Navigating patients to culturally sensitive care  

Last year, Thames Valley Family Health Team (TVFHT) announced an exciting partnership with Noojimo Health – Canada’s first all-Indigenous virtual mental health clinic. The partnership opens up a new pathway to culturally sensitive and accessible mental health services for patients who identify as Indigenous.   

“Cultural safety is important,” says Lisa Vreugdenhil, TVFHT Director of Clinical Services. “With mental health services, it’s especially important for patients to feel comfortable and understood. Noojimo provides exactly that kind of environment for Indigenous patients. This partnership is a great way for us to serve these patients in the way that they want to be served.”  

Noojimo’s counsellors are known as ‘two-eyed seers.’ They are registered social workers who are specialists in both traditional Indigenous and Western approaches to health and wellness. The Noojimo Health virtual clinic provides individual, group, youth, and family counselling, as well as facilitated virtual healing circles, to almost 200 Indigenous communities across Canada.  

“One of my favourite things that (Noojimo co-founder Bill Hill) has always said is that we have to go at the speed of trust,” says Valerie Michelutti, an associate consultant with Noojimo. “This is a reciprocal partnership where the two organizations see the value in each other. It’s truth and reconciliation in action, so I’m grateful for organizations like Thames Valley that are leading the way and spearheading a new way of doing this important work.”  

With the partnership launched, Vreugdenhil says the focus is now on growth and refinement.   

“Our goal over the past year has been to take this partnership from concept to practice,” she says. “We are very proud to have laid the foundations with Noojimo and are looking forward to growing and evolving in the years ahead.”  

Learn more about Noojimo Health here.