- Series/Type
- DLSPH Event, Student Event, U of T Community Event, WIIH Event
- Format
- Online
- Dates
Welcome to the Ontario NEIHR monthly webinar series! Please join us on February 6, 2025, with guest speaker Dr. Brenda Restoule.
Presentation Title: First Nations Mental Wellness Workforce: A Realist Review
Online Event via Zoom
Abstract: The pandemic has highlighted the gaps in the social determinants of health and its impact on mental wellness for First Nations people. This has resulted in increased challenges with mental health and addictions that has further taxed an overburdened and underfunded community mental wellness workforce. Three national First Nation health organizations partnered with researchers to conduct a realist review of current literature and solicit expert opinions on the development, implementation, and sustainability of the First Nations mental wellness workforce. This presentation will outline the findings from the Realist Review.
Speaker bio: Dr. Brenda M Restoule (Waub Zhe Kwens) is from Dokis First Nation (Ojibwa) and from the Eagle Clan. She is a registered clinical psychologist. Dr. Restoule is the Chief Executive Officer of the First Peoples Wellness Circle which is an Indigenous led national organization dedicated to raising the profile of Indigenous mental wellness using Indigenous knowledge and evidence. The Primary work of FPWC is implementation of the First Nation Mental Wellness Continuum Framework to which she is a co-chair of the Implementation Team and developing a network of supports for Mental Wellness Teams across the country. Her work spans from providing clinical and consulting services to First Nations communities in Anishinabek territory to consultation with provincial and federal governments on Indigenous mental wellness to an invited trainer and speaker to authoring book chapters and training manuals. Some of Dr. Restoule’s past work experience includes the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and working with federally incarcerated Indigenous women, children’s mental health and, urban and First Nation mental wellness programs. She has particular interest in cultural safety, First Nation community development and capacity building, and reducing suicide rates in First Nation communities using First Nation knowledge and practices.