Incorporating First Nations, Inuit and Métis Traditional Healing Spaces within a Hospital Context: A Place-Based Study of Three Unique Spaces within Canada’s Oldest and Largest Mental Health Hospital

Vanessa Nadia Ambtman-Smith (), Allison Crawford, Jeff D’Hondt, Walter Lindstone, Renee Linklater, Diane Longboat and Chantelle Richmond
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Vanessa Nadia Ambtman-Smith: Department of Geography & Environment, Faculty of Social Sciences, Western University, London, ON N6A 3K7E, Canada
Allison Crawford: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, ON M6J 1H4, Canada
Jeff D’Hondt: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, ON M6J 1H4, Canada
Walter Lindstone: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, ON M6J 1H4, Canada
Renee Linklater: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, ON M6J 1H4, Canada
Diane Longboat: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, ON M6J 1H4, Canada
Chantelle Richmond: Department of Geography & Environment, Faculty of Social Sciences, Western University, London, ON N6A 3K7E, Canada

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 3, 1-22

Abstract: Globally and historically, Indigenous healthcare is efficacious, being rooted in Traditional Healing (TH) practices derived from cosmology and place-based knowledge and practiced on the land. Across Turtle Island, processes of environmental dispossession and colonial oppression have replaced TH practices with a colonial, hospital-based system found to cause added harm to Indigenous Peoples. Growing Indigenous health inequities are compounded by a mental health crisis, which begs reform of healthcare institutions. The implementation of Indigenous knowledge systems in hospital environments has been validated as a critical source of healing for Indigenous patients and communities, prompting many hospitals in Canada to create Traditional Healing Spaces (THSs). After ten years, however, there has been no evaluation of the effectiveness of THSs in Canadian hospitals in supporting healing among Indigenous Peoples. In this paper, our team describes THSs within the Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Canada’s oldest and largest mental health hospital. Analyses of 22 interviews with hospital staff and physicians describe CAMH’s THSs, including what they look like, how they are used, and by whom. The results emphasize the importance of designating spaces with and for Indigenous patients, and they highlight the wholistic benefits of land-based treatment for both clients and staff alike. Transforming hospital spaces by implementing and valuing Indigenous knowledge sparks curiosity, increases education, affirms the efficacy of traditional healing treatments as a standard of care, and enhances the capacity of leaders to support reconciliation efforts.

Keywords: traditional healing spaces; traditional healing; hospital; healthcare; environmental repossession; Indigenous geographies of health; mental health; sweatlodge; reconciliation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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