There is a lack of youth-oriented, culturally-centred substance use assessment tools currently integrated into Island Health's Child, Youth & Family Mental Health and Substance Use (CYFMHSU) treatment programming. The ‘Planting Seeds’ project aims to fill this gap, by assessing the potential for the Native Wellness Assessment (NWA) tool to meet the needs of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities on Vancouver Island.

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The ‘Planting Seeds’ project is working to meaningfully engage First Nations, Métis, and Inuit youth, families, knowledge holders, Elders and Wise Ones in the Cowichan Valley and Greater Victoria area to understand how their definitions of ‘Hope’, ‘Belonging’, ‘Meaning’, and ‘Purpose’ can inform a youth-centered adaptation of the NWA tool. Child, Youth & Family Mental Health and Substance Use (CYFMHSU) is hosting a series of ‘Knowledge Holders’ dinners’ to hear from local partners, and is also working with Island Health staff to understand how to effectively uptake the NWA tool in their workplaces, while providing services to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit youth with intensive mental health and substance use needs. 

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This project was supported in part through funding from the Victoria Hospitals Foundation’s Emerge Stronger campaign. We are grateful to the Victoria Hospitals Foundation and their generous donors for supporting health research.