SUMMARY - Indigenous Mental Health Services
A young woman from a First Nations community drives two hours to the nearest mental health clinic, only to find a waiting room full of unfamiliar faces and a counselor who does not understand the context from which she comes. The counselor means well but asks questions that do not make sense to her, offers advice that ignores her responsibilities to family and community, and diagnoses her with conditions described in categories developed far from her world. She leaves without making a follow-up appointment.