As a youngster growing up in Williams Lake, B.C., and Spruce Grove, Alberta, Taelina Andreychuk was a typical small-town kid.
"My dad is a welder so my parents would just travel around in a trailer, wherever he would find work," she says. "We had an acreage with lots of animals, so I was kind of a country bumpkin," she laughs.
Andreychuk, who earned a Bachelor of Psychiatric Nursing degree from MacEwan University, is currently taking science courses at the University of Alberta in a bid to get into medical school and ultimately, become a practicing psychiatrist.
Although she has a Ukrainian surname, it wasn't until she was a 15-year-old high school student at Spruce Grove's St. Thomas Acquinas Catholic School that Andreychuk realized she was Metis.
"I had no idea really what it meant at first. My parents and grandparents weren't trying to hide it, but they didn't celebrate it either," she says. "But I have an aunt in Athabasca who is really involved in the Metis community. She told me it was part of my background, so I should learn about it."
That piqued Andreychuk's curiousity. She joined a youth group at Enoch Cree Nation, west of Edmonton, and travelled with them to Australia in 2008 to participate in World Youth Day.
But the real turning point for Andreychuk happened a year or two later, when her aunt encouraged her to spend a summer at Metis Crossing, a unique Metis Cultural Centre in Smoky Lake, Alberta.
"It's a cultural interpretive center that hosts cultural celebrations, education, social gatherings, and business development activities, specifically for Metis people. I remember interacting with the elders and making bannock on a stick. It was the first time I really connected with my culture," she says.
Meanwhile, Andreychuk was toying with the idea of pursuing a career in healthcare. Through CAREERS: The Next Generation, a nonprofit group that helps young people explore career options through internships, she began volunteering at Spruce Grove's WestView Health Centre.
"I remember spending time with this one elderly woman. I'd just go and talk to her for an hour a day. It was basically therapeutic conversation," she recalls.
"Anyway, after I finished my internship, this woman and her husband asked if they could take me to dinner. They were really sweet. The gentleman even wore a top hat. It made me realize that just having a conversation can have a big impact. It was a spark that got me thinking about nursing."
After her first year at MacEwan, Andreychuk did a summer internship at Rupertsland Institute, a nonprofit affiliate of the Metis Nation of Alberta that focuses on education, training and research.
"I'd help people do job searches, prepare resumes and cover letters, and help students apply for scholarships and bursaries. It was a really impactful experience for me," says Andreychuk. That prompted her to apply for a Belcourt Brosseau Metis Awards scholarship, which she won.
"It was a huge moment for me. The Belcourt Brosseau Metis Award Foundation put on a wonderful celebration for the awards recipients, their families, foundation members and scholarship sponsors."
Andreychuk's Metis background and growing awareness of the disparities between big city healthcare services and the services available to those who live on reserves led her to seek a summer psychiatric nursing post at Maskwacis, in Central Alberta. She was the first psychiatric nursing student from MacEwan to work on a reserve.
Maskwacis is a sprawling First Nation community that includes four Cree reserves including the Ermineskin Cree, the Samson Cree, the Louis Bull First Nation and Montana First Nation. Although Maskwacis has its share of violence, illicit drugs and gangs, that's not what bothered Andreychuk most. It was the disparity she saw in the quality of healthcare services.
"It was a culture shock. It's like a country within a country. They didn't even have a 911 line for emergencies," she says.
"I remember asking someone, 'Why don't we have a psychiatrist here?' I'll never forget the response. It was: 'You don't know where you are.' That was really impactful for me. Just because they live on a reserve, they don't have psychiatrists. It was a total shock."
Despite the challenges - or because of them - Andreychuk found the experience of working in Maskwacis immensely rewarding. "The people who work there are very motivated to help people in the community. They're just so caring," she says.
Nonetheless, that experience didn't prepare Andreychuk for what came next: a two-month stint as a volunteer at a psychiatric hospital in Cusco, Peru, the historic capital of the Inca empire.
"It was really hard. Nothing was organized. People slept on concrete floors. They'd get medications donated from First World countries, but they'd just toss the pills out to anyone. Patients with schizophrenia would get diabetes medications, and people with developmental disabilities would get antidepressants," she says.
