[Our Goals] [Our Objectives] [Accomplishments]

Our Goals

Goals of Ilisaqsivik Family Resource Centre

These goals are accomplished through:

FRIENDING     INTERACTION     EDUCATION     COUNSELLING

Explanation of the goals of Ilisaqsivik

Ilisaqsivik Society aims to help people meet four main goals or needs in their life:

• Love and belonging
• Empowerment
•  Freedom of Choice
•  Fun and joy

Love and belonging comes about through connecting with other people - by talking, sharing experiences and ideas, eating together, and simply spending time with others.

Empowerment is attained through training - gaining knowledge by learning to read, learning how to be good parents, learning more about Inuit culture from Elders. For our children, it can also mean learning to sing, and for our young people, learning work skills and self-reliance in any environment.

Fun and joy comes from the cherished act of playing, whether it's playing games, singing, attending feasts and other parties, doing crafts, competing in contests, and more.

Freedom of Choice evolves from personal development, gained through counselling, reading personal development materials, having a massage to release muscle pain due to stress and tension, and generally discovering more about life.

Our Objectives

We meet our goals in four simple ways: "Friending," Interacting, Informing and Counselling.

• We say "Friending" as opposed to being a friend, or befriending, because we like the 'level on level' communication that is implied by this word. We are not simply trying to make friends with someone because we should do so; rather, we are one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. Whether it's over a cup of coffee, at a meeting, or just sitting down together, sharing a story, a piece of information or a thought with someone else is always useful, and the beginning of all personal development. With connection/ friending, "counselling" occurs naturally and meaningfully.
  
  
• Interaction is one of the best ways of connecting and becoming involved with another person or a group. At Ilisaqsivik, interaction takes many forms - doing crafts together, cooking, having a meeting, making tools, singing, talking, learning or reading together as individuals, in a group, or even through the Internet.
  
  
• At Ilisaqsivik, we have found that Informing or educating people is an important step toward physical, mental, emotional or social well-being. Everyone can always learn something more that will help them move ahead a little in their lives. At the Centre, we have published several personal development books, made a video, and recorded some traditional stories to help inform community members about a wide variety of cultural and social development and health topics. We also hold seminars and workshops open to the community or tied into a project that inform the public about wellness issues in particular, and life in general.
  
  
• Counselling has come to mean many things to many people who use Ilisaqsivik's services. At times the counselling that occurs is informal and a by-product of "friending." At other times, one of the designated counsellors plans a group session for a support group of some kind, or perhaps talks in private with a client. We are training three Ilisaqsivik counsellors in Reality Therapy, in order to allow them to develop their counselling skills.

Our Accomplishments

As we see evidence that Clyde River residents are meeting their four basic needs of Love and Belonging, Empowerment, Freedom of Choice and a sense of Fun, we note that many individuals, many families and the community as a whole are showing signs that they are more connected, and that people are more involved with each other in healthy and appropriate ways.

A survey of Ilisaqsivik was done in 2001 in which the whole community was asked of what use Ilisaqsivik was to them personally.

Listed in descending order are the ten most popular reasons why people come to Ilisaqsivik:

1. To be able to use Inuktitut freely
2. To laugh again
3. To make new friends
4. To have fun
5. To buy supplies from the food bank
6. To talk about life
7. To learn to help others
8. To read Inuktitut
9. To talk about Inuit culture
10. To make crafts

Following are some of the major programming accomplishments of Ilisaqsivik Family Resource Centre:

• We use Inuktitut as a first working language in all programs
  
  
• In 1998 and 1999, we ran a community High Risk Kids Workshop, presented by The Recovery Foundation. About 40 families in all benefitted directly from this workshop.
  
  
• In 1999, Ilisaqsivik held a Spirit of Change workshop to develop the community vision of wellness. Since then, we've been delivering other community workshops such as Working Effectively with Others, Communicating with Your Family, Communication Skills, Assertiveness, and more
  
  
• Thirteen participants from across Nunavut have been taking a Choice Theory, Reality Therapy and Lead Management course at Ilisaqsivik in order to provide our Territory with more certified counsellors. They will be certified in May, 2002
  
  
• Ilisaqsivik formed the North Baffin Working Group to develop the North Baffin Personal Development (Suicide Prevention) Initiative, the Irqrinnaqtuq Project
  
  
• Between 1999 and 2001, Ilisaqsivik translated and/ or developed 35 Inuktitut personal development books and pamphlets, distributing them throughout Nunavut
  
  
• Along with other agencies, Ilisaqsivik developed the Clyde River Community Home Care organization
  
  
• Since 1999, we've been working with Kakivak, a regional economic development association, to deliver training programs to 15 young people. This includes Summer Student Programs, On-the-Job Training Programs and Student Placement programs
  
  
• In the fiscal year ending in 2002, Ilisaqsivik had increased employment in Clyde River by eight full-time and 22 daily part-time positions, along with about 110 other local residents hired casually throughout the year