60% of Indigenous people say mental health is worse due to COVID-19: survey “We feel that we’re better prepared to provide programming to the community and addressing some of those needs around the pandemic,” she said. “In particular, I think the mental health and mental wellness of people because of the isolation or the ever-evolving changes that we all have to adapt to.”The plan was always to have mental health as a focus the the new Kihew Kawaskasit Health Services Centre’s programming, said Star Blanket Chief Michael Starr.Although he noted drugs and alcohol have become more prevalent in the community as pandemic circumstances took hold, the nation has been grappled for years with a high suicide rate.[ Sign up for our Health IQ.