In 2021, Nicole Ineese-Nash, Director of Finding Our Power Together, and Maggie Stein, MSW Student, hosted a webinar presenting an integrated framework for supporting Indigenous youth mental health by braiding together Indigenous mental health models, Child and Youth Care (CYC) principles, and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) practices.

Developed through research, community consultation, and implementation, this approach offers culturally-safe and strengths-based strategies to meet the mental and spiritual health needs of Indigenous young people, both during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. The resource shared during the webinar, Wiingushk Okaadinige: The Sweetgrass Braid – A Braided Mental Health Approach For Indigenous Youth, provides practical tools and guidance for anyone involved in supporting Indigenous youth, including caregivers, educators, community workers, and mental health practitioners.

This Factsheet outlines five key takeaways from this webinar about supporting Indigenous youth mental health.