WEBVTT

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- [Narrator] As part of a
Children's Bureau initiative

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to raise awareness of
tribally-engaged prevention

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and intervention efforts,

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the Center for Native
Child and Family Resilience

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partnered with five tribal organizations,

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including the Tlingit and Haida

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Native Women's Counseling
and Treatment Initiative,

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also known as Yéil Koowú Shaawát,

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to identify and enhance
culturally-based programs

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designed to strengthen
community and family resilience

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in American Indian and
Alaska Native communities.

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The Center is committed to
building the evidence base

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of tribal child welfare
knowledge and practice,

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through evaluation and
sharing the knowledge

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gained through these projects

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with the field.

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Haa Aaní, our land,

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the Central Council

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of Tlingit and Haida
Indian Tribes of Alaska,

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is one of the largest

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and most remote tribes
in Southeastern Alaska.

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The Tlingit Nation and the Haida Nation

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have existed as two
separate and distinct people

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since time immemorial,

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but have shared ancestral land

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since the last ice age,

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over 11,000 years ago.

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Their ancestral lands include
over 43,000 square miles

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in what is known as the Alaska Panhandle.

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Only accessible by boat or plane,

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that land is a collection
of hundreds of islands

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that make up the Alexander Archipelago,

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as well as a thin strip of the mainland.

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The region is a stunning
mountainous landscape,

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crisscrossed by miles of rivers, streams,

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fjords, and shoreline.

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The Tlingit and Haida people

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have practiced their way of life

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as traditional hunters and gatherers.

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Because they live so near the sea,

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fishing is crucial to them.

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Salmon is a main source of food,

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which was filleted and smoked

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to keep through the winter.

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After facing struggles to
preserve their identity,

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land, and traditional way of life,

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the Tlingit people have been
able to rebuild their lives

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and increasingly practice
their traditional crafts,

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as well as fishing,

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which has always been the
basis of their economy.

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President of the Tlingit
and Haida Indian tribes,

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Ch'aa Yaa Eesh, Richard Peterson,

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is Tlingit from the Kaagwaantaan clan.

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Richard grew up in Kasaan, Alaska,

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and is a lifelong Alaska Native resident

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of Southeast Alaska.

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"Healthy tribes make healthy communities,"

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Peterson said,

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"that's something you'll
hear from me a lot."

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The Tlingit and Haida Tribal Family

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and Youth Services Department

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worked to formalize, refined,
and evaluate the curriculum

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for an existing weekly women's group.

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The curriculum addresses
unresolved trauma and grief

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caused by victimization by
domestic violence and abuse,

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historical, intergenerational,
and related traumas

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impacting Native women
in Southeast Alaska.

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The project model features
three phases as follows.

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Phase one works on the building blocks

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of communication, conflict resolution,

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anger management, and
problem-solving skills.

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Phase two focuses on
family of origin issues,

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and past and present relationships,

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which links those familial experiences

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to understanding how they
influence existing relationships.

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Phase three focuses on
post-traumatic stress disorder,

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dissociation,

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historical and intergenerational trauma.

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The group provides participants

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with a talking circle format

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that focuses on education
and support to women,

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addressing issues involving

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surviving childhood sexual abuse,

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re-victimization, and sexual assault.

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Each phase involves Native
spiritual healing practices

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such as purification
and healing ceremonies,

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talking circles,

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and teachings on traditional tribal values

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of the Tlingit and Haida.

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Like many tribally-driven approaches

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to intervening upon child maltreatment,

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the Native Women Counseling

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and Treatment Services Initiative,

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now referred to as Yéil Koowú Shaawát,

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takes a strength-based
approach to healing,

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which emphasizes the importance
of cultural resiliencies

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and protective factors.

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Such protective factors
affirm Native identity

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by connecting with locally-distinct
Native cosmologies,

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and spiritual traditions,

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which include connecting
with traditional food ways,

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kinship circles,

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the oral tradition,

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song,

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dance,

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Indigenous or Native language,

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and traditional healers.

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A fundamental aspect to this
program is healing trauma.

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They also intervene and
prevent child maltreatment

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through a reclamation of
Indigenous knowledge systems,

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cultural identity,

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and peer and kinship support systems.

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The community history is
grounded in storytelling

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to teach the history of their people,

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and guide the cultural
growth of their young people.

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- When I think about

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the vision of this, you know,

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the vision of Yéil Koowú Shaawát,

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the vision of success,

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it has a lot to do with
generational healing,

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empowering women,

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and working with them

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to

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become

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healthy,

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to lead, and to live healthy lives

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that are gonna impact themselves

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and their children.

