Tales From the Sock Drawer: Multicolored Complications

Check out this 3-part political puppet show film that my fellow MSW students and I produced as a project for our Community Work class with Dr. Michael Yellow Bird. I co-directed, filmed, and edited it. Enjoy!

The Chicano Movement

The following is Part 1 of Chicano! History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement.Video. NLCC Educational Media, 1996.

Photos of my mom and friends in high school, North Denver, mid 1970's

Community Organizing By Native American Youth

EHS Indian Ed Parent Night, November 2009

I am very grateful and honored to have the opportunity to facilitate the Native American Club at Zane Middle School as part of my MSW internship this year. The Eureka City Schools Indian Education Program is going through a transition this year, part of which has included the continued effort to provide comprehensive support services to Native American students at Zane Middle School, Zoe Barnum High School, and Eureka High School. As an intern, I am involved in the planning and implementation of Indian Ed services at Zane. The Native American club meets once per week during the lunch period. Its development is ongoing and strengthening with relationships and purpose. What began with our first club meeting, consisting of three students and myself, has grown to nearly thirty students, teachers, and parents attending and welcoming guest speakers. Initially, the students brainstormed their ideas about what they wanted for their club. For the most part they wanted to learn more about Native American culture and create opportunities for the entire school to learn as well. Topics brought up included: languages, songs, stories, traditions, art, and history. The students also offered many ideas of community members and relatives that could be potential guest speakers. So far we have welcomed a Native drummer/singer and a local Native author/historian, and we hope to have many more guest speakers throughout the year. We will also be partnering with Eureka High School’s Indian Club to create a bridge between schools and plan community events. I was very inspired by the Eureka High School Indian Ed Parent Night that was held in November. It was organized by a student who took it on as her senior project, with support from the EHS Indian Club, EHS Multicultural Club, and administration. Local well known Native community members performed and gave speeches, many local businesses donated items to raffle, the EHS Multicultural club prepared Indian tacos, and families contributed food for the potluck. Over 100 people were in attendance, which set an unprecedented turnout for Native families at an Indian Ed event. The success of that evening showed that Native students, when given opportunities and support, can be powerful community organizers who may be able to reconnect their families with schools and set standards for other Native students to work towards and maintain. My hope is that the students at Zane will likewise learn to organize and facilitate their club themselves so that it will be ongoing and cohesive long after my internship has ended.

EHS Indian Ed Parent Night, November 2009

Holistic Healing

Below is a paper I wrote for my SW541 course, Rural Social Work Practice with Native American Communities (summer 2009) about holistic health services provided at UIHS Potowat Health Village in Arcata, CA.

The mouth of the Potowat (aka Mad River). Photo taken by me, October 2009.

The holistic view sees all parts of life as interrelated. Our spiritual life, our family relations, our emotions, our thinking, and our physical health are related to each other and to our environment (Swinomish Mental Health Project, 2002).

I interviewed Gerald Green who works at United Indian Health Services/Potowat Health Village. He is a Certified Substance Abuse Counselor who works with Native Americans in recovery. Potowat Health Village is a community wellness center available to Native Americans, using a holistic health model. The holistic model emphasizes the inter-relationship between physical, social, spiritual, and environmental systems (Swinomish Tribal Mental Health Program, 2002). This is in contrast to the more conventionally used medical model of healthcare. Provided at PHV are child and family services, community health and wellness services, dental services, medical services, nutrition services, and pharmacy services. It is the combination of all this that makes the Indian community come together as a whole, and improves the overall health and wellness of everyone involved. Some have said that UIHS is truly a leader in Indian health because of always having been an Indian governed clinic, as well as (its) history of success in developing long-lasting culturally sensitive programs that meet the needs of the people (UIHS, 2009). Gerald Green works in the Child and Family Services department at Potowat. He provides a variety of services to individuals and groups including one-on-one counseling, twelve-step groups and facilitating traditional healing ceremonies, primarily purification sweat groups. The Child & Family Services Department (CFS) of United Indian Health Services (UIHS) is committed to providing culturally competent treatment and prevention of the highest quality with integrity and excellence; and to promote the spiritual, emotional, and physical well being of adults, children and families in our community (UIHS, 2009).

Gerald has been a CSAC at Potowat for approximately four years. He acquired his certification through the Addiction Studies program at College of the Redwoods and the CAR Institute. He was an intern at Potowat prior to his employment. When asked about his strengths regarding his work with clients, Gerald quickly answered that he is honest with them. This told me that he has learned from his work that honesty is necessary in building trusting relationships, in order to help create change. He stated, “I think you have to genuinely care about people and be genuinely supportive.” Gerald seems to truly understand the struggles of local Native Americans, especially substance abuse. In 2007, over 1 in 8 American Indians and Alaska Natives aged 12 or older were classified with substance dependence or abuse in the past year (13 percent) compared with less than 1 in 10 (9 percent) of the total population the same age (NSSATS Report, 2009). Gerald said, “It is a hard thing to see in your community. There is a lot of heartache and pain that goes along with this work.” I asked what keeps him going and he explained that that he has seen a lot of success stories in which families have been saved. He said there is a domino effect when people recover from addiction. When one person is successful, it changes a lot of people’s lives. I asked how he manages dealing with the heartache and pain that is so prevalent in his profession. He talked about how important it is to set boundaries so that he doesn’t take work home with him and to practice self care so that he maintains a well balanced life.

