Mino-pimatisiwin: The stories of mentorship
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Date
2020-08-07
Authors
Langlais, Bree
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Abstract
Initiated in 2010, the Indigenous Youth Mentorship Program (IYMP) is an after-school program, which focuses on living a healthy life through physical activity, healthy eating, relationship building, and culture. The program is overseen by Young Adult Health Leaders (YAHLs) and Indigenous mentors ranging from grades 7-12 who mentor Indigenous mentees (elementary-aged students). This program is designed to improve the wholistic health (emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual) of Indigenous youth through physical activity and games, healthy snacks, and relationship building. My research explored the following questions: how does the mentorship program (IYMP) promote mino-pimatisiwin amongst all levels of participants and how does IYMP help participants live life in a good way wholistically? Using semi-structured interviews as my approach to generate stories and knowledge, I explored how IYMP participants in Thompson, Manitoba lived in mino-pimatisiwin in mentorship and if and how mentorship contributed to living their lives in a good way. Using the interviews as a guide, I worked with the participants, also known as co-researchers, to create two stories: the story of the YAHL and the story of the mentor. A symbol of a blue wapikwani (flower) was created to show the many connections between mentorship, mino-pimatisiwin/mino-bimaadiziwin, and the medicine wheel. I believe that my study contributes to moving forward in reconciliation as I am sharing the stories of Indigenous community members and Indigenous youth. These stories can be shared with the next generation of program participants and can help in reclaiming our Indigenous culture and traditional knowledge systems. The stories and research shared also contribute to moving physical activity program analysis to a wholistic model that honors the participants’ physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health
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Keywords
Mino-pimatisiwin, Indigenous, Wholistic Health, Mentorship, Mino-bimaadiziwin