Jason Young is PI on a grant from the iSchool for the project “Co-Designing Open Educational Resources: Indigenous Wellbeing in the Arctic.”
The primary objective of the grant project is to build the capacity of an interdisciplinary team to develop and carry out research related to Indigenous mental health services in the Arctic. The research team represents a new collaboration between experts in Arctic social work, mental health, education, and technology development.
Co-PIs include Nadine Fabbi, managing director of the Canadian Studies Center; Tram Nguyen, UW’s 2021-22 Fulbright Canada Visiting Chair in Arctic Studies; Patricia Johnston, UW’s 2020-22 Banting Postdoctoral Fellow; and Jessica Saniġaq Ullrich, UW alumni and now assistant professor of Social Work at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Ullrich’s research focuses on the development of an Indigenous Connectedness Framework for Child Wellbeing. The Nome Eskimo Community, has requested that this framework guide curriculum development to assist the community in integrating Indigenous concepts and relationship-centered actions to promote wellbeing. The development of curriculum for the Nome Eskimo Community could act as a pilot study that sets the stage for the expansion of this framework to other Arctic communities. Both zoom and on-site visits will be planned with the Nome Eskimo Community.
These meetings will formulate short- and long-term strategies for developing a research agenda and for the team to apply for larger grants. The work will be presented back to the community by way of a brief lay-summary that may be posted on the Nome Eskimo Community website and/or shared over radio/in print within the community.
The project will support the development of a long-term research agenda and grant proposals in the area of Arctic Native mental health. Results of this research agenda will directly contribute to understandings of mental health and wellbeing in Arctic communities, as well as understandings of the applied educational tools that can support improved wellbeing.