I asked Gerald to give me his perspective on the holistic work that he does. He explained that spiritual influence enhances the services at Potowat. He feels fortunate to be a part of a clinic that offers more than just medical care. He stated, “Cultural traditions are strengths.” He also discussed the fact that twelve step groups can be very uncomfortable for those in recovery and when everyone in a group shares a cultural identity it can be a plus. A positive cultural identity is crucial for mental health (Swinomish Tribal Mental Health Project, 2002). Gerald noted that not all Native Americans know their cultural history and may feel ashamed about that. Providing culturally integrated services gives clients the opportunity to be connected with their community’s traditions, if even for the first time.

Gerald noted that within the Native American community, familial bonds could be a source of both strengths and weaknesses. He explained that large extended families carry historical trauma that may involve generational drug abuse, sexual abuse, and domestic violence. Sadly, these behaviors become norms in the families. It is thus evident that a person’s experiences, relationships, and environment must be considered in the healing process. Native clients can benefit from a sense of reconnection with community and traditional roles. This could be and has been accomplished through the revival of tribal ceremonies and practices (e.g., talking circles, sweat lodges, powwows, peyote meetings) reestablishing a sense of belonging and communal meaningfulness for Native people "returning to the old ways" or at least, integrating many of these ways into modern day life (Carroll & Garrett, 2007). Services provided at Potowat exemplify such ideas.

I was interested in learning more about the sobriety sweats, or purification ceremonies, which are regularly facilitated by Substance Abuse Counselors at Potowat. Gerald described that attending a sweat is a healthy choice; it gives people a sense of belonging to their culture, and goes hand in hand with spiritual sobriety. The sweat lodge at Potowat was built because counselors wanted to create a community space for prayer and support. Some Native Americans have not turned to the dominant culture for treatment for substance dependence because of their traditional separation of spirituality from healing (Carrol & Garrett, 2000). Rituals such as the purification ceremonies have shown to be an integral part of recovery for many people, highlighting the importance of holistic healing. Gerald let me know that sweats are open to the entire community, Native and non-Native people, those who are in recovery and those who are not.

Towards the end of my interview with Gerald, I asked if he had any advice for a non-Native person who intends to be culturally competent and effective working in the Native American community. He simply answered, “Keep an open mind and be open to new experiences. If you have acceptance, walls are torn down.” He then encouraged me to attend the sweat group that was happening later that night, joking that it would be good for my class project. I told him I was honored to be invited, but questioned whether it would be okay for me to go. He reminded me that everyone is welcome to participate in the sweats, and said he hoped to see me there. I chose to take a healthy risk and returned that evening. Not for my class project, for myself, and because I felt respected and privileged to be invited by Gerald.

To be honest, I was nervous, anxious, vulnerable, and uneasy when I entered the sweat lodge. But those feelings started to subside because I felt so welcomed and embraced by the sweat leader, women, men, and children participating. There were many times during the intense two-hour ceremony that I thought about leaving. It would have been the easy thing to do. Claustrophobia, darkness, heat, and sweat were not easy to endure with perfect strangers. I stayed because I felt safe and supported. I can barely put into words how I felt coming out of the sweat lodge when the purification ceremony ended. Renewed, cleansed, alive, lightheaded, emotional, and deeply connected to the people who participated in the sweat with me. I had a sense of belonging. I thanked Gerald, after thanking everyone else. He said, “Thank you for trusting me,” words which had a lot of meaning for me. I was reminded that building relationships with people from different cultural backgrounds might be as simple as having an open mind, being open to new experiences and practicing acceptance.

References

Carroll, Jane J. & Garrett, Michael Tlanusta (2000) Mending the Broken Circle: Treatment of Substance Abuse Dependence Among Native Americans Journal of Counseling and Development v.78 no.4 p.379-388

Green, Gerald (Interviewed July 22, 2009)

National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services (NSSATS) Report (2009) http://oas.samhsa.gov (accessed July 27, 2009)

Swinomish Mental Health Project (2002) A Gathering of Wisdoms Tribal Mental Health: A Cultural Perspective 2^nd edition Swinomish Tribal Community Washington

United Indian Health Services (UIHS) http://www.uihs.org (accessed July 27, 2009)