"There was no distinction between mental illness, developmental disabilities or forensic issues. I interacted with one gentleman, who, because of command hallucinations, had murdered someone. The hospital's method to care for this person was to lock him in a five-by-five foot concrete room and allow him to walk back and forth in the facility for 10 minutes every two weeks. This had been his treatment plan for over 10 years."
Last fall, Andreychuk completed her studies at MacEwan. For a time she worked at Ambrose Place, a supportive housing community in Edmonton's McCauley neighbourhood. It focuses on Indigenous people who are chronically homeless and typically struggle with psychiatric and / or physical health issues as well as substance use.
Andreychuk subsequently moved to the Edmonton Community Mental Health Clinic on 108 Street, just north of the Alberta Legislature Building, where she continues to work largely with Indigenous clients as part of a multi-discipline team that includes psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists and other specialists.
"We focus on what the client needs and what's important to them. There isn't one specific approach for anyone who is Indigenous. We just try to be open to things and let the client lead. It's all about helping people to cope with all kinds of different issues, whether it's drugs or alcohol or trauma," she says.
"Sometimes clients will bring a certain history of inter-generational trauma from the residential schools, things like that. So you just need to be open to these things and be trauma-informed, as we call it, and how they want to be healed."
At 26, Andreychuk has already compiled an impressive catalogue of rich life experiences, and her passion for helping vulnerable Indigenous people is obvious. Perhaps that's why she was asked to share her stories with the Psychiatry Residents at the University of Alberta, while she prepares to apply to medical school.
"I didn't study physics or chemistry at MacEwan, so I'm currently working to build my foundation in these areas by studying at the U of A. My strength comes from my experiences and passion. That's what I think I can bring to the table," she says.
"When I worked in Maskwacis and they said, 'You don't know where you are, there are no psychiatrists here,' that always bothered me. I would love to be that person who can come to their community and offer those services. That's something I would love to do - to be a small part of filling the need for Indigenous psychiatrists and people with Indigenous knowledge. That's what motivates me."
"My dad is a welder so my parents would just travel around in a trailer, wherever he would find work," she says. "We had an acreage with lots of animals, so I was kind of a country bumpkin," she laughs.
Andreychuk, who earned a Bachelor of Psychiatric Nursing degree from MacEwan University, is currently taking science courses at the University of Alberta in a bid to get into medical school and ultimately, become a practicing psychiatrist.
Although she has a Ukrainian surname, it wasn't until she was a 15-year-old high school student at Spruce Grove's St. Thomas Acquinas Catholic School that Andreychuk realized she was Metis.
"I had no idea really what it meant at first. My parents and grandparents weren't trying to hide it, but they didn't celebrate it either," she says. "But I have an aunt in Athabasca who is really involved in the Metis community. She told me it was part of my background, so I should learn about it."
That piqued Andreychuk's curiousity. She joined a youth group at Enoch Cree Nation, west of Edmonton, and travelled with them to Australia in 2008 to participate in World Youth Day.
But the real turning point for Andreychuk happened a year or two later, when her aunt encouraged her to spend a summer at Metis Crossing, a unique Metis Cultural Centre in Smoky Lake, Alberta.
"It's a cultural interpretive center that hosts cultural celebrations, education, social gatherings, and business development activities, specifically for Metis people. I remember interacting with the elders and making bannock on a stick. It was the first time I really connected with my culture," she says.
Meanwhile, Andreychuk was toying with the idea of pursuing a career in healthcare. Through CAREERS: The Next Generation, a nonprofit group that helps young people explore career options through internships, she began volunteering at Spruce Grove's WestView Health Centre.
"I remember spending time with this one elderly woman. I'd just go and talk to her for an hour a day. It was basically therapeutic conversation," she recalls.
"Anyway, after I finished my internship, this woman and her husband asked if they could take me to dinner. They were really sweet. The gentleman even wore a top hat. It made me realize that just having a conversation can have a big impact. It was a spark that got me thinking about nursing."
