Healing from addiction and homelessness looks different for everyone.

This Truth and Reconciliation Day, we want to recognize the significance of cultural connection when it comes to recovery, housing, and community.

Cultural interventions look to address wellness in a holistic sense, attempting to create a harmonious relationship between mind, body, emotion, and spirit– acknowledging that it is important to consider the whole person rather than only their physical or mental health.

For those experiencing homelessness and/or struggling with addiction, we recognize that there can be social, monetary, or capacity-related barriers to connecting with one’s culture. Cultural programming complements existing interventions by offering another pathway for support. For some clients, reconnecting with culture can provide an additional source of strength in their journeys. Recognizing this, we strive to provide low-barrier opportunities for clients to engage with cultural programming across our programs.

Three things that are especially important to us when it comes to cultural programming are:

• Authenticity through Indigenous-led in-house programming and partnerships with Indigenous groups for external activities– it is not our role to define culture, only to provide access to the means to engage with it, with guidance from Elders, Knowledge Keepers, community partners, and our Indigenous Peer Support staff.
• Support through meeting people where they’re at by listening, providing reminders or opportunities to clients who have expressed interest, and providing transport to cultural events.
• Routine through providing meaningful opportunities to engage with culture and communicating those opportunities frequently. Clients may not want to participate this week, but they may be willing the next, and it’s important that we’re able to meet them when they’re ready.

 

Creating Community and Connection

When starting recovery, we believe it helps to stay busy. Participating in fulfilling activities and forming new connections can often be the difference between someone sticking with their recovery goals or losing themselves to hopelessness.

Stories, songs, dance, and ceremony are experiences that can bring people together to celebrate and appreciate traditions and culture. Clients in our detox and recovery-oriented housing programs attend public events like Powwows and cultural gatherings, where they can engage and participate alongside the broader community and feel connected to something larger than themselves.

We also partner with external groups for new cultural experiences in new environments. Our housing programs have been working with an Urban Outreach group, taking frequent visits onto the land to partake in Indigenous-led cultural programming like drum and rattle making, traditional games, and dance.

We have also worked with Indigenous Peer Support Workers from the Central Outreach Hub to lead a sharing circle and a traditional cooking class at our housing buildings.

 

In-House Cultural Programming

In-house, we have Indigenous Peer Support Workers who bring cultural connection and support to our clients through:

• Daily sharing circles that allow clients to open up in a supportive group environment
• Daily Wellbriety meetings, an AA/NA alternative with a focus on the teachings of the medicine wheel
• Weekly sweat lodge ceremonies, a therapeutic activity that encourages the sweating out of negative energies, which provides benefits like pain relief, relaxation, stress relief, and a spirit of togetherness.
• Medicine walks along the river or in Nose Hill Park where clients learn about traditional medicine
• Arts and crafts, providing clients a therapeutic activity that they can succeed at, bringing a sense of pride and accomplishment
• Cultural events and projects, like painting a tipi, field trips to cultural events and gatherings, and collaboration with Indigenous groups
• One-on-one support, where clients can debrief what’s on their mind in a safe and non-judgemental environment

 

Cultural Connection Camps

Our annual Cultural Connection Camps serve as a vital component within Alpha House’s broader cultural programming, offering both Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals meaningful opportunities to connect with their heritage, build community, and reconnect with the land. Participants accessing our Shelter, Housing, and Detox initiatives can attend the three-day, two-night retreat facilitated by our peer support workers. A central teaching throughout the camp this year was that healing happens through connection—to the Creator, the land, ourselves, and one another. The idea that recovery is not a journey meant to be walked alone was paramount. As participants shared meals, gathered firewood, picked medicines, and sat together around the fire, they built relationships rooted in trust, respect, and hope.

They were also able to partake in meaningful activities like:

• Assembling and decorating a tipi
• Constructing a sweat lodge structure
• Sharing cultural teachings and stories
• Preparing and scraping elk hides
• Horseback riding
• Crafting traditional items like dreamcatchers or talking sticks
• Gathering around evening campfires

 

Culture as a Pathway to Healing

Cultural programming isn’t a “nice-to-have”; for many people, cultural connection can be the driving force that makes healing and recovery possible.

A cultural program might be a person’s first opportunity in years to engage with their culture, and it requires purposeful creation of environments where people feel respected and understood, and where their identities are recognized.

This Truth and Reconciliation Day, we encourage everyone to stay engaged, participate in local events, and take opportunities to learn more about the histories, cultures, and experiences of Indigenous peoples in Canada. And we further encourage policymakers to recognize the importance of funding and supporting cultural connection options for those working towards recovery. Cultural connection can be the pathway to the supports someone needs to build stability, improve well-being, and achieve their goals.