A Yellowknife organization plans to train more Indigenous people to be counsellors in the Northwest Territories.

"We ask our clients and they always say they would rather have an Indigenous counsellor," said Roy Erasmus, a counsellor at Dene Wellness Warriors in Yellowknife.

"They feel more at ease ... It's a person that would know their culture better and where they're coming from."

Erasmus and his wife run the counselling service that helps people in the territory's capital and in smaller communities.

They're partnering with Rhodes Wellness College, a Vancouver-based college that teaches counselling courses, on a program to train new Indigenous counsellors. The goal is to train 25 people from the Northwest Territories.

Split between N.W.T. and B.C.

"There really isn't a lot of capable, well trained counsellors ... that are available to work in some of the smaller communities and even the major communities," said Ben Colling, the college's president.

Roy Erasmus is a counsellor with the Dene Wellness Warriors in Yellowknife. (Facebook)

Colling said the plan is for the program to be two years long. He said students would spend their first year training in Yellowknife and finish the program in Vancouver.

Those who complete the program would take their national exam from the Canadian Professional Counselling Association.

"Once they finish the national exam, the plan is to have them go back to the Northwest Territories and have them complete their practicum ... so that they can actually give back to the communities immediately," said Colling.

The practicum would involve working, while being supervised by a counsellor, for 120 hours over six weeks.

The 25 students have yet to be selected. Colling said they plan to work with First Nations in the Northwest Territories to identify people who already have an "affinity" for counselling. The chosen students must be one year sober, and must have a minimum literacy level.

The program is now looking for funding. It's expected to start in September 2020.