After her first year at MacEwan, Andreychuk did a summer internship at Rupertsland Institute, a nonprofit affiliate of the Metis Nation of Alberta that focuses on education, training and research.
"I'd help people do job searches, prepare resumes and cover letters, and help students apply for scholarships and bursaries. It was a really impactful experience for me," says Andreychuk. That prompted her to apply for a Belcourt Brosseau Metis Awards scholarship, which she won.
"It was a huge moment for me. The Belcourt Brosseau Metis Award Foundation put on a wonderful celebration for the awards recipients, their families, foundation members and scholarship sponsors."
Andreychuk's Metis background and growing awareness of the disparities between big city healthcare services and the services available to those who live on reserves led her to seek a summer psychiatric nursing post at Maskwacis, in Central Alberta. She was the first psychiatric nursing student from MacEwan to work on a reserve.
Maskwacis is a sprawling First Nation community that includes four Cree reserves including the Ermineskin Cree, the Samson Cree, the Louis Bull First Nation and Montana First Nation. Although Maskwacis has its share of violence, illicit drugs and gangs, that's not what bothered Andreychuk most. It was the disparity she saw in the quality of healthcare services.
"It was a culture shock. It's like a country within a country. They didn't even have a 911 line for emergencies," she says.
"I remember asking someone, 'Why don't we have a psychiatrist here?' I'll never forget the response. It was: 'You don't know where you are.' That was really impactful for me. Just because they live on a reserve, they don't have psychiatrists. It was a total shock."
Despite the challenges - or because of them - Andreychuk found the experience of working in Maskwacis immensely rewarding. "The people who work there are very motivated to help people in the community. They're just so caring," she says.
Nonetheless, that experience didn't prepare Andreychuk for what came next: a two-month stint as a volunteer at a psychiatric hospital in Cusco, Peru, the historic capital of the Inca empire.
"It was really hard. Nothing was organized. People slept on concrete floors. They'd get medications donated from First World countries, but they'd just toss the pills out to anyone. Patients with schizophrenia would get diabetes medications, and people with developmental disabilities would get antidepressants," she says.
"There was no distinction between mental illness, developmental disabilities or forensic issues. I interacted with one gentleman, who, because of command hallucinations, had murdered someone. The hospital's method to care for this person was to lock him in a five-by-five foot concrete room and allow him to walk back and forth in the facility for 10 minutes every two weeks. This had been his treatment plan for over 10 years."
Last fall, Andreychuk completed her studies at MacEwan. For a time she worked at Ambrose Place, a supportive housing community in Edmonton's McCauley neighbourhood. It focuses on Indigenous people who are chronically homeless and typically struggle with psychiatric and / or physical health issues as well as substance use.
Andreychuk subsequently moved to the Edmonton Community Mental Health Clinic on 108 Street, just north of the Alberta Legislature Building, where she continues to work largely with Indigenous clients as part of a multi-discipline team that includes psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists and other specialists.
"We focus on what the client needs and what's important to them. There isn't one specific approach for anyone who is Indigenous. We just try to be open to things and let the client lead. It's all about helping people to cope with all kinds of different issues, whether it's drugs or alcohol or trauma," she says.
"Sometimes clients will bring a certain history of inter-generational trauma from the residential schools, things like that. So you just need to be open to these things and be trauma-informed, as we call it, and how they want to be healed."
At 26, Andreychuk has already compiled an impressive catalogue of rich life experiences, and her passion for helping vulnerable Indigenous people is obvious. Perhaps that's why she was asked to share her stories with the Psychiatry Residents at the University of Alberta, while she prepares to apply to medical school.
"I didn't study physics or chemistry at MacEwan, so I'm currently working to build my foundation in these areas by studying at the U of A. My strength comes from my experiences and passion. That's what I think I can bring to the table," she says.
"When I worked in Maskwacis and they said, 'You don't know where you are, there are no psychiatrists here,' that always bothered me. I would love to be that person who can come to their community and offer those services. That's something I would love to do - to be a small part of filling the need for Indigenous psychiatrists and people with Indigenous knowledge. That's what motivates me."