Faculty member co-recipient of SHRF funding award

Dr. JoLee Sasakamoose is one of six recipients of the 2018-2019 Patient-Oriented Research Leader Awards, co-funded by Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF) ($119,894) and Saskatchewan Centre for Patient-Oriented Research (SCPOR) ($129,827), for a project entitled “Muskowekwan First Nation: Regaining and Using Our Culture to Heal Generations Together.”

Dr. Sasakamoose’s research will support the development of a new Healing and Wellness Centre, at the request of the Muskowekwan Chief and Council, alongside partners Touchwood Agency Tribal Council (TATC) and the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN).

“This centre is intended to support First Nation communities in the region in addressing the systemic and long-term effects of historical trauma as a direct result of the residential schooling system in Canada. First Nations’ experiences of many historical and current events have produced lasting detrimental effects on the health of Indigenous peoples, which have, in turn, spawned community healing initiatives. Such healing necessarily engages all aspects of Native Wellness, which is understood as a balance of spirit, motion, mind, and body, in right relation with family, community and the land. Mental health and wellness is, therefore, an intergenerational, communal endeavour for communities. Accordingly, patients, families and community members will be engaged as research co-participants in determining the direction of development for the Healing and Wellness Centre. …The aim is to engage community members in a process of relationship-building and participation so as to accurately understand the wellness assets and needs of the community in order to support the foundation and development of a new Healing and Wellness Centre.” (www.shrf.ca )