This November, FNHA is excited to shine a spotlight on Honour Your Strength: Our Diabetes Wellness Journey, a new community-based education series and toolkit.

Co-developed with First Nations across BC, this toolkit supports health teams in delivering culturally grounded diabetes education closer to home.

The Honour Your Strength series is made up of eight in-person, interactive education sessions that introduce living well with diabetes through wholistic wellness, peer support and strengths-based learning. Rather than instructing participants, the series invites people to have conversations around diabetes, sharing their stories and wisdom.

We spoke with Community Health Nurse, Angela Nordstrom, and Community Health Representative, Bonita Eagles, to hear about their experiences facilitating the series at Scw'exmx Community Health Services in Merritt.

“A big thing that stood out in the sessions was that the language wasn't stigmatizing people," shares Angela. “We realized that people had been feeling villainized about what they can't eat, or if their numbers were out of control, feeling that they're to blame." In contrast, participants reported feeling safe, supported and heard.

Diabetes education done differently

Before this toolkit, few resources reflected Indigenous perspectives on diabetes wellness. Many focus only on the physical aspects of health, overlooking the mental, emotional and spiritual impacts, especially from colonialism.

Available diabetes information often overlooks the historical and ongoing impacts of colonialism. A wholistic wellness approach is especially important for First Nations people who experience diabetes at significantly higher rates than non-Indigenous populations. Through engagement with community, it is clear that First Nations wellness is about more than numbers, and that living well with diabetes also encompasses looking at their mental, emotional and spiritual health.

“I found the education quite culturally sensitive," says Bonita. “This program had a lot more freedom [compared to other diabetes education]. It wasn't so mechanical.

A community-centred approach to wellness

Honour Your Strength was created in response to community requests for safe, accessible diabetes education, closer to home.

“Community members were able to share their stories and meet on common ground," says Bonita.

As the first series comes to a close, the curriculum has received an overwhelmingly positive response, with participants sharing that they no longer felt alone in their journey with diabetes and asking when it would be offered again for friends and family.

At its core, Honour Your Strength emphasizes that each person is on their own unique journey to live well with diabetes, and that ultimately, it's manageable.

“You can still enjoy all of the things you enjoyed before and you'll just figure out how to do it," says Angela.

We raise our hands to the facilitators of the Honour Your Strength: our diabetes wellness journey for Scw'exmx Community Health Services:

• Angela Nordstrom, Registered Nurse, Community Health Nurse
• Ashleigh Huston, Licensed Practical Nurse, Home and Community Care
• Bonita Eagles, Diabetes Prevention Worker and Community Health Representative

For health teams who are interested in offering the Honour Your Strength series in community, reach out to CDSI@fnha.ca.

For more information about diabetes please visit the FNHA diabetes webpage.