Table 2 Understand the realities of Indigenous mental health experience (Theme 1)

• Lack of consistency and availability of mental health services. Increase frequency of services and supports for mental health (i.e., services and supports should be available more than once a week)

• Lack of reliable transportation between rural and to urban communities. Include transportation for residents living in rural and remote communities to access mental health services in urban centres

• Services and support programs need to be offered in the Indigenous languages (i.e., Cree, Dene, Michif)

• Service providers such as mental health therapists who travel from urban centres to rural communities have limited time to spend with clients. Additional funding is needed to hire mental health professionals that provide care in rural and remote communities

• Mental health providers need to understand the history of Indigenous peoples and the impacts from colonialism on intergenerational trauma

• Effective mental health care for Indigenous patients is shaped by a deep understanding of the causal relationships between social factors specific to Indigenous people and health

• Land-based learning and exploring the lived experience of Indigenous peoples are ways to help providers to understand, acknowledge, and identify multigenerational adverse life experiences

•Mental health professionals need to build relationships and trust with their Indigenous clients. Spending more time with their clients can allow providers to explore and understand the root social causes of inequities in health

• Empower individuals to understand mental health and wellness without having the stigma associated with mental illness

• Change the way we talk about and view mental illness and health

• Community needs to be engaged in the design of mental health programs and services

• Create opportunities for Indigenous communities to influence the mental health service delivery model

• Community drives the focus of mental wellness, not government-initiated programs and services

• Engage the communities to understand what healing and mental wellness means to them.

“Nothing about us without us”

Participant Quotes

“Consistency is having the same person come in and not different service organizations …because you open up once, you want to keep talking to that same person. You don’t want to have to keep telling your story over and over again…”

“The workers need to build up the trust and rapport if they’re going to work in the community. Because they [referring to Indigenous residents] are not going to come to you. The workers are the ones that got to build that relationship.”

“Maybe we need to start talking about mental health differently and talking about brain health, so that we start to change the image of it as something that is broken and needs treatment.”

“We really need a holistic, coordinated approach that’s coming from our community members, not from me as a service provider, or a community leader, but truly at the heart of the grassroots level from our members.”