Strengthening Culturally Responsive Mental Health Supports for Crises Preparedness: Lessons From Indigenous Educator's Experiences During COVID-19 Pandemic.

Six baseline thematic categories emerged from Indigenous educators' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

• Thematic analysis was conducted using NVivo 12 software.
• The six baseline themes were: emotional toll of lockdown, teaching challenges, student concerns, community support, school reopening barriers, and resilience strategies.
• Baseline focus groups were conducted in 2020 with 18 educators from an on-reserve school in a prairie province of Canada.
• Participants were educators from a single on-reserve school setting in a rural or remote Indigenous community.

Three follow-up themes emerged from educator discussions in 2021 reflecting sustained and evolving pandemic impacts.

• Follow-up discussions in 2021 involved a subset of 6 educators (n = 6) from the original baseline cohort.
• The three follow-up themes were: sustained mental health impacts, adaptation to online teaching, and evolving coping strategies.
• The longitudinal design allowed comparison of themes across two time points (2020 and 2021).

Two-Eyed Seeing, integrating Indigenous and Western knowledge, was identified across both study phases as supporting mental well-being, culturally grounded teaching, and community resilience.

• Two-Eyed Seeing appeared as a cross-cutting framework in both baseline and follow-up phases.
• It supported educator mental well-being, culturally grounded teaching practices, and broader community resilience.
• This approach bridged Indigenous knowledge systems with Western pedagogical and mental health frameworks.

Digital tools including virtual focus groups and a custom mobile application enabled inclusive participation despite geographic and pandemic-related barriers.

• The study was conducted as a qualitative longitudinal citizen science study.
• Participants were located in rural and remote Indigenous communities where geographic barriers limited in-person engagement.
• A custom mobile application was developed and used alongside virtual focus groups as data collection and engagement tools.
• The use of these digital tools was described as feasible and meaningful for this population.

Indigenous educators in rural and remote communities faced compounding challenges during the pandemic including sudden shifts to remote learning and limited access to technology.

• Educators experienced sudden shifts to remote learning during COVID-19 lockdowns.
• Limited access to technology was identified as a specific barrier in on-reserve school settings.
• Educators faced challenges supporting students' well-being while simultaneously adapting their own pedagogical practices.
• The pandemic intensified existing systemic inequities in educator mental health specific to these communities.

The study found a need to strengthen digital access, provide culturally informed mental health supports, and deepen collaboration with Indigenous communities to protect educator well-being during crises.

• Findings pointed to gaps in digital infrastructure in rural and remote Indigenous communities.
• Culturally informed mental health supports were identified as distinct from generic or Western-only mental health resources.
• Deeper collaboration with Indigenous communities was highlighted as essential for crisis preparedness.
• These findings were framed in the context of building more inclusive and resilient school health systems.