Suicide among Canada's Aboriginal youth: causes and interventions

CANADA'S ABORIGINAL PEOPLE

Suicide amongst Canada's Aboriginal People

Suicide amongst Canada's Aboriginal People

The aboriginal people of Canada have faced injustices perpetrated through colonization, cultural prejudice, and forced assimilation among many other social injustices. The perpetrators, who include the Canadian dominant population, did this without considering the aboriginal people's well-being. Therefore, in an attempt to reduce the social problems they faced, the aboriginal people taken part in habits such as alcoholism, violence, and suicide. The aboriginal youth remain the most affected, mainly because of the development of suicidal thoughts, which have driven them to commit suicide (Kirmayer, & Valaskakis, 2009). To make it worse, the aboriginal people are denied access to healthcare services, which has contributed to lack of identification of suicidal youths.

The social problems they face result to depression, and some of the people opt to take part in some life-threatening habits, for example, suicide (Lavelle & Poole, 2010). Suicide is the most common habit among the aboriginal people of Canada, and in the recent past, aboriginals of Canada have experienced higher rates of suicide than the general population. This has seen to increased attention on the social problem, and many investigators are studying some of the predisposing factors. On the other hand, there are huge differences across the communities of the aboriginal people of Canada, but the overall suicide rate among the First Nation People is almost twice that of the total general population.

Statistics show that the Inuit aboriginal people have high rates of 6-11 when compared to the general Canadian population. However, the youth are the most affected, and studies show that those aged 10-29 are 5-6 times more likely to commit suicide when compared to their general population counterparts. Studies further suggest that a third of the youth from the aboriginal people are prone to suicide. The males' aboriginal people are more affected than the females, but the females attempt suicide more often than the males. Although the statistics exist, there is still little information concerning aboriginal suicide, its causes and working interventions (LeMaster et. al., 2004).

Background of Aboriginals and Suicide

In the context of aboriginal people of Canada, suicide is a factor, which makes known the severe social problems they face. Nonetheless, suicide is a behavior, and not a psychiatric problem as postulated by some scholars. Similar to other behaviors, suicide is a consequence of personal, historical, and contextual aspects. The aboriginals of Canada have struggled for a long time to maintain their language, culture, tradition, and rights during the colonization period. In the process of protecting their heritage, they efforts were met by brutality throughout the colonization period by Europeans and Canadians.

The indigenous people faced oppression, prejudice among many other social injustices inflicted by the dominating societies. Repeated efforts of trying to strip off the people their culture, resulted to devastating effects on the aboriginal people. This led them turn to alcoholism, depression and suicide as a way to minimize their problems. In this regard, depression has shown that it played a role in the many suicides seen in the aboriginal people (Turner, 2005). In addition, alcoholism, which also stimulates or induces behavior, played a role in the high rates of suicide among the aboriginal people, particularly on the youth.

Reports and studies have stated that the rates of suicide among the aboriginal people are higher in the youth than the elderly. In addition, the highest suicide rates are those of the male child, while the female show higher rates of attempted suicide. Although this data exists, the aboriginals have faced isolation and discrimination, which has seen them not included in the mental health system. Isolation from the mental health system has contributed to suicide because aboriginals are not given a chance to identify those with mental issues to undergo treatment (Lavelle, & Poole, 2010).

The View of Aboriginals

The aboriginals of Canada have faced historical injustices committed to them, which have played a contributory role to the high rates of suicide. Therefore, any intervention provided by the social workers should be central to redoing the injustices inflicted on them. One of the essential strategies is to include aboriginal people in the community-based services. This is a decolonization strategy, which will give them a chance to air their views on the problem of suicide. In addition, it is vital to appreciate the people by keeping their culture strong, allow them to live on their ancestral lands, engage them in community empowerment, and allow them to practice their traditional laws will be working decolonization strategies (Thira, 2014).

Then again, allowing the aboriginal people to maintain their culture is essential and can work in reducing suicidal rates (Blackstock, 2009). In addition, giving them a chance to take part in policymaking, or other issues concerning their welfare can give them a sense of belonging. This is because the aboriginal people are in a position to tell what they feel is good for them, and this is an important decolonization strategy. In comparison to the past, where the aboriginal people did not have such a chance, this can instill positive attitudes concerning the efforts of the social workers in solving some of the problems (Hart, Sinclair, & Bruyere, 2009).

