Dibaadan Support

From September 2015 – March 2017, Nipissing University under the leadership of Student Counselling Services funded by the Mental Health Innovation Fund, led a two- year initiative to overall “Strengthen Mental Health Services for Indigenous Students” at Nipissing University. This project was called “Dibaadan”. (Speak from Your Heart- Your Truth – Ojibway Anishnaabemowin)

Phase 1: The Project Facilitator worked within a consultative framework (medicine wheel) with an Indigenous Advisory Circle consisting of community leaders in the helping field as well a Traditional Elder and NU student representatives.

Phase 1 consisted of evaluating and information gathering of peer reviewed scholarly literature on “Wise Indigenous Mental Health Practices”. In particular identifying barriers that exist for Indigenous learners that wish to access mental health services. This phase of data collection included: Interviewing students, Office of Aboriginal Initiatives, SCS counseling staff and counselors at the university. Also, hosting Discussion Circles, a Drum Social and a Traditional Anishinabek Medicine Bag Workshop for students.

As a way of “giving back” to the community, Dibaadan hosted a series of Teach In’s facilitated by leaders in the Anishinabek community open for all of Nipissing University.

Phase 2: The Project Facilitator worked with the Advisory Circle, Nipissing University students, Office of Aboriginal Initiatives and Student Counseling Services (SCS) to select recommendations for immediate implementation. The Project Facilitator assisted SCS in the appropriate implementation of select recommendations and evaluated the impact of these changes to service. A focus was on sustainability as the project and funding would end in March 2017. The project would report Dibaadan wise practices, Indigenous Evaluative approaches, Values, Accessibility of Services influenced and student narratives/voices and outline what we did best, possible future outcomes with the Nipissing University community, community partners, and the Post Secondary Student Counseling programs across the province.

Phase 3: The Project Facilitator worked with the advisory circle members, and Nipissing University to hire a Dibaadan counsellor. Changes to the Student Development Services (SDS) environment made the office space more inviting to indigenous students. The Dibaadan counsellor and the ‘Enji Giigdoyang’ Office of Indigenous Initiatives (OII) department continue to work on strengthening their partnerships and collaborating on projects that support indigenous students on campus.

Additionally, the Dibaadan project created a monthly professional development day for the staff from both SDS and OII to learn more about Anishinabek values, ceremony, cultural awareness and insight about post-secondary indigenous student stories. Other practices such as brief individual counselling, sharing circles, and drop-in time supporting the seven grandfather teachings were implemented by the project.

Currently, the Dibaadan project continues to grow and develop collaboratively with the students that participate. The advisory circle members meet bi-annually to discuss the future of the Dibaadan Project. Indigenous holistic programing will continue to be available on campus to aid all students in their post-secondary journey.

Cultural Knowledge Building, Relationships and Community!​​

Click here for the video on our official Dibaadan Report Launch

Click here for a pdf of the Dibaadan Report​

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