Planting Seeds of Change: Voices of Indigenous Youth on Wholistic Health

Abstract

Indigenous youth are key partners in improving our understanding of holistic health and identifying solutions to address health-related issues. The Urban Gardens Project was a community-based research partnership involving Indigenous youth co-researchers, Brandon University, Indigenous Knowledge Users, Elders, and Indigenous organizations in Winnipeg and Brandon, Manitoba. Using the Medicine Wheel as an analytic framework, the study identified key indicators of spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing that Indigenous youth attributed to gardening. Findings illuminate the need for policies to foster Indigenous youth engagement, leadership, and urban gardening programs that advance Indigenous cultural practices to contribute to Indigenous health and wellbeing. The research was funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR).

Keywords:

• Indigenous,
• Indigenous youth,
• urban gardening,
• photovoice,
• community-based participatory research