Intertribal Life Newspaper -

WINNIPEG, MB-Ma Mawi Chi Itata Centre along with the Canadian Mental Health Association have launched a major program to train Indigenous support workers to better aid and support people going through mental health crises. They are expecting as many as 2,000 people will be able to take this training.

The plan is set to begin training workers providing them what they need to deal with mental health crisis situations. The program is called safeTALK and is a two-year program known as "Strengthening Wellness Education to Love Life.

Bell Let's Talk and Inifor, a union that represents 1,000 Bell MTS staff, have both made a donation of $100,000 to make this training possible.

"Our grassroots youth-serving organizations' staff are experts," Diane Redsky, executive director of Ma Mawi, told the Winnipeg Free Press. They are "...natural helpers in building relationships with young people," she said.

Indian Life

"There is a need to bring partners together to end the epidemic of youth suicide....." Here are posters encouraging that.

Ma Mawi has been around for a long time which is the reason it is often referred to as "the grandmother of Winnipeg community service organizations.

Sadly, youth suicides have risen in Indigenous communities. According to Redsky, up to 90 percent of suicide victims suffer some form of mental illness such as depression or substance abuse disorders.

"There is a need to bring partners together to end the epidemic of youth suicide that we are experiencing within the Indigenous community," Redsky told the Free Press.

"With more people talking and normalizing the conversation about mental health and suicide prevention and to talk about the struggles of being an Indigenous youth we can build a strong safety net for Indigenous youth in the community," the Ma Mawi director stated.