Smoking and vaping among young First Nations people are often treated as individual risk behaviours. This session offers a collective viewpoint on the impact of colonisation on the mental health and wellbeing of First Nations youth. Drawing on the Healing Our Spirit project, this presentation will show how the Young Indigenous Mental Health Model of Care (YIMMHC), Elder-designed tools such as the river metaphor, and Yolŋu community researchers are changing how mental health prevalence is understood and measured. It makes the case for prevention, cessation and mental health care that are designed together, guided by Indigenous governance and data sovereignty.