Learning from healing the healers

The original aim of this research was to provide learning materials for hospital-based health care providers as a step in building a much needed bridge between the worlds of First Nations people in the region served by Prince George Regional Hospital and an institutional culture in the hospital which has often failed to understand them and their needs.; I collaborated with Carrier Sekani Family Services (CSFS), an organization that provides health care services to member First Nations in the district west of Prince George, British Columbia, and CSFS in turn facilitated my collaboration with six Elders: Mabel Jack, Casimel Jack, Julia Morris, Angeline Crocker, Nancy Charlie and Eleanor Skin. These Elders were members of a program known as Healing the Healers. The purpose of that program, which had been sponsored by CSFS, was to provide a group healing and empowerment process to help the members, who had all suffered the effects of residential school attendance, claim their traditional roles as Elders and healers in their communities.; The result of this collaboration was a collection of narratives by five of the Healing the Healers members and my reflections as a health care provider on what I learned from the Elders who had become my mentors.