Soar Above Stigma

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Soar Above Stigma

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Soar Above Stigma aims to provide those suffering from addictions, mental health, or COVID-related matters a space to see that they are not alone in our communities while providing outreach support.

09/21/2021

Reflecting on her own journey, Serenity says, “I’ve learned ways to cope, though. With help from my family, community, and my therapist I’ve learned how to talk about my issues.”

“When you get into a funk it can sometimes take days or weeks or months to get out of it. But there are things that really help as I go through it. Taking time for myself, spending time outside with my family, doing traditional things. They all help with my anxiety and depression.” She feels that if more kids from her community knew how to deal with their feelings in a healthy way, then perhaps her people would be in a better place.

“Self-care is so important. To know how to put yourself at ease, to express and communicate your feelings. These are things we need to feel comfortable doing.” She touches on an important element of healing from stigma and hardships: Through acceptance, kindness, and compassion our communities are elevated.

Share your stories!

09/14/2021

Facts: Stigma comes from fear and misunderstanding that leads to judgment and prejudice. It prevents people from finding help, accessing health and social services, it further isolates people.

Objective: Seek the facts and move past fear and into understanding. Find the courage to stop gossip in its tracks, and show compassion to all people including those who may be suffering.

09/14/2021

There are many qualities that tie together with being selfless. Generosity is a part of acting selflessly, that doesn't mean giving things away, simply being generous with your time and generous with the attention you give to others. Along with generosity, there’s kindness, thoughtfulness, and a sense of humility also ties with being selfless.

When someone is suffering your generosity of just listening or sitting in silence with them can make a world of difference.

09/14/2021

Audrey Siegl discusses trauma, healing and true consultation.

09/13/2021

My name is Chevi Rabbit, I’m a member of the Montana First Nation. I grew up steeped in Plains Cree tradition in a loving and accepting First Nation community where gender identity was never an issue and where I was blessed to be loved and accepted.

This changed in college. In my naivety, I became influenced by the opinions of others regarding my people. I even felt ashamed of who I was because of the conversations I was part of, around Indigenous identities. Going from Indigenous to non-Indigenous communities was quite a culture shock. It was these conversations though that drove me to delve deeper into Indigenous social issues and I enrolled in Native Studies at the University of Alberta. It was here where I was brutally assaulted for being an openly gay man.

While the assault had a lasting traumatizing impact I was able to re-assess the harm I experienced and used it to fuel my drive and reach new goals. During that time I created Hate to Hope, a province-wide awareness campaign, and I'm hoping that by sharing my experience around trauma, identity, and mental health we can work together to

09/13/2021

Soar Above Stigma aims to provide those suffering from addictions, mental health, or COVID-related matters a space to see that they are not alone in our communities while providing outreach support and stigma education for all Indigenous community members.

Please share and join the effort to ❤

09/12/2021

My name is Audrey Siegl, I am Musqueam and I was born, raised, and live on our reserve in what is now called Vancouver. As I grew up I had the good fortune of spending time with community elders born around the turn of the century and it was the guidance and teachings I witnessed them live by that saved me from self-destruction in my twenties.

Life in Canada is hostile towards Indigenous women and I watched as myself and my sister spiraled into a life of drug/alcohol addiction, a story that’s all too familiar. I watched as doctors and counselors dismissed us because they just didn’t understand what it’s like being an Indigenous woman in Canada. After years of battling her demons, we lost my sister to a fentanyl overdose in 2019 and then my mom not long after. After 40 years of living a life of service, I was forced to discover who I was. It’s the teachings I carry in my heart from the old-timers that helped raise me that continue to aid me on my journey of healing. The grounding of their timeless love and guidance is the light I lost when I was in darkness. Now, if I can be that light for someone else, I will.

09/07/2021

Our communities thrive with understanding kindness, compassion, and acceptance.

Learn more about what kindness is and how can we all benefit from understanding each other better.

09/02/2021

Indigenous people, regardless of whether we are from small remote communities, large urban settings, or someplace in-between, come together with histories and worldviews that are unique. These ways of seeing the world are such an integral part of who we are, it may be difficult to articulate exactly what our histories and worldviews are, and exactly how these factors affect what we think and do. Some First Nations people who have grown up in urban centres may have limited contact with their community and families and understanding of their Indigenous culture.

"This campaign is about learning to lift each other up, it's about bringing to light our shared philosophies, values, and customs."

Even First Nations people who do not strongly identify with their Indigenous ancestry, may face racism or be confronted with stereotypes. Far too often to avoid racism and stereotyping, some First Nation people make a concerted effort to hide their Indigenous identity, to avoid Stigma and insult. The same can happen when we come home to our communities, facing a different form of shame and contempt.

