For Eric Nahwegahbow, Friday’s gathering had personal and professional significance.

Nahwegahbow was at the N’Swakamok Native Friendship Centre for the day-long Men’s Healing and Wellness Gathering, organized by the ShkagamikKwe Health Centre.

“I’m not working right now … but I work in addictions and (mental health) … so this extra information is useful, too,” he said.

He started working with people with these issues because of his own difficult past, he added, choosing not to elaborate.

“The culture in working with First Nations people … I’ve been helped, and I wanted to give back and also help, too.”

The gathering, organized by the health centre’s Men’s Victim Support Program, featured guest speakers Rosalee Tizya, a trauma facilitator/elder and Herb Nabigon, a Laurentian University professor.

The Men’s Victim Support Program is run through the Ontario Victim Services Secretariat, a division of the Ministry of the Attorney General. The program addresses the need for services for aboriginal men who experienced sexual abuse as a child.