A USask research project is looking at ways to support Indigenous women who have experience with the criminal justice system, exploring health and wellness through connecting to the land and to culture.

Dr. Alexandra King considers it a more wholistic approach.

She explains that Indigenous women are over-represented in the prison system, which she says is a direct impact of colonization, the sixties scoop and residential schools.

The research team is partnering with the Elizabeth Fry Society to search for ways to support these women.

Dr. King says the research team includes peer researchers who are women who have been through the system and have been successful in their own healing journeys.

Dr. King is also working on a project with her husband, Dr. Malcolm King, which centers around the Recovery Lake Program in the Northern Village of Pinehouse.

The program has been running for many years, promoting wholistic healing for alcohol and substance abuse.

The project will look at what has been done, what has worked, while giving suggestions for more land-and-culture-based activities, and then looking at the outcomes.

Both of these projects have received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.