Helping to promote healing in Aboriginal people with addiction and mental health issues requires specialized knowledge and unique skills. Health, social service and justice workers must first have a grasp of history and the emotional legacy that today’s generation of Aboriginal people carry. They must also be prepared to blend Aboriginal and Western approaches to match their clients’ unique world views.

Journey to Healing is a comprehensive and practical evidence-based resource. It was written to help prepare students and professionals to provide counselling and social services to Aboriginal people with mental health and addiction issues in urban, rural and isolated settings. The scope of the book is broad; each chapter focuses on a specific topic. Many of the authors are Aboriginal and all are respected experts in their fields. Each author shares his or her scholarly learning, insight, wisdom and experience of addressing addiction and mental health issues in Aboriginal populations.

The guide is intended to serve as a course text for health, social service and justice programs in universities and community colleges. It will also be of interest to social workers, addiction and mental health service providers, and prison, probation, parole and police officers working with Aboriginal communities.

Peter Menzies, BA, BSW, MSW, PhD, is a member of Sagamok Anishnawbek First Nation. He is a private consultant working primarily with First Nations communities in Ontario. Before establishing his private practice, Peter spent 14 years building culturally congruent mental health and addiction programs in partnership with urban and rural First Nations communities through the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Peter is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Social Work at Laurentian University in Sudbury. He received the Centre for Equity in Health and Society’s Entrepreneurial Development and Integration of Services Award in 2005, and the Kaiser Foundation’s Excellence in Indigenous Programming Award in 2011.

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LYNN F. LAVALLÉE, BA, MSC, PhD, is Anishinaabe Métis born in Sudbury, Ontario. She moved to Toronto as a child and grew up in the Regent Park social housing development. As a youth and young adult she faced mental health challenges. Lynn has a BA in psychology and kinesiology, an MSC in community health and a PhD in social work. She is an associate professor at Ryerson University, as well as associate director of the School of Social Work and chair of the Research Ethics Board. Her research interests include the holistic well-being of Indigenous peoples, social and political determinants of health and Indigenous research ethics.

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