According to the Centre for Suicide Prevention, Indigenous youth have a suicide rate five to six times higher than non-Indigenous youth, and that’s something a team from Saskatchewan Polytechnic wants to alleviate.

Research Chair of Cultural Empowerment, Lindsey Boechler, says the project is about connecting youth in rural and remote communities with mental health and wellness supports through virtual reality, because accessibility is an issue. The project began with youth in La Loche. Boechler says the goal was to create digital content with health care professionals communicating using virtual reality, but the youth were more creative and came up with content which included cultural storytelling and a visit with an Elder. However, she adds, what their data shows is that youth also want personal connections, so the project has shifted to a multi-pronged approach combining in-person workshops with the technology and virtual reality.

To that end, last fall, youth from 15 different northern communities gathered for an in-person summit to build a sense of community and belonging. Afterwards, the teens captured segments of the summit in virtual reality using recordings of those who facilitated the workshops, Indigenous role models and all the people they met. Through that, Boechler says a library of VR content was made which was gifted to each community, along with a VR headset so they can access those resources.

At some point, the Boechler’s goal would be to have a secured virtual reality platform built for this project, pending on funding.