Youth Leadership development and training

In addition to providing Indigenous-led programming and a safe space for youth, the Arctic Rose Foundation offers extensive leadership training, job skills and sustainable opportunities for high school students and local artists within their own communities. These youth mentors are then paid to lead our after-school programs, providing inspiration for the next generation of leaders from within their own communities.

Each August, the Arctic Rose Foundation hosts training for staff. Professional facilitators lead the training workshops, and guest Inuit artists share artistic activities, ideas and skills, while our administrative team establishes priorities for the months ahead. Providing joint training sessions with all participating communities and staff also allows for collaboration, capacity building and cost savings for our programs. With staff, guest facilitators, and artists meeting to discuss the successes of the past year, strategizing on how to improve each program, practicing art activities, generating ideas, and creating new connections, these annual training sessions provide an opportunity to further develop our programming model, while simultaneously fostering positive work relationships for the year ahead.

Beyond gaining a thorough understanding of the responsibilities of our staff, the training also facilitates an exploration of the mental health needs of the youth we are servicing. Throughout the school year, youth participants are encouraged to do familial and regional research to integrate into their art projects. In order to ensure our staff is prepared for the youths’ exploration of these topics, it is essential they are trained to understand the cultural disconnects experienced by many Inuit and Indigenous youth due to the erosion of their culture through the loss of language and traditional knowledge as a result of intergenerational trauma, and the legacy of residential schools. To ensure sensitivity to each community’s specific context and experiences, mental health workers, Elders, and community leaders are sourced to assist with this training.

All staff and artists working with youth participants undergo a Police and Vulnerable Sector Check.