Indigenous cultural humility in substance use care

Podcast

Season 5: Episode 6 - March 27 2025

Runtime: 43:50

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SHOW NOTES

 

Summary

In this episode, journalist David P. Ball and outreach primary care physician Dr. Terri Aldred discuss the importance of culturally safe and trauma informed substance use care for Indigenous communities. Dr. Aldred shares how her lived experience informs her medical practice, caring for Indigenous Peoples experiencing challenges rooted in colonialism, systemic racism, and health inequities. David and Dr. Aldred also speak with Angela Thomson, Indigenous Wellness Liaison at St. Paul’s Hospital. Angela highlights how Indigenous Wellness Liaisons strengthen communication and build trust between patients and clinicians, which can promote positive health care experiences. Finally, Dr. Danièle Behn Smith, Deputy Provincial Health Officer for Indigenous Health, explores how Indigenous-specific racism is woven into our health care system and how cultural humility and accountability influence clinical practice. Dr. Behn Smith also discusses systemic barriers to care for Indigenous Peoples and the need for culturally grounded, decolonizing approaches to care.

 

Learning Objectives

  1. Develop skills to engage in difficult yet necessary conversations about systemic racism, bias, and colonial harms in substance use care.
  2. Understand how to build trust and communication with Indigenous patients by integrating cultural, spiritual, social, and emotional supports into health care.
  3. Recognize implicit biases and how Indigenous-specific racism and white supremacy are embedded within health care systems and structures.

 

Lineup

In this episode, you’ll hear:

  • 3:14 – Dr. Terri Aldred, Co-host – Tl’Azt’En Nation, mixed European & Métis Cree; outreach primary care physician, Carrier Sekani Family Services; Executive Medical Director Primary Care, First Nations Health Authority
  • 12:08 – Angela Thomson, Guest – Stó:lō Nation; Indigenous Wellness Liaison, St. Paul’s Hospital
  • 24:44 – Dr. Danièle Behn Smith, Guest – Eh Cho Dene & Métis; Deputy Provincial Health Officer, Indigenous Health, Office of the Provincial Health Officer

 

Clinical Pearls

Here’s what listeners can take away from this episode:

    1. Clinicians must recognize how they and their teams may perpetuate harmful biases and systemic racism in their workplace and engage in practices to unlearn harmful assumptions and take meaningful action toward change.
    2. Indigenous Wellness Liaisons can help build trust between patients and providers by advocating for Indigenous patients while helping providers recognize biases against Indigenous Peoples. The inclusion of these roles in health care settings can help foster culturally safe, patient-centred care.
    3. Identifying roles and responsibilities for health care providers is essential to advancing reconciliation in health care. Non-Indigenous providers have a responsibility to recognize and work to dismantle systemic racism in health care, while Indigenous-led efforts focus on cultural restoration.
    4. Unlearning racism in healthcare is not a one-time training but a continuous practice. Structured learning spaces, like “Unlearning Clubs,” can help teams develop shared language, recognize racism in real time, and hold one other accountable.
    5. Health care providers’ non-verbal communication, such as facial expressions, can influence the patient-provider relationship. A welcoming, engaged presence can improve trust and care experiences, while rushed or neutral body language may reinforce stigma and discrimination.

 

Resources

Related to Indigenous Wellness Liaisons and Patient Navigators

Mentioned in episode

Supports, guidelines, and trainings for care providers

Reports and policy briefs

Articles