This Qungasvik is a collection of solutions. Qungasvik is Yup’ik for “toolbox.” This book is called Qungasvik because it contains tools to help Yup’ik communities find their own answers to the tragedies of suicide and drug and alcohol abuse.
Qungasvik is also the story of how two communities, along with the Center for Alaska Native Health Research (CANHR) joined together to find ways to give youth reasons for living and sobriety that make sense within their own community. “This project came at the very moment that we asked ourselves what can we do to deal with our problems,” said an elder who helped make the Qungasvik.
To use Qungasvik each community decides which of the tools to use and how to use them, based on the community’s own knowledge, resources and the advice of their elders. The Qungasvik is organized into three parts. The first part is the introduction. This will tell you how the toolbox was developed and how to use the tools. It will tell you about the “People Awakening” project, which is a study that found common ground in what Alaska Natives said saved them from drug abuse, alcohol addiction and suicide. The common ground is what are called “protective factors” and they are the basis for the tools in the Qungasvik.
The tools, or modules, are the second section. The tools describe ways to create experiences to promote reasons for living and sobriety. You decide which modules to use and how to use them. The third part is the appendix. This contains handouts for the tools.
Population of focus: Youth in Yup’ik and Cup’ik communities in Alaska
Link to resource: http://www.uaf.edu/canhr/projects/elluam/Qungasvik.pdf
Organization: Center for Alaska Native Health Research
Date: 2012