Community Based Healing Case Study

There have been many different efforts in aiding Aboriginal communities to decrease their insanely high rates of addiction problems. Two approaches that are promising in aiding Aboriginal communities with addressing their addiction behaviours and related problems are healing on the community level and cultural level. The first approach being community-based healing is one promising perspective in supporting Aboriginal communities with their addiction problems and substance uses. The majority of times, treatment for addiction and substance uses are located at far residential addictions facilities (Jiwa, Kelly, & Pierre-Hansen, 2008). Therefore, healing and treatments on a community level are effective alternatives to these hard to reach treatment facilities and make it so that people do not need to leave their remote communities in order to receive treatments.
Other methods to community-based healing are community-based programs or community mobile treatment. These methods aid with every step of addictions including prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and aftercare (Jiwa, Kelly, & Pierre-Hansen, 2008). As mentioned in Jiwa, Kelly, & Pierre-Hansen's article (2008), these program "becomes focuses of community development, as the communities become the treatment facilities" (p. 1000). However, in order for these community-based programs to be successful, it requires solutions that are developed within communities, strong community-member interest and engagement, strong leadership, funding for programming and organizing, and the capability to develop infrastructure for long-term program sustainability (Jiwa, Kelly, & Pierre-Hansen,