Our story
OUR VISION
MVISS stands with our healthy, thriving, urban Indigenous community inherently connected to our ancestral visions, grounded in diverse cultural knowledge & practices living in harmonious balance to celebrate each other’s gifts.
OUR MISSION
MVISS provides culturally diverse support services creating a safe & caring environment for people to connect with self and community by healing their trauma to achieve physical, mental, emotional & spiritual wellbeing grounded in Indigenous wisdom and resilience.
Constitution
Purpose of Metro Vancouver Indigenous Services Society
To provide the Indigenous community of Metro Vancouver with:
- Mental health and substance use services
- Training and capacity building services
To assist, support, research, and undertake, if necessary, any program or activity designed to promote mental health and substance use services to the Indigenous community of Metro Vancouver
To provide any other service to the Indigenous Community of Metro Vancouver where there is a gap in services or a need
To provide any other services or support ancillary to the purposes of the Society.
Our Philosophy
We believe in a healing continuum for Indigenous communities from generations of disruptive policies and practices. We base our services on both culturally-based and trauma-informed practices. We acknowledge that we need to address the underlying root causes that lead some Indigenous people into mental wellness challenges and substance misuse. We believe there is nothing wrong with Indigenous cultures that needs to be changed. We assert that in many cases, what Indigenous people experience are normal reactions to abnormal situations.
Our Program Model
Be culturally-based and trauma-informed;
Rely on Indigenous Cultures as the Intervention;
Operate under Relational Care and Indigenous Human Development approaches;
Apply what we refer to as Indigience (a mix between Indigenous Knowledge and program science) to ensure we back up our approaches with a solid evidence-base.