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This idea of

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empowering women

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who then, you know,

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learn, you know,

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how to love themselves again,

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how to find themselves, define themselves,

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recognize the significance
of their tribal values,

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their culture,

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and be able to pass that
on to their own children,

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and so, therefore, to the next generation

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and future generations.

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- [Narrator] Alaskan
Native women needed support

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to begin their process of healing.

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They had a history of feeling disempowered

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and disenfranchised.

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They had many reasons
not to trust a system

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that brought sickness and
violence to their people.

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They were taught to hide their feelings,

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and to numb the trauma and pain

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with substances.

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Due to colonization,

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some lost their traditional ways of life,

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of hunting,

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gathering,

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and fishing.

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- I was so rageful,

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and an expert at hiding my feelings.

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The person next to me would not even know

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that I became angry,

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you know, because

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all the anger went inward.

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And so I would sink

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into these deep, dark, depressive moments,

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where I felt like I
could never go anywhere,

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and there wasn't any
support for me, I felt,

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in Juneau.

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It was very difficult,

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and I realized that back in 2012,

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and because I was still
drinking at the time,

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I realized if I didn't quit drinking,

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that I, like they say in the AA program,

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if I continued to drink,

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I would just continue to end up in jail,

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with broken relationships,

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or dead.

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And in 2012, I realized,

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I can't keep doing this.

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But then, at the same time I got angry,

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and that anger pushed me forward,

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because there were two choices

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for me back then, I thought in my head.

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Continue drinking,

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and die a slow death from alcoholism,

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or I would take my life.

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And I've always been too afraid
to take my life, you know,

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even though I've had many attempts.

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And the only help that I
could think of back then

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was Amalia's program,

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because I had went through
phase one back in 2006,

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and realized

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she really does have a program
that focuses on the women.

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And Amalia is amazing.

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She is so loving, and
compassionate, and understanding,

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for everyone in the group.

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She certainly exercised
her understanding with me,

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and patience.

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- We begin to, kind of,

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really get into this
concept of the Haa Shuká,

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and we've had lots of
conversations about that.

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And so,

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what happens over these,
you know, centuries,

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of this, you know, systematic,

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you know, breakdown of the culture,

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of the language,

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of the,

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you know, limiting resources,

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taking away the resources.

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Outline traditional ways of fishing,

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and subsistence or harvesting,

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gathering and harvesting.

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- [Amalia] Haa Shuká
is a complex expression

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of one's relationship to a clan,

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to relatives in other clans,

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the spirits of the land, and the animals,

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and our connection to the
spirits of the ancestors

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who have walked into the forest,

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and are in the spirit world.

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It's an expression of
connection and relationships.

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To Tlingit ways of being and knowing.

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Tlingit (Native word) is
a Tlingit way of thinking.

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The meaning of Haa Shuká in
the context of the curriculum

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extends to healing,

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and living in a good Tlingit way.

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Fully aware of who we are,

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and where we come from,

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within one's environment.

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- So the medicine wheel
includes all four peoples.

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Yellow, white, red, and black.

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And that it accepted me as a person,

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helped me accept the Yéil
Koowú Shaawát program.

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That was my personal experience.

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And I often talk about

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Haa Shuká, which means,

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"our Shuká."

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And Shuká is the essence of my being.

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So my Shuká is the essence of my being,

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Haa Shuká is the essence of the people.

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And when the historical trauma
took place among our people,

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when my grandparents were
taken from their homes,

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and put into boarding schools where they

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endured

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abuses,

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that was brought home,

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and perpetrated on, I counted it,

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six generations of my family.

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My grandparents,

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my parents,

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me,

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my children,

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my siblings' childrens,

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and their grandchildren,

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have all been impacted by
the boarding school era.

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And with Yéil Koowú Shaawát program,

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what it is intended to do,

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if we can suffer six generations
of historical trauma,

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then we can, at this time,

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make change together

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to promote healing.

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Generational healing.

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Often when I hear historical trauma,

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I think of the term

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generational genocide from the inside out.

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And that is what they
have done to our people.

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We are destroying ourselves,

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by perpetrating abuses upon our children,

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and upon each other.

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- The women are allowed to meet together

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to actually talk about their,

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today's struggles,

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and how, you know,

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it's difficult to get through

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everything that they've experienced.

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Because,

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in Alaska,

273
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we know that there's a
high rate of alcoholism,

274
00:12:00.990 --> 00:12:03.390
and there's a high rate of suicide.