Barriers

Although there are efforts to treat mentally ill aboriginals, there are many challenges as well. Some social workers understand some important aspects of aboriginal health (Lavelle, & Poole, 2010). Even so, there are potential conflicts and contradictions because the aboriginal use local ways of treatment and modern ways can face resistance. In addition, the lack of proficient mental health staff from the aboriginal people, contributes to the lack of cultural and linguistic knowledge in the treatment of the mentally ill.

In the context of language, few health professionals have undertaken some training on the language of the aboriginals, but there is a problem when it comes to interpreting their mental health. In addition, the aboriginal leaders focus on or show interest in economic growth and self-government, and disregard social problems, such a suicide. Some of the leaders have even told their people not to engage in issues of suicide, suggesting that it is a shameful act. This lack of information generates a barrier in the sense that social workers fail to get relevant information to provide working interventions.

The lack of inclusion of the aboriginal people in the proposing of interventions has also contributed to barriers. This is because the aboriginals fail to know the intentions of the social workers, particularly because they lack representation (Thira, 2014). The aboriginals have their own view of suicide, which they feel that suicide has a close relation to a form of sickness of the spirit, and this creates another barrier, where social workers will need to change the people's understanding, which is not achievable.

Decolonizing Approaches to Deal with Suicide

Formerly, the paper has highlighted some of the risk factors that contribute to suicide among the aboriginal people. Therefore, using the risk factors it will be possible to develop an effective suicide prevention approach. Some of the risk factors include alcohol use, social isolation, male gender, violence victimization and perpetration (May et al., 2002). Social workers can train the aboriginal leaders about suicide and violence, and persuade them to convince their people to desist from suicide. The spirit of inclusion, which the colonizers never gave them, is an important decolonizing strategy. It means including the aboriginal people in developing relevant policies concerning their lives and allowing them to maintain their culture and tradition.

Social workers can approach the suicide issue holistically. This means that social workers should use community-based interventions where they train the youth. This includes training on basics such as how one becomes suicidal, how to tell others they are suicidal, and responding to suicidal people (Thira, 2014). Alternatively, in the colonization period, the aboriginal people were denied access to important services. Therefore, providing them with such services, for example, mental health will help in the identification of people with suicidal thoughts and help them early (Baskin, 2011). Then again, training the aboriginals on mental health can also work well to reduce suicide rates.

Important Issues

A comparison of gender suicidal rates of aboriginal people of Canada shows that suicide is higher in the males than females. Therefore, any intervention should aim at changing the youth's perception of suicide. Research suggests that the socio-economic status of the people plays a contributory role in the high incidences of suicide (Mignone, 2005). This is because the aboriginal people feel that they are disadvantaged in every aspect of life, when compared to the Canadian population. Marriage also played or contributed to suicide, with people who are single or widowed showing high rates of suicide.

The aboriginal people of Canada have continuously faced discrimination from the Canadian population, which saw to non-inclusion in power, and access to mental health services. Therefore, giving the aboriginal people to share in power is an important issue that the society should address. One of the factors that the aboriginal people view important in the prevention of suicide is respect. The issue of respecting each other was important because it helped in the prevention of conflicts (Blackstock, 2009). However, the Canadian population did not show any respect to the people. In some instances, conflicts could bring about suicidal thoughts, but through respect and openness play a role in preventing suicide.

Aboriginal Suicide Prevention Approach

Although the external society has shown concern about the high suicide rates of the aboriginal people, the people have recognized that suicide is a problem among them (Lavelle & Poole, 2010). Therefore, in addition to the external strategies provided by social workers, the people also have their prevention strategies. The aboriginal leaders feel that their way of doing things in the past would help. This is why they advocate for coping and resilience skills, including the values such as patience, love, caring, and personal responsibility. In their culture, the leaders felt that solving conflicts, paying attention to the needs of each other and being open would help in the prevention of suicide (Thira, 2014).

