Vancouver Island Indigenous Addiction Recovery Inpatient Program

Addiction Treatment Centred Around Evidenced-Based Treatments and Indigenous Healing

While EHN Edgewood Nanaimo already offers resources and space to engage in Indigenous practices, this program provides further opportunity for Indigenous Peoples to address intergenerational trauma and further explore traditional healing practices. This programming is offered in conjunction with other addiction and mental health programs.

EHN Edgewood Nanaimo’s Indigenous Healing Practices

EHN Edgewood Nanaimo’s Indigenous Healing Program integrates traditional Indigenous healing practices with trauma-informed, patient-centred care. Ceremonies and teachings are offered with deep respect for cultural protocols, often guided by Elders and Knowledge Keepers. Each ceremony supports emotional, spiritual, and physical healing through connection to land, culture, and community. Practices include:

• River Cleanse: a land-based ceremony where participants release emotional burdens into flowing water. As the river carries these offerings away, they symbolically let go of pain, grief, and heaviness. Immersion in nature—feeling the water and hearing the land—soothes the nervous system and reconnects participants with water as a sacred relative and healer.
• Forest Bathing: a grounding ceremony rooted in Indigenous teachings and supported by ecopsychology. Participants spend quiet, mindful time among the trees, restoring balance and fostering belonging to the land. Spiritually, it deepens relationship with the living world and reminds participants that the land is always present, watching, and teaching.
• Land-Based Teachings: where the land itself becomes the teacher. Guided outdoors, participants learn from plants, animals, water, and sky—emphasizing reciprocity, humility, and interconnectedness. These teachings help restore identity, purpose, and belonging while strengthening spiritual connection to the circle of life.
• Medicine Gathering: a respectful practice of learning and collecting traditional medicines. Participants connect with each plant’s teachings and healing properties, fostering gratitude, mindfulness, and pride in cultural traditions. Each medicine serves as a metaphor for personal healing and balance.
• Cedar Brushing: a cleansing ceremony using fresh cedar boughs to sweep away stagnant or heavy energy. This practice grounds the spirit, supports emotional release, and brings clarity. Cedar, one of the four sacred medicines, protects and restores balance during times of emotional change or trauma healing.

• Candling Ceremonies: where participants light candles to honour grief, gain clarity, or mark transitions. The flame represents hope and remembrance, offering a tangible way to release emotions and set intentions. Spiritually, it allows prayers to be carried forward with light.
• Blanket Ceremony: a powerful act of affirmation and belonging. A blanket is placed around the participant, symbolizing protection, honour, and inclusion. Often held during recovery milestones, it provides a deep sense of safety, dignity, and recognition within community.
• Eagle Wing Cleansing: in which an eagle wing or feather is used to fan energy around the body, inviting balance, strength, and sacred awareness. The eagle—messenger to the Creator—represents vision and spiritual elevation, helping participants move toward healing and connection.
• Sacred Pipe Ceremony: one of the most sacred traditional practices, shared only with full spiritual preparation and respect. Smoke from the pipe carries prayers to the Creator, joining participants in humility, truth, and shared purpose. It strengthens connection to Spirit, community, and life’s sacredness.
• Prayer Tie Ceremony: where participants create small cloth bundles filled with tobacco and prayers. These are later offered to the fire, land, or water. This ceremony helps release emotions, set intentions, and affirm agency in healing through spiritual connection and gratitude.
• Traditional Drumming: where participants gather around the Big Drum to sing, share energy, and connect in unity. The drumbeat—echoing the heartbeat of Mother Earth—regulates the nervous system, builds community, and strengthens cultural identity. It reminds each participant of their sacred place within creation.

EHN Edgewood Nanaimo’s Indigenous Healing Program

Located on Vancouver Island, on the traditional and unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples and the traditional territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation, EHN Edgewood Nanaimo has expanded its addiction treatment offering to include a secondary program designed specifically for Indigenous Peoples or other like-minded individuals who:

• Are ready to put substance abuse behind them, in a manner that honours each patient’s culture and understands their trauma.
• Have experienced intergenerational trauma.
• Struggle to function and complete daily tasks, or who are isolated due to trauma, PTSD, or other concurrent mental health disorders.
• Are seeking an introduction to the Red Road to Wellbriety Indigenous 12-step teachings.

Why you should choose Inpatient Addiction Treatment at EHN Edgewood Nanaimo

At EHN Edgewood Nanaimo, the Indigenous Healing Program honours the belief that “the medicine is inside of you.” Developed in collaboration with First Nations knowledge keepers and community members, this program blends clinical care with traditional Indigenous healing practices to support recovery of mind, body, and Spirit. Through ceremony, land-based teachings, and cultural connection, patients are guided to reconnect with themselves, their community, and the natural world as part of their healing journey
Ceremonies such as sweat lodges, smudging, cedar brushing, and river cleanses form the heart of the program, promoting balance and integration of spiritual, emotional, and psychological well-being. Teachings from Elders and storytelling further strengthen resilience and belonging. Rooted in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, the Indigenous Healing Program provides culturally safe, trauma-informed care for all patients—offering an opportunity to heal in a way that honours Indigenous identity, wisdom, and traditions.

About EHN Edgewood Nanaimo

Nestled on the sacred lands of Vancouver Island’s east coast, EHN Edgewood Nanaimo is a private alcohol and addiction treatment centre that honours both personal healing and cultural connection. Surrounded by the natural beauty of towering cedar and fir, the campus offers a space where the Spirit can find peace, and where recovery is guided by respect for the land and its teachings. The gentle flow of nearby waters and the rhythm of nature create a setting that encourages balance, reflection, and renewal.

At the heart of the campus stands a traditional teepee, a sacred gathering place that welcomes ceremony, storytelling, and Indigenous-inspired healing practices. Here, patients are invited to reconnect with their Spirit and culture through holistic approaches that blend traditional wisdom with modern therapeutic care.

The community at EHN Edgewood Nanaimo reflects values of kinship, respect, and collective healing. Patients, Elders, and staff walk together in the recovery journey—sharing meals, participating in land-based activities, and finding strength in one another’s stories. Each day is guided by compassion, cultural humility, and the understanding that healing is most powerful when it includes the heart, the land, and the community.