275
00:12:03.390 --> 00:12:04.740
And I know this,

276
00:12:04.740 --> 00:12:07.473
I knew this before I started the program,

277
00:12:08.640 --> 00:12:12.360
and I didn't wanna end up
one of those statistics,

278
00:12:12.360 --> 00:12:13.293
and so,

279
00:12:14.340 --> 00:12:17.430
the reason why I say I
was angry back in 2012,

280
00:12:17.430 --> 00:12:19.380
when I quit drinking, was

281
00:12:19.380 --> 00:12:20.213
because

282
00:12:21.060 --> 00:12:24.000
I knew that my old ways of thinking,

283
00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:25.890
and behaviors,

284
00:12:25.890 --> 00:12:26.723
and

285
00:12:27.660 --> 00:12:29.610
everything that I did,

286
00:12:29.610 --> 00:12:30.780
didn't work,

287
00:12:30.780 --> 00:12:33.420
and just kept me stuck back there.

288
00:12:33.420 --> 00:12:35.550
And the reason I became angry

289
00:12:35.550 --> 00:12:38.790
is because I knew I would
have to change everything.

290
00:12:38.790 --> 00:12:43.320
And I knew the healing
journey would be hard.

291
00:12:43.320 --> 00:12:44.340
But,

292
00:12:44.340 --> 00:12:45.173
so far,

293
00:12:46.412 --> 00:12:47.523
I've stuck to it,

294
00:12:48.628 --> 00:12:49.540
and manage to

295
00:12:50.460 --> 00:12:53.340
continue to step out of my comfort zone,

296
00:12:53.340 --> 00:12:54.183
so to speak.

297
00:12:55.020 --> 00:12:56.880
- So that kept me there for a long time.

298
00:12:56.880 --> 00:12:58.290
And what Amalia's program,

299
00:12:58.290 --> 00:13:00.150
the Yéil Koowú Shaawát program,

300
00:13:00.150 --> 00:13:02.460
taught me how to believe in myself.

301
00:13:02.460 --> 00:13:05.580
It taught me how to turn to myself.

302
00:13:05.580 --> 00:13:07.590
It taught me that I am good.

303
00:13:07.590 --> 00:13:09.420
I am not bad.

304
00:13:09.420 --> 00:13:12.810
And it taught me that I have
something to teach others.

305
00:13:12.810 --> 00:13:14.790
It gave me purpose.

306
00:13:14.790 --> 00:13:15.750
In all my life,

307
00:13:15.750 --> 00:13:18.990
I never believed that
anything I ever went through,

308
00:13:18.990 --> 00:13:20.700
none of it could have,

309
00:13:20.700 --> 00:13:23.280
no good could ever come out of that.

310
00:13:23.280 --> 00:13:25.050
But it has.

311
00:13:25.050 --> 00:13:26.340
There's good coming out of it.

312
00:13:26.340 --> 00:13:28.200
Because I went through that,

313
00:13:28.200 --> 00:13:32.040
I can relate to the women
on a deep and binding level.

314
00:13:32.040 --> 00:13:34.770
I can reach women that other teachers

315
00:13:34.770 --> 00:13:37.923
may not have possibly been able to reach.

316
00:13:40.020 --> 00:13:41.010
I'm

317
00:13:41.010 --> 00:13:41.883
gonna cry.

318
00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:45.360
One thing comes to mind,

319
00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:46.710
I won't mention her name,

320
00:13:46.710 --> 00:13:48.120
due to confidentiality,

321
00:13:48.120 --> 00:13:50.670
but there was this one woman who,

322
00:13:50.670 --> 00:13:52.830
for weeks, would not say one word.

323
00:13:52.830 --> 00:13:55.350
Not to check in, not to anything.

324
00:13:55.350 --> 00:13:57.180
She would just pass.

325
00:13:57.180 --> 00:14:01.830
And my mantra is, "I am a strong
and powerful warrior woman.

326
00:14:01.830 --> 00:14:04.530
I can do anything I set my mind to."

327
00:14:04.530 --> 00:14:07.380
And I was sharing that encouragement

328
00:14:07.380 --> 00:14:09.120
with the women while I was teaching,

329
00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:10.710
and I'd been teaching for a while,

330
00:14:10.710 --> 00:14:12.157
and women were taking on that,

331
00:14:12.157 --> 00:14:15.300
"I am a warrior woman" mentality.

332
00:14:15.300 --> 00:14:16.470
But this one woman,

333
00:14:16.470 --> 00:14:18.960
one day she finally spoke up.

334
00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:21.120
And she just was like, she was heated.

335
00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:23.340
She's like, "I'm not a warrior woman.

336
00:14:23.340 --> 00:14:25.500
I let him beat me. I let him hurt me.

337
00:14:25.500 --> 00:14:27.960
I let him hurt my kids."

