Improve Response to Child Abuse in the Arctic

Activity Report

Effective operation of the Centre:

The centre is running well day-to-day, and our active client number is 105. The types of activities we see at the Centre are:

Interviews: The Special Investigations Team and General Members of the RCMP take child and youth statements at the Centre and provide updates on criminal investigations. Community Social Services Workers monitor child and youth interviews at the Centre, implement protection and intervention actions when required, and provide background information on clients’ and caregivers when needed. There were 19 interviews during this reporting period.

Medical Appointments: Pediatricians provide forensic exams, initial assessments and follow-up appointments for clients at the Umingmak Centre. On average, there is one pediatric clinic per week.

Advocate Activities: In this reporting period, the advocates supported 48 clients with tours for clients and caregivers, coordination of services, therapy support, check-in calls with families, and help with referrals and applications to other services. Advocates continue to do activities with clients to increase trust and build relationships. eg. activities with sled dogs, art, walks, workouts etc.

Therapy Appointments: Our therapists have three main activities: 1) Assessment and treatment of clients, including psychoeducation of caregivers, 2) professional development for our community through the community of practice and consultation and 3) development of Nunavut- and child and youth- specific therapy practices. We have hired one child and youth therapist, and have a Master’s of Psychology practicum student working with us 3 days a week.

Professional Development: The community of practice continues to meet bi-weekly, consisting of mental health workers in Iqaluit who work with children and youth and want to increase their assessment and treatment abilities. We have organized training in November for over 150 participants who work with children and youth in Iqaluit and the territory. The training will be over 5 days, facilitated by Radius Child and Youth Services, to increase skills, knowledge and ability of our partners, staff and community members on working with children who experience trauma.

We have also begun our research partnership with the University of Toronto Indigenous Research Stream. This will help us identify promising practices to support the caregivers of our clients, specifically caregivers who have a history of trauma. Please see attached our preliminary report from interviews with service partners, done to guide our interviews and focus groups with caregivers.

Development of programs: eg. Groups for parents and clients, land programs, Inuit counselling:

We delivered 4 weeks of land-based group programs in July and August, to a total of 30 youth. We have started group afterschool programs: a girls group and a boys group. 

Hiring of additional staff as needed eg. Intake/administration, therapists, advocates:

During this period, we hired a new program coordinator to begin research on promising practices to support our caregivers, a therapist and an advocate.