The Northern Mental Health Outreach Project (NMHOP): Historical and conceptual background for a demonstration project in northern community mental health outreach
Pages 467-473 in G. Pétursdóttir et al., eds. Circumpolar Health 93. Proceedings of the 9th International Congress on Circumpolar Health, Reykjavík, Iceland, June 20-25, 1993. Arctic Medical Research. 1994;53(Suppl.2)
J.A. Hildes Northern Medical Unit, University of Manitoba, Canada
Source
Pages 467-473 in G. Pétursdóttir et al., eds. Circumpolar Health 93. Proceedings of the 9th International Congress on Circumpolar Health, Reykjavík, Iceland, June 20-25, 1993. Arctic Medical Research. 1994;53(Suppl.2)
NMHOP planning was undertaken in the aftermath of memorable 1990 Canadian sociopolitical events which aligned First Nations against the Conservative majority government. Canadian colonial history restricted Native people to unequal marginal participation in the socioeconomic benefits bestowed on other Canadian citizens. This paper discusses the theoretical bases undergirding NMHOP's architecture, including: the history of colonialism and its disempowering effects on individual and community; tile cultural clash of aboriginal/Euro-Canadian worldviews; the historic neglect of a Canadian Native mental health policy; and the importance of fundamental equality and freedom of choice as minimal structural conditions upon which the mental health of individuals depends. The paper concludes with extraction or inference of eight general grounding principles for a Native community mental health outreach project, with "empowerment" the architectonic one implicit in each of the others.