As an Aboriginal Health Access Centres (AHAC), we provide innovative, Indigenous-informed health care to First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities in southwestern Ontario from Windsor to Waterloo Wellington and north to Owen Sound. AHACs operate from a wholistic Indigenous health framework which is often referred to by Indigenous people as “the good life” or as restoring the “good mind.” The framework focuses on the restoration and rebalancing of the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of Indigenous people, families, communities and Nations, and understands “culture as treatment.”

The model of care recognizes Indigenous rights to determination in health, and Indigenous traditional healers and healing approaches, and blends them with culturally competent, western clinical practices in a comprehensive continuum of care from health promotion and prevention to treatment and rehabilitation. The model also recognizes the importance of the interconnectedness of individuals, families, Nations, environment and spirit world within our life support system.