338
00:14:27.960 --> 00:14:29.850
And she went on and on,

339
00:14:29.850 --> 00:14:32.760
and I let her talk, because she needed to.

340
00:14:32.760 --> 00:14:34.890
And then, at the end of her conversation,

341
00:14:34.890 --> 00:14:38.760
at the end of her rant, or
whatever you wanna call it,

342
00:14:38.760 --> 00:14:42.210
I said, "You're not a warrior woman yet."

343
00:14:42.210 --> 00:14:44.430
And then, by the end of that year,

344
00:14:44.430 --> 00:14:47.550
there's this song called "The Fight Song."

345
00:14:47.550 --> 00:14:48.810
I can't remember who it's by,

346
00:14:48.810 --> 00:14:50.400
but we were doing an art project

347
00:14:50.400 --> 00:14:51.420
and we were playing music,

348
00:14:51.420 --> 00:14:53.280
and she said, "That's my song.

349
00:14:53.280 --> 00:14:54.990
I'm a warrior woman.

350
00:14:54.990 --> 00:14:56.787
I take care of my child."

351
00:14:58.140 --> 00:15:00.150
I think that's a powerful example

352
00:15:00.150 --> 00:15:00.990
of how

353
00:15:00.990 --> 00:15:02.700
it changes

354
00:15:02.700 --> 00:15:04.350
persons.

355
00:15:04.350 --> 00:15:06.810
And the challenge is,
there have been a few,

356
00:15:06.810 --> 00:15:07.860
see some of the women,

357
00:15:07.860 --> 00:15:10.800
we get women from OCS, Office
of Children's Services,

358
00:15:10.800 --> 00:15:12.510
we get women who are on probation,

359
00:15:12.510 --> 00:15:15.780
we get women who are there only

360
00:15:15.780 --> 00:15:16.613
by choice,

361
00:15:16.613 --> 00:15:20.340
but the women who come who
are not there by choice

362
00:15:20.340 --> 00:15:23.790
tend to come with an attitude
of not wanting to be there.

363
00:15:23.790 --> 00:15:27.360
- As I began to hear more
stories of themselves,

364
00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:28.380
their mothers,

365
00:15:28.380 --> 00:15:30.720
their grandmothers, their aunties,

366
00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:31.553
you know,

367
00:15:32.850 --> 00:15:35.430
our Native women were enduring

368
00:15:35.430 --> 00:15:40.430
centuries of this
accumulated cultural trauma.

369
00:15:40.620 --> 00:15:44.130
Historical trauma and
intergenerational trauma,

370
00:15:44.130 --> 00:15:47.580
and experiencing, in the here and the now,

371
00:15:47.580 --> 00:15:49.170
racism,

372
00:15:49.170 --> 00:15:50.853
systematic racism,

373
00:15:52.920 --> 00:15:55.110
judgment, discrimination,

374
00:15:55.110 --> 00:15:58.470
that they didn't want to be Native.

375
00:15:58.470 --> 00:16:00.213
There was shame about that.

376
00:16:03.111 --> 00:16:05.640
They didn't know anything,
often, about the culture.

377
00:16:05.640 --> 00:16:07.710
I began to see that, you know,

378
00:16:07.710 --> 00:16:09.510
the lack of a cultural identity

379
00:16:09.510 --> 00:16:12.240
is a mental health problem in itself.

380
00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:14.160
And so,

381
00:16:14.160 --> 00:16:16.290
we kind of, we begin there.

382
00:16:16.290 --> 00:16:18.870
And yet, there were these things
that they would hold onto.

383
00:16:18.870 --> 00:16:22.200
And they, you know, in
connecting with the land,

384
00:16:22.200 --> 00:16:24.540
but not really, kind of,

385
00:16:24.540 --> 00:16:27.000
linking that with who they are.

386
00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:28.863
So many of the women,

387
00:16:29.700 --> 00:16:32.160
they wanted to learn to harvest.

388
00:16:32.160 --> 00:16:34.380
They wanted to,

389
00:16:34.380 --> 00:16:36.030
they'd already worked with salmon,

390
00:16:36.030 --> 00:16:38.310
their parents, maybe,
had worked in canneries,

391
00:16:38.310 --> 00:16:41.160
so they had had this connection,

392
00:16:41.160 --> 00:16:43.440
but at the same time,
there was this disconnect.

