The youth solvent addiction program, as I said earlier, has shown promising results with youth who participate in culture, and recently we have become involved in a CIHR-funded research project that looks at culture as an intervention.
We do have various cultures across the country. There are 11 different language families. Within those language families, we have a number of different nations. All of those nations have their specific ways of practising. It's tied to their language, it's tied to their land, and it's tied to the nation of people that they are.
However, through this cultures intervention research project, we've talked to elders and cultural practitioners from coast to coast, and we've been able to identify at least 22 different descriptions of common ways in which culture is practised. We are looking at those 22 different ways of intervening, supporting, and promoting wellness through culture to develop a broader understanding.
In the youth solvent addiction program, I used to be the director of a youth treatment centre. In Canada, for youth who go into residential treatment, at best at least 50% of them will complete. In the program I ran, there was 100% completion. These were kids who had high rates of suicide ideation, had been involved in the justice system, had issues of sexual abuse, had been in treatment at least three previous times, and had high rates of substance use, including prescription drugs. They completed treatment, and 86% of them maintained their wellness post-treatment at three-, six-, and twelve-month follow-ups, because of the cultural interventions they participated in while in treatment.
Treatment and the introduction to culture can't ever replace what they're encouraged to go home and find in their own nation, but it certainly is an introduction. The introduction to culture, based on strengths, gives them a new perspective, and there are many different cultures. Like I said, there are 22 different ways in which culture has played a role in supporting wellness.