Germaine, N.S., & D'Antimo, S. (2023). An Introspective Look into Barriers and Facilitators to Accessing Post-Secondary Indigenous Support. Indspire. https://indspire.ca/about/reports/
This study is the follow-up to the earlier report by Indspire, “Barriers and Facilitators for Accessing Indigenous Supports Literature Review” (St. Germaine, 2023). This literature review outlined the historical background (e.g., historical trauma and disconnection from community and culture) determining why Indigenous post-secondary students often require additional support. The literature review also examined why culturally relevant support seem to be more effective than non-culturally relevant ones, as well as identified several barriers to accessing the support. The review recognized that campus mental health services can provide culturally relevant support by hiring Indigenous counsellors or training non-Indigenous counsellors to address Indigenous-specific issues.
The prior literature review (St. Germaine, 2023) identified the scarcity of literature examining the accessibility of on-campus Indigenous support. This exploratory study sought to assess support most needed by Indigenous students, the factors that impact students’ decisions to access Indigenous support, and the barriers that impact Indigenous student services’ ability to provide quality support. To do this, we utilized focus groups with Indigenous post-secondary students as well as semi-structured interviews with administrators at Indigenous student services. The purpose of this study is to use the stories of the participating students and administrators to inform areas where support is needed for Indigenous students.