393
00:16:43.440 --> 00:16:46.170
And so, I would learn a Killer Whale song,

394
00:16:46.170 --> 00:16:47.190
and then I would find out

395
00:16:47.190 --> 00:16:48.780
that there was a woman in group

396
00:16:48.780 --> 00:16:50.850
who was from the Killer Whale clan,

397
00:16:50.850 --> 00:16:52.270
or I would learn

398
00:16:53.670 --> 00:16:55.920
one of the songs from the T'akdeintaan,

399
00:16:55.920 --> 00:16:57.780
you know, the Sea Pigeon clan.

400
00:16:57.780 --> 00:17:00.240
- I've had a difficult life,

401
00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:01.073
and,

402
00:17:02.190 --> 00:17:04.770
so, I was very unaware

403
00:17:04.770 --> 00:17:06.573
of where I was at.

404
00:17:07.770 --> 00:17:11.823
And working through all three
phases of Amalia's program,

405
00:17:13.140 --> 00:17:16.800
I was able to actually
start learning about myself.

406
00:17:16.800 --> 00:17:20.643
And it's been such an
awesome healing journey,

407
00:17:21.930 --> 00:17:24.360
and I've learned so much
in the last three years,

408
00:17:24.360 --> 00:17:25.193
that I

409
00:17:26.580 --> 00:17:29.844
want to continue this program

410
00:17:29.844 --> 00:17:31.170
in Alaska.

411
00:17:31.170 --> 00:17:33.570
I was still pretty hesitant,

412
00:17:33.570 --> 00:17:37.140
and didn't trust a lot of people.

413
00:17:37.140 --> 00:17:41.490
And so, since then, I've
learned to open up a lot

414
00:17:41.490 --> 00:17:45.330
and begin to trust, especially
the women in the group,

415
00:17:45.330 --> 00:17:50.190
because I've witnessed the
changes that they've gone through

416
00:17:50.190 --> 00:17:51.720
along their journeys,

417
00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:54.420
and it was so inspirational.

418
00:17:54.420 --> 00:17:58.620
And the reason why I would
like to continue this work is

419
00:17:58.620 --> 00:17:59.850
because,

420
00:17:59.850 --> 00:18:03.870
pretty much the first
three phases of my journey,

421
00:18:03.870 --> 00:18:04.950
I was an observer.

422
00:18:04.950 --> 00:18:08.910
I sat back and didn't participate much,

423
00:18:08.910 --> 00:18:11.160
because I didn't even really,

424
00:18:11.160 --> 00:18:14.760
I wasn't even aware that I was so scared

425
00:18:14.760 --> 00:18:19.530
of, you know, just stepping
out of my comfort zone

426
00:18:19.530 --> 00:18:21.810
to begin my healing journey.

427
00:18:21.810 --> 00:18:22.643
And

428
00:18:24.420 --> 00:18:29.420
once I realized I could
step out of my comfort zone,

429
00:18:32.100 --> 00:18:35.460
it was like my eyes opened up to the world

430
00:18:35.460 --> 00:18:37.380
and I could see

431
00:18:37.380 --> 00:18:39.120
part of my role

432
00:18:39.120 --> 00:18:41.670
in becoming a co-facilitator.

433
00:18:41.670 --> 00:18:43.440
- I did them back to back,

434
00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:44.700
and came back as a teacher,

435
00:18:44.700 --> 00:18:47.610
and learned so much more as a teacher.

436
00:18:47.610 --> 00:18:50.370
First of all, you have to
know the material to teach it,

437
00:18:50.370 --> 00:18:52.227
but also, from the women,

438
00:18:52.227 --> 00:18:57.210
and their responses, and their
comments, and their stories.

439
00:18:57.210 --> 00:18:59.070
I learned so much about

440
00:18:59.070 --> 00:19:00.180
how

441
00:19:00.180 --> 00:19:01.770
to

442
00:19:01.770 --> 00:19:02.970
live my life.

443
00:19:02.970 --> 00:19:05.670
How to live my life in a good way.

444
00:19:05.670 --> 00:19:06.503
And

445
00:19:08.022 --> 00:19:10.920
one of the benefits of going
through Amalia's program

446
00:19:10.920 --> 00:19:13.230
is that I've been able to

447
00:19:13.230 --> 00:19:15.300
turn around and become a teacher.

448
00:19:15.300 --> 00:19:17.460
And I taught for four and a half years,

449
00:19:17.460 --> 00:19:19.110
almost five years,

450
00:19:19.110 --> 00:19:21.180
until I was a victim of a violent crime.

451
00:19:21.180 --> 00:19:23.400
And then it took me the past four years

452
00:19:23.400 --> 00:19:24.843
to get back to myself.

453
00:19:25.980 --> 00:19:28.320
Instead of leaving the program altogether,

454
00:19:28.320 --> 00:19:31.140
I came back again, as a participant.

