About IYMP

The Indigenous Youth Mentorship Program (IYMP), initiated originally as the Aboriginal Youth  Mentorship Program (AYMP) by a participatory research team in Western Canada, is a peer-led health promotion and strengths-based program developed originally for Grade 4  elementary school students in Indigenous school communities in Canada. A local young adult health leader (YAHL) and high school mentors offered the elementary school students cultural teachings, healthy snacks, physical activity games, together with leadership and relationship building activities. The program is based on medicine wheel teachings that encourages respect, relevance, reciprocity, and responsibility.  IYMP aims to improve children’s wellbeing and health and to empower Indigenous youth and communities. Kahnawake has been a participating community since 2016.

In Kahnawake

​With the third iteration of the IYMP in mid-Fall 2019, the key change with the IYMP was the opening of the activity to include any elementary age students who were interested in participating. Logistics around food preparation and types of physical activity were the initial prime focus, and in the Winter of 2020 a few sessions were held at the Kahnawake Youth Center with great success, considering the impact of shut-downs due to the Covid epidemic. KSDPP and the Kahnawake Youth Center have further developed the partnership with the Youth Center taking the lead on IYMP implementation with the  hiring and training of a community young adult health leader.  New teen mentors will be recruited and trained in the Spring and Summer 2022 in preparation of an IYMP launch with Kahnawà:ke elementary schools’ students in Fall 2022.

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Past Evaluation The five characteristics identified as important for IYMP delivery were a sense of ownership by those delivering the program, inclusion of Indigenous Elders/knowledge keepers, establishing trusting relationships, open communication among all stakeholder groups, including community and academic partners, and adequate program supports in the form of program funding, manuals that described program activities, and local and national gatherings between academic and community partners for sharing ideas about the program and its components. This study indicates the importance of respectful partnerships between community and academic leads for program success and sustainability. As IYMP is implemented in more communities and becomes community autonomous, program sustainability may be ensured, and implementation challenges mitigated by embedding the identified five essential characteristics within the fabric of IYMP.

​(Lopresti S, Willows ND, Storey K E, McHugh TF. (2021) Indigenous Youth Mentorship Program Health Promotion International, 2021, 1–11 doi: 10.1093/heapro/daab039)