Project 446012

Focusing on Indigenous women whose lived experience includes involvement with the criminal justice system (CJS), this research will support their wholistic wellness journeys. We will design and deliver a land- and culture-based healing curriculum, which includes gender-affirming and trauma-informed expressive therapy for Indigenous women residing in Saskatchewan. This project builds on the findings and successes from our previous research; most notably, connection with the land and cultural identity are vital for Indigenous women to begin and sustain their healing journey. We have partnerships with the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations Women's Secretariat and the Elizabeth Fry Society of Saskatchewan. We will use a life course approach to investigate the gender-specific strengths and needs of Indigenous women with CJS lived experience. Further, we will collaboratively design and evaluate a wholistic healing and wellness program grounded in cultural, traditional and expressive therapy. Our specific research questions include: What does health and wellness mean to Indigenous women with lived experience of the CJS, and how does this inform pathways for reconciliation within the CJS? and How can we support Indigenous women, now living in urban and rural, on their healing and wellness journeys? We will draw on existing community assets to establish a research approach that privileges and advances Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing. Our Knowledge Holders and Indigenous scholars will ensure activities are appropriately contextualized, linked, laddered, and culturally safe and responsive. The proposed research is intended to nurture connections with culture and support wholistic wellness among Indigenous women involved in CJS. This will contribute to the urgently needed Indigenous-centred, gender-affirming wellness interventions that address the needs of Indigenous women in urban and rural high-risk environments, especially those emerging from the CJS.