In addition, another important coping skill they use is that of endurance, and the leaders advise the youth they should accept that life is hard. They use examples with their life, especially during the colonization period, and challenge them. The youth are to take part in productive activities in the society to ensure they are active and healthy. In addition, parents are to ensure they provide for their children, and solve issues fairly, including conflicts. This should not be through fighting; solving issues through the elders can be important. This is because the leaders listen to both parties, before reaching a fair conclusion (Mignone, 2005).

Important Strategies

Strategies to prevent the suicidal habits should be central to undoing prior injustices, and the cruelty they experienced. In simple terms, the government should advocate for equality between the aboriginal people and the other Canadian population (Kirmayer, & Valaskakis, 2009). This will make the aboriginal feel that the society accepts them. The Canadian population should also learn to appreciate the aboriginal people's culture, and traditions. This is because they are part of the Canadian history, particularly, the aboriginal have given Canada added uniqueness to the Canadian history. An important strategy is using a comprehensive approach towards suicide. This includes enhancing education, providing aboriginals with employment opportunities and strengthening the community including their families.

The youth from aboriginal communities come from low socio-economic areas, and giving them support based on this can help in reducing suicidal thoughts. The aboriginal also have their own way of dealing with their problems. This means that they can solve their problems. Giving them an opportunity to reveal their worth is vital. This will show that people identify in their culture and heritage, including their social practices (Hart, Sinclair, & Bruyere, 2009). Families of people who had earlier attempted suicide should take part in the treatment, and in this case, psychiatry interventions. In so doing, it will help prevent any other case of suicide that may be present in the family.

Decolonizing Practices

Studies have reported that historical injustices are contributing factors to the high incidences of suicide among the aboriginal people of Canada. Colonization, for example, saw to the deaths of many aboriginal people (Kirmayer & Valaskakis, 2009). This also saw to forced assimilation, where the people were to drop their cultures and adopt new cultures. Their attempts to resist resulted to brutality from the Canadians and Europeans. Therefore, the people turned to alcoholism, in an effort to treat their depression, but, unknowingly, played a role in suicidal thoughts. The lack of access to important services was due to discrimination, which social workers can now allow the people to access are strategic moves (LeMaster et al., 2004).

To undo this, decolonization practices have shown that they can work well to change the attitudes of the aboriginal people, and in a way pay for the social injustices inflicted on the people. Decolonizing practices simply means the use of approaches, which were contrary to the colonization error. This is why social workers should adopt decolonization practices when developing working interventions. This means that they should advocate for equity, inclusion, freedom, and identify in the aboriginal people's culture and traditions (Blackstock, 2009). The practices will instill a sense of appreciation, belonging, and hope. The aboriginal will feel accepted, and, hence work together with the social workers to provide solutions to the suicide problems.

Implications for Future Social Work

Apparently, the use of decolonization practices means that the social work will face significant changes in the future. For instance, the view of health of aboriginals will follow a holistic approach, where the social workers focus on socio-cultural and spiritual aspects of the aboriginal people. Social work will have to develop culturally appropriate intervention approaches that will deal with suicide problem. Social work, in the future, will entail a lot of training (Turner, 2005), which will include the learning of indigenous languages to overcome the language barrier. Language training will involve the learning of terminologies, words and pronunciation. Although translators often help, they lack the deep understanding of the aboriginal language.

As if this is not enough, social work in the future will have to follow the spirit of inclusion. Therefore, the social profession must train a portion of the aboriginal people (Lavelle & Poole, 2010) to help in the social work. This will include training them on mental health, including the English language for them to help the social workers in eliminating language, and linguistic barrier. Nonetheless, social work research will need to follow working methodologies, or rather methodologies that provide empirical evidence. This is because most of the prior studies follow a descriptive approach, which can result to possible inconsistencies.

Conclusion

The aboriginal people experience higher rates of suicide than the total Canadian population. The youth engage in suicide more than the elderly, and this is prevalent in the males than the females. Apparently, historical injustices are the major cause of the high suicide rates in the aboriginal people, and efforts to provide interventions should use decolonization practices. In addition, allowing the aboriginal to access mental services to detect youth or people with suicidal thoughts. This means that in the future of social work will encompass many concepts in order to develop working intervention approaches for suicidal aboriginal people. For instance, it will be vital to include the people in training, and allow them to take part in social work. In addition, social workers will need to learn the aboriginal language to overcome language barriers.