455
00:19:31.140 --> 00:19:32.880
Amalia allowed me to join again,

456
00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:34.470
so I went through the program again, then,

457
00:19:34.470 --> 00:19:37.380
and that's when I met you
folks as a participant.

458
00:19:37.380 --> 00:19:40.980
- Yes. Very nerve wracking. (laughs)

459
00:19:40.980 --> 00:19:44.490
I can remember co-facilitating
my first group,

460
00:19:44.490 --> 00:19:46.620
and standing, you know, up there talking

461
00:19:46.620 --> 00:19:47.940
in front of the women.

462
00:19:47.940 --> 00:19:49.920
And my voice was so shaky,

463
00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:51.600
I was so nervous,

464
00:19:51.600 --> 00:19:54.210
and yet, I knew this work was important.

465
00:19:54.210 --> 00:19:55.143
And so,

466
00:19:56.624 --> 00:20:00.713
I had to muster the
courage just to keep going.

467
00:20:02.010 --> 00:20:03.960
But I knew how important the work is,

468
00:20:03.960 --> 00:20:05.260
and how much growth

469
00:20:06.180 --> 00:20:07.740
I had

470
00:20:07.740 --> 00:20:12.300
gained over just the two
years that I went through

471
00:20:12.300 --> 00:20:14.310
all three phases of her group.

472
00:20:14.310 --> 00:20:15.690
- And,

473
00:20:15.690 --> 00:20:17.280
over years,

474
00:20:17.280 --> 00:20:20.160
I think I begin to see, now,

475
00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:22.443
that it's developed a reputation.

476
00:20:23.596 --> 00:20:25.260
And when you're so busy,

477
00:20:25.260 --> 00:20:26.790
just, your head is down,

478
00:20:26.790 --> 00:20:28.473
and you're just doing the work.

479
00:20:29.730 --> 00:20:31.807
And so now, you know, I have women who,

480
00:20:31.807 --> 00:20:33.750
"Well, I heard about this group,"

481
00:20:33.750 --> 00:20:36.480
and, you know, "My sister
told me about this group,"

482
00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:38.700
or, you know, "I'm back again."

483
00:20:38.700 --> 00:20:40.590
I'm all, "Yeah, I had a relapse,

484
00:20:40.590 --> 00:20:43.170
and things fell apart in my life."

485
00:20:43.170 --> 00:20:44.640
And,

486
00:20:44.640 --> 00:20:46.177
you know, they're gonna look at,

487
00:20:46.177 --> 00:20:47.820
"they removed my kids,"

488
00:20:47.820 --> 00:20:50.610
and they'll come back for support.

489
00:20:50.610 --> 00:20:52.920
And always being transparent,
you know what I mean?

490
00:20:52.920 --> 00:20:54.210
I think that that's something else.

491
00:20:54.210 --> 00:20:55.650
You know,

492
00:20:55.650 --> 00:20:56.910
I'm sharing things with them,

493
00:20:56.910 --> 00:20:58.860
I'm giving them information.

494
00:20:58.860 --> 00:21:02.490
You know, nothing's gonna
happen without their input.

495
00:21:02.490 --> 00:21:03.813
Without their decision.

496
00:21:05.040 --> 00:21:07.320
And so, I think that that was appreciated.

497
00:21:07.320 --> 00:21:10.260
- I think that is a huge factor.

498
00:21:10.260 --> 00:21:12.570
and the way that I like to understand it

499
00:21:12.570 --> 00:21:15.750
is when I see the other women

500
00:21:15.750 --> 00:21:17.520
go through,

501
00:21:17.520 --> 00:21:19.503
with their struggles, too,

502
00:21:20.760 --> 00:21:23.853
especially the talking
circles that we had,

503
00:21:25.740 --> 00:21:28.950
and I see them step out
of their comfort zone,

504
00:21:28.950 --> 00:21:30.960
and begin their healing journey,

505
00:21:30.960 --> 00:21:32.880
it brings tears to my eyes.

506
00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:34.770
I mean, it's so awesome.

507
00:21:34.770 --> 00:21:36.450
And that's what keeps,

508
00:21:36.450 --> 00:21:38.670
that is my reward.

509
00:21:38.670 --> 00:21:40.413
That's what keeps me going.

510
00:21:41.640 --> 00:21:43.989
Even though, you know,

511
00:21:43.989 --> 00:21:45.480
it's a lot of work, still,

512
00:21:45.480 --> 00:21:47.340
to learn how to co-facilitate.

513
00:21:47.340 --> 00:21:51.060
And I feel like I'm still
at the very beginning

514
00:21:51.060 --> 00:21:53.550
of my healing journey,

515
00:21:53.550 --> 00:21:54.383
and yet,

516
00:21:57.120 --> 00:21:58.410
we're all learning.

