{"id":610,"date":"2018-05-08T08:24:01","date_gmt":"2018-05-08T15:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/?p=610"},"modified":"2018-06-01T13:57:25","modified_gmt":"2018-06-01T20:57:25","slug":"connection-and-the-whole-person-van-ry-explores-the-link-between-indigenous-culture-and-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/connection-and-the-whole-person-van-ry-explores-the-link-between-indigenous-culture-and-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Connection and the whole person \u2013 Van Ry explores the link between Indigenous culture and health"},"content":{"rendered":"

At a young age, Tsandlia Van Ry knew she had a strong desire to pursue a career as a health care practitioner, and the first place she thought to evaluate was the need in her own St\u00f3:l\u014d community.<\/p>\n

Van Ry, a St\u00f3:l\u014d woman from Skowkale First Nation located along the Chilliwack River, has decided to focus her passion for health and connection to Indigenous ways of knowing into her fourth year research project as part of her Bachelor of Kinesiology degree.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Van Ry realized she could help the health of her community by reflecting on her own needs as an Indigenous woman.<\/p>\n

Her research focuses on bridging the gap between St\u00f3:l\u014d healing and Western medicine in order to reduce the effects of cultural stress and promote preventative care from an Indigenous world view. \u201cHealth is not comprised of isolated issues,\u201d notes Van Ry. \u201cHealth issues that stem from cultural stress are prominent in First Nation communities. We are not always given the opportunity to think about our health from a non-medical perspective,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Traditional healing practices are designed to promote mental, physical, and spiritual well-being.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndigenous world views are not as linear in a sense as Western ways of knowing. Our generations and experiences are intertwined, and this has an effect on how we think about our health and how we care for ourselves as Indigenous people,\u201d says Van Ry.<\/p>\n

As part of her research, Van Ry hopes to shed light on how Indigenous and non-Indigenous health practitioners can integrate an Indigenous health framework into their practice. Part of this knowledge will focus on drawing connections to health, territory, language, and culture, while also keeping in mind experiences of colonial trauma on her people.<\/p>\n

\u201cWestern medicine is very cause and effect. It is viewed as a personal issue that is fixed with pharmaceuticals or surgery,\u201d notes Van Ry. \u201cI want to focus on a deeper understanding of the valuable knowledge of healing that our Elders hold, and unpack ways to apply that knowledge. For example, using stories as a means to heal by talking to people who have experienced cultural stress and passing down that rich history is central to the health of our communities. Our communities are focusing strongly on revitalizing language and culture. I want to continue that push from a health perspective.\u201d says Van Ry.<\/p>\n

One of the gaps she is finding is an underrepresentation of St\u00f3:l\u014d health care practitioners in First Nations communities. \u201cI want to use the knowledge I\u2019ve been given and provide for my community in a healthy way, so our people can have more options in health care,\u201d notes Van Ry, who is hoping to become a physician.<\/p>\n

Van Ry also touched on the significance of returning to her territory and beginning to speak her native language for healing. \u201cIn Halq’emeylem one word may tell a whole story, and it is very verb-rich. That was enlightening for me because I could start describing the world around me as I started to learn Halq’emeylem. It helps you understand your territory, and your relationship to your territory, which is really important to your health. Because of displacement, some are not connected to our home territory. For example, my family is originally from Chilliwack Lake, but I grew up in Kamloops. Returning to Chilliwack Lake was really significant for me, especially if you need that energy from your family territory build yourself up,\u201d she shares.<\/p>\n

Van Ry hopes her research can strengthen the value of St\u00f3:l\u014d ways of knowing in health and wellness, while taking into account the effects of intergenerational trauma. \u201cAs a health sciences student, one day I will be working with people who have health issues that are related to social, cultural, or emotional trauma. I think we need to understand that significant cultural layer on health,\u201d says Van Ry. \u201cWe are talking about it but not in an applied way. A component of healing is about reciprocity. We don\u2019t just take from another, we need to return the energy and keep the circle alive\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Van Ry plans to continue doing research with Indigenous communities even though she is graduating from the UFV Bachelor of Kinesiology program this spring. \u201cI feel like I lucked out at UFV on the Chilliwack campus because we have a strong Indigenous support system and the kinesiology faculty are very willing to support me in my learning,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

In addition to her work as an undergraduate kinesiology student, Van Ry is working as a research assistant with Dr. Keith Carlson from the University of Saskatchewan. Van Ry will be transcribing oral histories for Dr. Carlson as part of his work titled, Mapping the transformers\u2019 travels: gender, colonialism, and Coast Salish territory.<\/em> The project is grounded in community engagement and aims to unpack gendered implications of settler colonial contact on Coast Salish space and territory.<\/p>\n

Van Ry will present her work with Dr. Carlson at the Native American Indigenous Studies Association conference and Canadian Historical Association Congress in May.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At a young age, Tsandlia Van Ry knew she had a strong desire to pursue a career as a health care practitioner, and the first place she thought to evaluate was the need in her own St\u00f3:l\u014d community. Van Ry, a St\u00f3:l\u014d woman from Skowkale First Nation located along the Chilliwack River, has decided to … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":185,"featured_media":611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[71,77,6,10,7],"tags":[17,30,68,88],"class_list":["post-610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-health","category-kinesiology","category-news","category-student-profiles","tag-health","tag-kinesiology","tag-research","tag-stolo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/185"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":612,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610\/revisions\/612"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}