Healing Our Spirit Worldwide (HOSW)

The CRC for Aboriginal Health and Healing Our Spirit Worldwide

Update:  HOSW June 2009 Update

The CRC for Aboriginal Health is a proud supporter of and committed participant in the Healing Our Spirit Worldwide (HOSW) movement.

The HOSW page on the CRC for Aboriginal Health website is intended to be a point of contact and information for Australians who attended the Fifth HOSW Gathering in Alberta last year and those interested in participating in the next HOSW Gathering in Hawaii, on 3-10 September 2010. The International Indigenous Council for HOSW, which includes CRCAH Chief Executive Officer Mick Gooda, is already engaged in planning to ensure the Sixth Gathering continues the movement’s record of excellence in healing.

If you would like to join an e-community of people interested in HOSW, please subscribe to the CRC for Aboriginal Health website. If you are already a subscriber to the website and want your name added to the HOSW e-community, please email admin@crcah.org.au.

What is the HOSW movement?
The HOSW movement began as one woman’s vision to create an international forum and movement focused on alcohol and drug abuse issues and treatment programs in Indigenous communities throughout the global community.

Maggie Hodgson, a Carriere First Nation woman from Canada, began her lobbying efforts with the International Congress on Alcohol and Addictions (ICAA) and the World Health Organisation in the late 1980s. In 1990 the ICAA included a special track on Indigenous addiction issues at its Berlin Conference. Attended by Indigenous peoples from Canada, New Zealand and Australia, this forum led to a discussion that became the foundation for an international event focused on healing.

Planning for this event began in 1991, with Canadian conference hosts Nechi Institute and the National Native Association of Treatment Directors inviting the National Association for Native American Children of Alcoholics as co-hosts. The event was named Healing Our Spirit Worldwide.

The First Gathering in Edmonton, in 1992, attracted 3300 people from 17 countries around the world. With the Second Gathering (1994) in Sydney, Australia, and the third (1998) in Rotorua, Aotearoa (New Zealand),  HOSW firmly established itself as an international cultural and spiritual movement celebrating the tenacity and resilience of Indigenous peoples around the world in the struggle against alcohol and drug abuse.

The Fourth Gathering, held in Albuquerque, New Mexico (2002), expanded the vision with the inclusion of health and governance issues, and provided two important developments:

• The Covenant—a document designed for use at many levels, promoting health and healing and ensuring these issues have a prominent place in the everyday life of Indigenous peoples around the world—was formulated to provide guidance and direction for Indigenous peoples in developing models of healing, self-determination and wholeness
  
  
• The International Indigenous Council for HOSW, consisting of Indigenous leaders from different countries, was formed. Current membership of the Council is:

- Rod Jeffries, Chairperson
- Allen Benson (Canada)
- Dave Baldridge (United States)
- Barry Bublitz (New Zealand)
- Mick Gooda (Australia)

The Covenant from the Fourth Gathering said:

We, the Indigenous Peoples of the world have come to the HOSW Gathering to affirm our rights to live our lives in the traditional ways of our ancestors through respect, integrity, and honor, and to prepare our nations for the next Seven Generations.

The human rights of all Indigenous Peoples, including in particular our right of self-determination, shall be recognized and respected in accordance with international law. As such, our rights are inalienable and not subject to extinguishments or termination by any domestic, foreign, or international laws.

The Fifth Gathering was held in Edmonton, Alberta, in August 2006 and included a record number of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The CRC for Aboriginal Health sent a delegation of Aboriginal staff and board members including CEO Mick Gooda and Deputy Chair Stephanie Bell. In addition the CRCAH was able to fund, through our Indigenous International Program, nine Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health experts to attend the Fifth Gathering.

An integral component of the Edmonton Gathering was its focus on Indigenous leadership and the need for political action to ensure self-determination encompasses health and healing. The HOSW movement is adamant that health and healing are necessities in order for self-determination to be achieved.

The Sixth Gathering

• Post-Gathering Survey [pdf]
• HOSW The 6th Gathering - Flier [pdf]