517
00:21:58.410 --> 00:22:00.273
It's a learning process.

518
00:22:02.040 --> 00:22:05.190
And it's definitely opened my eyes.

519
00:22:05.190 --> 00:22:06.513
In thinking about it,

520
00:22:09.390 --> 00:22:11.730
till the last day on this earth,

521
00:22:11.730 --> 00:22:14.490
I want to continue to help the women

522
00:22:14.490 --> 00:22:15.600
as much as I can.

523
00:22:15.600 --> 00:22:16.740
And,

524
00:22:16.740 --> 00:22:17.730
it involves,

525
00:22:17.730 --> 00:22:20.220
because I know if they begin to heal,

526
00:22:20.220 --> 00:22:22.920
then their children
will begin to heal, too.

527
00:22:22.920 --> 00:22:24.420
Because my mother,

528
00:22:24.420 --> 00:22:29.070
she was totally into the
addictive life, and drinking,

529
00:22:29.070 --> 00:22:30.870
and non-supportive,

530
00:22:30.870 --> 00:22:32.913
and just the total opposite.

531
00:22:35.490 --> 00:22:36.323
And,

532
00:22:38.040 --> 00:22:42.663
I'm able to see just
how much I've changed.

533
00:22:44.370 --> 00:22:47.580
And so, my daughter is even,

534
00:22:47.580 --> 00:22:50.700
you know, stepping outside of her bounds,

535
00:22:50.700 --> 00:22:54.880
and growing too, has grown
so much more as a mother

536
00:22:56.070 --> 00:22:58.590
than I ever was when they were little.

537
00:22:58.590 --> 00:23:02.310
- To encourage other tribes
to join this program,

538
00:23:02.310 --> 00:23:06.870
I would say that historical
trauma happened to all of us.

539
00:23:06.870 --> 00:23:10.080
And it has impacted all of us.

540
00:23:10.080 --> 00:23:15.080
And we all have challenges,
we all have difficulties,

541
00:23:15.090 --> 00:23:18.720
and we all have dysfunctions
that need to be addressed

542
00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:20.430
so that it's not passed down

543
00:23:20.430 --> 00:23:22.563
to more generations of our people.

544
00:23:23.700 --> 00:23:26.730
- [Amalia] Healing from
trauma is a process.

545
00:23:26.730 --> 00:23:29.370
It's a journey, not a destination.

546
00:23:29.370 --> 00:23:31.230
It takes time to heal.

547
00:23:31.230 --> 00:23:34.380
And we must commit to make
a conscious daily effort

548
00:23:34.380 --> 00:23:37.650
to practice self-care and self-love,

549
00:23:37.650 --> 00:23:39.750
and to look for every opportunity

550
00:23:39.750 --> 00:23:42.633
to correct our experiences of the past.

551
00:23:44.010 --> 00:23:45.600
How do we shift that trauma story

552
00:23:45.600 --> 00:23:48.120
that kept us powerless for so long,

553
00:23:48.120 --> 00:23:51.033
so that it becomes a story
of courage and triumph?

554
00:23:52.080 --> 00:23:55.233
We begin by identifying and
acknowledging our strength,

555
00:23:56.100 --> 00:23:58.830
and appreciating the fact that
we would not be here today

556
00:23:58.830 --> 00:24:01.380
if it were not for those strengths.

557
00:24:01.380 --> 00:24:03.000
Sometimes trauma survivors

558
00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:06.420
have a difficult time
identifying even one strength,

559
00:24:06.420 --> 00:24:09.540
so maybe we need to ask
someone who knows us

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00:24:09.540 --> 00:24:11.970
to give us a list of those qualities

561
00:24:11.970 --> 00:24:13.713
that they appreciate about us.

562
00:24:14.730 --> 00:24:17.493
Showing up at a healing
event is a strength.

563
00:24:18.360 --> 00:24:21.360
Having the courage to
sit in a healing circle,

564
00:24:21.360 --> 00:24:24.600
and to listen and support
others while they are sharing,

565
00:24:24.600 --> 00:24:25.443
is a strength.

566
00:24:26.430 --> 00:24:30.003
Having the courage to tell
our story is a strength.

567
00:24:30.930 --> 00:24:34.890
Stopping to admire a
beautiful sunset or a sunrise,

568
00:24:34.890 --> 00:24:37.080
or to listen to a bird's song,

569
00:24:37.080 --> 00:24:38.403
is a spiritual strength.

