Culture is healing: a design for youth suicide prevention in northern Manitoba

Abstract

Depression, self-harming acts and suicide are mental health issues that seriously plague specific Indigenous communities in Canada. First Nations youth have an alarmingly higher suicide rate than the majority of the Canadian population. Usually occurring in and around small reserve village environments, these suicides rupture entire communities that are forced to deal with the sadness, frustration and loss that surrounds the death of a young person. In response to this issue, this interior design practicum inquiry addresses the tragedy of youth suicide in Manitoba’s northern, remote, and reserve communities. To help reduce the epidemic prevalence of suicide, a treatment and prevention center formulated out of ideas gathered from research into Cree world view, hybrid and Indigenist approaches to culture, cultural continuity, mental health healing methods and environmental design has been designed to provide care for First Nations adolescents living in the North.