Community Members

About

Aboriginal children and families are often misunderstood and mistreated by health care professionals – an issue at the heart of the Aboriginal Children’s Hurt & Healing Initiative (ACHH Initiative).

Research in Action – The ACHH App

The ACHH App will allow children to articulate their pain and hurt through stories and descriptions, while remaining stoic in their pain expression.

Our Approach: Two-Eyed Seeing

Our research embraces the strengths of Aboriginal and Western knowledge, using the Two-Eyed Seeing approach.  Two-Eyed Seeing embodies both Indigenous and Western world views, acknowledging that no single perspective is better.

Events

ACHH Initiative team members regularly travel around the country to share the research findings and start the conversation about improving healthcare experiences for Aboriginal children/youth.

Art from the Heart

Throughout 2015 internationally-renowned Mi’kmaq artist Alan Syliboy facilitated community art sessions with 4 groups of children aged 8-17.  42 pieces of art work were collected as a result of these sessions.

Participating Aboriginal Communities

CHH Initiative research would not be possible without the wisdom and insight provided by participating Maritime Aboriginal communities.

Early Findings

One of our earliest findings was that, despite the high prevalence of pain conditions among Aboriginal children, there were only an estimated 2 out of 800 Aboriginal children who were referred to the IWK Health Centre’s Complex Pain Team from across the Maritime Provinces.