Mental health, seniors’ care and brain health were topics of a talk Wednesday, Oct. 26, at Nanaimo’s Vancouver Island Conference Centre, where entrepreneurs discussed technological solutions for a range of issues.
Sean Burke, CEO and founder of CheckingIn, offering mental wellness programs and a smartphone application, said his company is working on a case study with Squamish First Nation. Considering the atrocities that happened in Canadian residential schools, an approach respecting language, culture and teachings of Indigenous elders and ancestors is needed, he said.
“It takes us from this idea that a Western approach to mental health can be ‘Indigenized’ and instead, it puts the actual culture and the language at the forefront, where we can then add on Western approaches to supporting mental health and well-being…” said Burke. “With different nations, what we’re doing is we’re building familiar faces, familiar people and again, integrating that culture and language into the tool.”
There are supports for many different communities, but access can be an issue, he said.
“What we tried to do is simplify and bring it into a one-stop shop to help people get those resources and supports they need…” said Burke. “We’ve had a lot of success. Basically the takeaway is that culture and language needs to be in the forefront and really bringing that out in the support. If we continue to take a traditional and Western approach to mental health, we’re not going to see the results we’re hoping to see.”
