The Talking Stick is a digital version of a traditional practice in Indigenous communities, and it is now available in Saskatchewan.  If you have the Talking Stick, it’s your opportunity to speak.

Provincial Director of the Talking Stick app, Cecile McKay, describes the free app as a First Nations to First Nations digital chat platform which provides a safe place to share in confidence any concerns, fears, and emotions. Forty per cent are related to isolation, loneliness and depression. Once a conversation is done, the chat is deleted.

In 2022, the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations approached Trycycle Data Systems to build an app for Indigenous people seeking emotional support. The results is the Talking Stick with real live people on the other end of the conversation. They are not professional therapists, but they are trained peer advocates who are there to listen supportively. Thirteen languages are supported with the app, which McKay says includes most of the traditional Indigenous languages in Saskatchewan.

Since the app was launched in 2022, there have been over 195,000 messages exchanged and the average is now over 1,000 texts a month. With the Coroner’s Inquest into the mass stabbings at James Smith Cree Nation and in Weldon, McKay understands that some people may be feeling triggered. She suggests the free Talking Stick app and website as a starting point.

Click here for the Talking Stick website or you can download a free android or apple app.