Indigenous learners and schools.

We have also prepared a collection of additional references and resources in this area to recognize and highlight the important work already developed by other organizations and researchers.

Defining Mental Health & Wellness

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health defines mental health as:

(First Nations Mental Wellness Continuum Framework, 2015)

• "Physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and relational balance"
• "Ability to enjoy life and deal with everyday challenges"
• "Finding balance over time and in a range of situations"

Mental health is a "dynamic state of internal equilibrium..." (Galderisi, Heinz, Kastrup, Beezhold, & Satorius, 2015)

Acknowledgements

The conceptual framework, insights and content reflected here has been developed collaboratively by members of the Connected North team at TakingITGlobal inspired by the communities we partner with.

Special thanks to Tsista Kennedy, Alexander Angnaluak, Doronn Fox, Nyle Johnston, Nigit'stil Norbert, Dallas Pelly, Waukomaun Pawis, Magdalena Kelly, Chris McLeod, Jason Jones, Mitch Holmes, Shelton Nipisar, Kim Dymond, Andrea Breen, Michael Furdyk, Edgar Gonzalez, Peyton Straker, and Jennifer Corriero.

We gratefully acknowledge youth, educators, elders and leaders from Connected North partner communities who have graciously shared their experiences, hopes, challenges and feedback with our team. In particular, we appreciate active inputs towards this framework from the Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Saskatchewan and Ontario.

We would also like to thank Vani Jain and the team at the McConnell Family Foundation for their support as thought partners.

© 2023 TakingITGlobal and Tsista Kennedy. All rights reserved. Contact connectednorth@takingitglobal.org for inquiries.