Aklavik's Community Wellness Centre has been open for just over a year, but already the facility is having a major impact on residents.
"We hear a lot of good comments from around the community and on social media," said Aklavik Indian Band (AIB) sub-chief Rita Arey. "We are also getting requests from surrounding communities wanting to know how they can start a program [like this] in their community."
AIB opened the wellness centre in late 2023, with the aim of providing "holistic, culturally-based" health and wellness programming that gives people "hope, a meaning and a purpose," according to Arey.
It is open to everyone in the community of about 630 people.
"Aklavik is a unique community because we have Gwich'in, Inuvialiut, Metis, and others," the sub-chief said. "Our doors are open to everyone."
For women, the centre offers a number of important programs, including a women's support group run by a health and wellness professional. It also provides women with hygiene products, information pamphlets and other resources.
"There's lots of information there," said Arey. "If they need support, they can talk to the wellness worker."
As of last fall, the facility also began operating the community's only women's shelter, which is open from 4 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Monday each week, and staffed by seven support workers.
In terms of men's programming, there is also plenty on offer, including the popular cultural connections tipi talks, which run on Mondays and Tuesdays and include dinner.
There is also an Elder on site to offer support and counselling to visitors to the centre as well as showers and laundry facilities.
"Any counselling [questions] too, someone [among the staff] will direct them on where they need to go, or if it's provided right in the centre with our Elder," said Arey. "We're kind of hands-on with everything we can try and offer for the community."
The service even offers housing assistance for residents through its Pathway Supportive Housing Program, which provides board in a fully-furnished four-plex for "individuals who have been couch surfing with no place or home to go to," according to Arey. "This is the beginning for their journey SA国际影视传媒� they're going through their program goals to eventually get their own unit from the Aklavik Housing Corporation."
All of the centre's programs are well attended by "a few children, adults, and Elders," according to the sub-chief. In fact, the centre had more than 500 visits from hundreds of different residents in December alone.
"I would have to say that our most popular program is our breakfast program, which runs from Monday to Friday," said Arey. "The doors are open for breakfast at 10 a.m. A lot of times, the people who come by end up sitting there till about one in the afternoon... Many individuals usually come and sit, have breakfast, tell stories, socialize with one another. If you're not familiar with Aklavik, we don't have a cafe or a place where people can gather, so this is ideal SA国际影视传媒� especially for our Elders who love to visit and share stories of long ago.
"Another program that's well attended is our food bank, which is funded through Food Banks Canada," she added. "That happens once a month."
AIB has a number of plans for the centre over the coming years, including the creation of a youth and Elders culture camp, where children would learn to prepare caribou, set snares, make and set fish nets, pick berries, gather natural medicines, and more. Funding is still being sought to create the culture camp, but, so far, procuring funding hasn't been a problem for staff at the centre.
The "biggest challenge," according to Arey, is making room for the ever-expanding roster of health and wellness programs on offer under the centre's roof.
"We need more space with all the programs we're offering," she said.
