Yorkton Tribal Council's Addictions and Mental Health conference returns for third year

Yorkton Tribal Council Addictions Worker, Melanie Knutson presents to the crowd at the “Restoring Hope,” Mental Health and Addictions conference in Yorkton on Dec. 7, 2022. (Brady Lang/CTV News)

Yorkton Tribal Council (YTC) is hosting a three-day Mental Health and Addictions Conference, geared at an Indigenous-led response for the crisis.

2022’s version is called “Restoring Hope,” and it’s the third year the conference has been facilitated by YTC.

Speakers from across Saskatchewan spoke of culture, languages, traditions, traditional medicines and its connections with addictions, along with work towards suicide prevention, trauma recovery, the opioid crisis and overcoming addictions.

Melanie Knutson is an addictions worker with YTC, and the mental health crisis team coordinator. She also led much of the organizing leading up to the conference.

“It’s for all six of our YTC First Nation communities,” she said. “It’s mostly for our frontline workers to focus on different topics and different information.”

In the first two days, the conference has welcomed around 200 to the Gallagher Centre, with Thursday’s agenda featuring more on the opioid crisis in Indigenous communities.

“Already in our communities, they have less supports and resources than urban centres do … a lot of our communities were shut down (during COVID-19) … they didn’t have access to mental health supports and addictions supports,” Knutson said.

She added that most addictions centres are looking at a backlog of around six months for treatment, created by the pandemic.

“They’re stuck on their communities, so what are you going to do? So that’s where addictions increases quite a bit,” Knutson said, before explaining the link between rises in overdose deaths and suicides.

“It’s a perpetual cycle of trauma. Everyone uses for a reason, it’s not something that’s random.”

Knutson said with the pandemic ending, numerous addictions and trauma related deaths are occurring on reserve. The addictions worker said an increase in funding will lead to more supports from YTC to its member communities in the new year.

Bringing together these six Indigenous communities also brings an Indigenous way of thinking, and perspective, said Knutson.

“Indigenous culture is all about family and holistic health. They’re very much following the medicine wheel, of if someone is struggling with addiction, there’s another piece or another part of their life that is out of balance … it’s very important,” she said.

Since 2020, Saskatchewan has experienced over 1,000 overdose deaths.

Saskatchewan Coroner’s Service Chief Coroner Clive Weighill said Indigenous populations are “overrepresented for the size of their population.”

So far in 2022, 355 have died due to overdoses as of Oct. 31, with Saskatchewan set to surpass the record set in 2021 of 410.