By Mari-Len De Guzman
Finding culturally safe, holistic support for Indigenous patients can often feel like a missing piece in daily primary care practice. The Chilliwack Division of Family Practice helps facilitate this connection through its traditional wellness program.
Muriel Victor, the Division’s traditional wellness mentor, believes that blending traditional healing modalities — such as plant-based remedies and narrative sharing — with modern medicine can bridge the gap in Indigenous patient wellness.
“I call it the best of both worlds,” says Victor, a certified charter herbalist and Indigenous educator. “I’d like our Indigenous population to get the best of both worlds if that’s what they choose.”
As traditional wellness mentor, Victor serves as a resource for primary care providers and clinicians in Chilliwack, Hope, Agassiz, and surrounding communities, to help ensure Indigenous patients receive care that honours both their clinical needs and their cultural identity.
Helping providers understand how to leverage and collaborate with her role is an important part of Victor’s work, and so is educating the local Indigenous communities.
“People don’t often know this option exists, which is why I do a lot of engagement. I go and talk to a lot of people and let them know where I’m located and what I can do,” she says.
Sacred space
Indigenous sacred space inside Chilliwack Urgent and Primary Care Centre
Victor’s Indigenous sacred space is located inside the Chilliwack Urgent and Primary Care Centre on Evans Road.
While a good amount of her work involves helping her clients understand and access traditional healing and plant-based remedies, Victor says every client that comes through her doors has unique needs that go beyond just herbal medicine.
“I do whatever the Indigenous person needs to help them get to wellness or take more steps towards wellness — whatever that looks like — and it’s different for every person,” she says.
Sometimes, they might just need a conversation, talk about what they’re feeling or share stories. Other times, they can just be sitting quietly, until they are ready to talk.
Victor works one-on-one with clients to build a tailored individual wellness plan — an approach that came out of her own healing journey that began years ago.
“I had some pretty complex medication, along with stuff for my mental health — anxiety, depression — sleeping pills, and a whole bunch of things,” Victor recalls.
She then worked closely with her own physician to safely taper off heavy prescription medications while incorporating traditional plant remedies. That experience taught her the power of blending Western clinical oversight with traditional modalities, a balance she now applies to her practice at the Division.
While clients would often ask for general advice on herbal remedies, Victor avoids blanket prescriptions.
“There are so many factors,” Victor explains. “I can’t just say, ‘Take it for three weeks, two times a day,’ when I don’t know them, their age, or their prescription medications.”
Through an individual wellness plan, she takes time to understand each patient’s full health picture. Because herbal remedies can interact with conventional treatments, Victor occasionally collaborates with clinicians and providers to review prescription lists — ensuring that traditional options, like hawthorn or calming teas, complement rather than conflict with a patient’s clinical care.
Walk and harvest
Victor takes a group through a walking journey that teaches participants the healing and wellness benefits of some plants that abundantly grow in the wild.
A staple in Victor’s traditional wellness services is the regular Plant Walk and Harvest activities that she leads several times a year.
Hosted by Cristal Biela, community health specialist with Fraser Health, at her property in Chilliwack, event participants are taken on a foraging journey where Victor introduces them to some of the natural healing and wellness properties of the different wild plants that grow across the Fraser Valley.
These activities not only teach participants how to identify medicinally beneficial plants, it also educates them about food sovereignty, tree knowledge and promoting environmental diversity and sustainability.
Initially intended for primary care providers to help increase their knowledge on Indigenous healing methods, the Plant Walk and Harvest events are now open to the public, Victor says.
Complementing primary care
For primary care and other health and social services providers in Chilliwack and surrounding areas, connecting a patient or client with Victor is designed to be straightforward and low-barrier.
Referrals can come directly from primary care clinics, local hospitals or community organizations. Patients can also self-refer, connect through community events, or simply walk into her space at the UPCC.
Victor notes that initiating this connection in a primary care visit can be as simple as asking a gentle, open-ended question during routine screening.
“If a patient identifies as Indigenous, (providers) can simply ask if the patient would like to connect with a traditional wellness mentor or cultural advisor,” Victor says. “Sometimes just knowing that option exists opens up a whole new door for them.”
Victor also offers to attend clinical appointments alongside clients who feel anxious or hesitant talking to health-care providers, serving as a supportive, culturally safe bridge to ensure the patient feels heard.
Integrating traditional wellness into primary care is not about replacing Western medicine — it’s about providing Indigenous patients with wrap-around support that builds trust and fosters long-term health.