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Home » Indigenous Health » Education and Training » Manitoba Indigenous Cultural Safety Training (MICST)

Manitoba Indigenous Cultural Safety Training (MICST)

Winnipeg Regional Health Authority is now offering online cultural safety training. The Manitoba Indigenous Cultural Safety Training (MICST) program is designed for service providers who work directly or indirectly with Indigenous people in Manitoba.

MICST is addressing a need in the province to offer more accessible and flexible cultural education options for services providers. MICST aims to improve our ability to develop and deliver culturally safe care.

What is Cultural Safety?

Cultural safety expands the concept of cultural understanding to analyze power imbalances, institutional discrimination, colonization and colonial relationships as they apply to, and impact on, service delivery. Cultural safety means providing services that show respect for culture and identity, incorporate a person’s needs and rights, and are free of discrimination. It requires us to examine our history, policies, and processes that create power imbalance and health and social inequities between Indigenous people and all others. Indigenous cultural safety is often seen on a continuum that includes cultural awareness, cultural sensitivity and cultural competence.

What the Training Consists Of:

MICST is on-line, asynchronous and facilitated delivered over an 8 week period.  Each cohort consists of 25 participants, and on average, participants take about 8-10 hours to complete the training.  Components of the training include discussion boards and journal entries allowing participants to connect with facilitators and other participants. Participants can:

  • Learn about  the concept of culture, as well as cultural diversity among Indigenous peoples and the context and legacy of colonization
  • Gain an understanding of the health disparities of Indigenous people including social determinants of health as they relate to Indigenous people and the importance of cultural safety in reducing health disparities
  • Gain an understanding of the potential role of culture and Indigenous healing in patient care
  • Explore their own cultural assumptions, beliefs and attitudes with respect to Indigenous people

How it was Developed

Winnipeg Regional Health Authority partnered with B.C.'s Provincial Health Services Authority Indigenous Health Program to utilize B.C's Indigenous Cultural Safety training program with revised content relevant for service providers in Manitoba. The B.C. ICS content was reviewed  and changed by a local advisory council to ensure Manitoba specific information suitable for educating care providers in our province. The advisory council included Indigenous elders, First Nations, Métis and Inuit people, and senior staff from participating organizations such as Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, other regional health authorities, the University of Manitoba, and Manitoba Health.

Who Can Take the Training?

All staff and partners of Winnipeg Regional Health Authority are encouraged to participate in the training but must receive approval from their manager/director in order to move forward with the training. All managers are encouraged to take the training as well as identify staff that could benefit from the training and approve their participation.

Why is this Training Offered?

Winnipeg Regional Health Authority is committed to initiatives that ensure patients and their families receive respect, equitable care and dignity in every interaction.  Training and education improves our ability to provide culturally safe care for Indigenous patients and their families.

Register for Manitoba Indigenous Cultural Safety Training

Registration for MICST begins with a Participant Approval Form being completed and signed off by the participant's direct report. Completed forms can be scanned and emailed to [email protected]. Once received by MICST, an email will be sent out to participant informing of next steps.

For further information, please contact IH-Centralized Support at (204) 940-8880.

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