Reminding ourselves that by embracing our identity we inspire hope for others to do the same. That there’s more to our culture and our ways of seeing the world than what any book could teach us. We have such an extraordinary depth to the meaning of things within our language that no western language has a parallel interpretation of the world. You don’t have to be an indigenous person who was raised in a spiritually orientated community to understand that our cultural ways of being in the world are stepped in a relationship of observation to the spiritual world. That relatedness sees everything and everyone as related, that people, objects, and the environment are all connected.

08/25/2021

Stigma is a word most of us are familiar with, yet stigma comes with a complex social process of labeling, stereotyping, devaluing, and discriminating against others. Health Organizations worldwide have identified that Stigma is a leading concern amid Covid 19.

The Stigma of being Covid positive and fears around testing positive.

The stigma surrounding Mental health issues and it’s escalation during the Covid Pandemic (can’t get to work, depression, anxiety, mental illness, manic episodes).

The Stigma of addictions and drug use (or turning to drugs as a way of coping) during Covid 19

By supporting our communities and looking towards traditional teachings we hope to put an end to the stigma of talking openly about these issues.

08/23/2021

My name is Serenity Bird and I am from Black River First Nation, Manitoba. I am 15 years old and I battle my mental health issues, which include daily crippling bouts of depression and severe panic attacks. My mental health has suffered more than anything else and this stems from years of physical bullying and dismissal from my peers and teachers. Stepping foot on school grounds brings all those memories flooding back and even though I’ve been out of school for four years now, I still feel like giving up from time to time. I’ve even tried to hurt myself. But I don’t anymore. I’m currently in therapy to try and work through my trauma.

I still have a hard time accepting how I am but it doesn’t stop me from trying to be better. I embody kindness and compassion by relating to other kids going through the same thing and trying to help them how I can. It gives me comfort knowing that if others can make it through– then I can also learn to love and accept myself.

08/23/2021

Spend some time with elders in any setting anywhere and you will quickly learn an important cultural norm: Kindness and Compassion.

This feeling of kindness comes from an important conscious action that simply evolves into something like an instinctive reflex. Compassion is a way of being.

We all have the ability to be kind toward one another, yet how often do we actually act in ways that are kind. We can get overwhelmed, or let our feelings of being hurt get in the way, which makes us respond to others in hurtful ways. Sometimes we have to let go, and most times we learn that letting go is best for everyone.

This doesn't mean that you let others be unkind to you or allow yourself to experience harm from others. It means that you're present in your mind and you're aware of your feelings and also the feelings of others. The natural desire of the mind and heart is to move through life without harm, yet when things aren't going well, it's easy to get confused and become harmful to yourself and others. This is where kindness becomes a helpful guide, and learning to be kind to yourself becomes the reward.

When you begin the process of being kind to yourself suddenly being kind to others just becomes natural. What most people quickly learn is that kindness is highly relevant in addiction treatment, even more so when someone is the victim of an abusive person in their life. Both situations put an incredible strain on a person's mental health and kindness is a key factor in addiction recovery mental wellbeing.

In the process of building the Soar Above Stigma Campaign, we went to real everyday people and asked what role kindness played in their lives. You can ask yourself the same question because what we feel in our hearts is that kindness is one of the most important values of Indigenous Culture and when kindness is shared with purpose our communities Soar Above Stigma.

07/27/2021

Spend some time with elders in any setting anywhere and you will quickly learn an important cultural norm: Kindness. This feeling of kindness comes from an important conscious action that simply evolves into something like an instinctive reflex. A way of being. We all have the ability to be kind toward one another, yet how often do we actually act in ways that are kind. We can get overwhelmed, or let our feelings of being hurt get in the way, which makes us respond to others in hurtful ways. Sometimes we have to let go, and most times we learn that letting go is best for everyone.

This doesn't mean that you let others be unkind to you or allow yourself to experience harm from others. It means that you're present in your mind and you're aware of your feelings and also the feelings of others. The natural desire of the mind and heart is to move through life without harm, yet when things aren't going well, it's easy to get confused and become harmful to yourself and others. This is where kindness becomes a helpful guide, and learning to be kind to yourself becomes the reward.

When you begin the process of being kind to yourself suddenly being kind to others just becomes natural. What most people quickly learn is that kindness is highly relevant in addiction treatment, even more so when someone is the victim of an abusive person in their life. Both situations put an incredible strain on a person's mental health and kindness is a key factor in addiction recovery mental wellbeing.

In the process of building the Soar Above Stigma Campaign, we went to real everyday people and asked what role kindness played in their lives. You can ask yourself the same question because what we feel in our hearts is that kindness is one of the most important values of Indigenous Culture and when kindness is shared with purpose our communities Soar Above Stigma.

Address

857 Yellek Trail
North Bay, ON
P1B8G5

Website

http://soarabovestigma.ca/

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