570
00:24:39.450 --> 00:24:42.243
When we help others by
giving them a kind word,

571
00:24:43.170 --> 00:24:45.153
this is also a spiritual strength.

572
00:24:46.500 --> 00:24:50.370
We need to honor that child
whose brilliant imagination,

573
00:24:50.370 --> 00:24:55.050
resilience, and determination
helped us to survive.

574
00:24:55.050 --> 00:24:57.540
Sometimes we forget that we were once

575
00:24:57.540 --> 00:24:59.370
that brave and creative being

576
00:24:59.370 --> 00:25:00.990
who went through the trauma,

577
00:25:00.990 --> 00:25:04.530
and never gave up hoping
that things would get better.

578
00:25:04.530 --> 00:25:06.000
It is important to remember

579
00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:08.493
that what happened to us was not normal,

580
00:25:09.330 --> 00:25:11.070
but that we are normal,

581
00:25:11.070 --> 00:25:12.180
and that it is over,

582
00:25:12.180 --> 00:25:14.280
and we made it through that.

583
00:25:14.280 --> 00:25:15.333
We survived it.

584
00:25:16.230 --> 00:25:18.180
We have the power to change our life,

585
00:25:18.180 --> 00:25:20.790
and to have our dreams come true.

586
00:25:20.790 --> 00:25:22.350
Every time we heal another layer,

587
00:25:22.350 --> 00:25:23.700
we become stronger,

588
00:25:23.700 --> 00:25:25.740
and it does get better.

589
00:25:25.740 --> 00:25:27.450
We can ask for help.

590
00:25:27.450 --> 00:25:29.130
We don't need to do it alone.

591
00:25:29.130 --> 00:25:32.160
And there are lots of
people who care about us.

592
00:25:32.160 --> 00:25:33.930
When we heal in this generation,

593
00:25:33.930 --> 00:25:36.450
it impacts generations ahead,

594
00:25:36.450 --> 00:25:38.280
and we break through the silence.

595
00:25:38.280 --> 00:25:41.250
We bring the circle back together again,

596
00:25:41.250 --> 00:25:43.773
and our ancestors are
dancing on the other side.

597
00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:48.060
I am deeply honored to be able
to say these words to you,

598
00:25:48.060 --> 00:25:51.090
and I thank the creator
of my own teachers,

599
00:25:51.090 --> 00:25:53.160
including Arlene Redelk,

600
00:25:53.160 --> 00:25:54.480
Vera Manuel,

601
00:25:54.480 --> 00:25:55.740
Don Coyhis,

602
00:25:55.740 --> 00:25:57.030
Jeri Museth,

603
00:25:57.030 --> 00:25:58.770
Francine Eddy-Jones,

604
00:25:58.770 --> 00:26:00.210
Terry Cross,

605
00:26:00.210 --> 00:26:01.740
Roxanne Finney,

606
00:26:01.740 --> 00:26:04.380
and Leona Santiago, to name a few,

607
00:26:04.380 --> 00:26:06.810
whose life work inspires me

608
00:26:06.810 --> 00:26:11.810
and guides me in my understanding
of trauma and its impacts.

609
00:26:11.940 --> 00:26:15.450
- [Narrator] CNCFR and
YKS have collaborated

610
00:26:15.450 --> 00:26:17.670
to develop a facilitator's guide

611
00:26:17.670 --> 00:26:20.040
and supporting implementation guide.

612
00:26:20.040 --> 00:26:23.370
These materials will help
organizations or tribes

613
00:26:23.370 --> 00:26:25.890
that would like to implement this program

614
00:26:25.890 --> 00:26:26.910
in their community,

615
00:26:26.910 --> 00:26:30.300
to do so in ways that are
congruent with their culture,

616
00:26:30.300 --> 00:26:33.690
values, rituals, and communities.

617
00:26:33.690 --> 00:26:36.600
To learn more about the
Tlingit and Haida program,

618
00:26:36.600 --> 00:26:39.030
and access program materials,

619
00:26:39.030 --> 00:26:41.970
visit the CNCFR website.

620
00:26:41.970 --> 00:26:44.640
The Center for Native
Child and Family Resilience

621
00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:46.530
was funded by the Children's Bureau's

622
00:26:46.530 --> 00:26:49.170
Administration for Children and Families,

623
00:26:49.170 --> 00:26:51.720
U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services,

624
00:26:51.720 --> 00:26:55.233
under cooperative
agreement number 90CA1853.

625
00:26:57.390 --> 00:27:00.870
The contents of this product
are solely the responsibility

626
00:27:00.870 --> 00:27:04.140
of JBS International Incorporated,

627
00:27:04.140 --> 00:27:07.020
and do not necessarily
reflect the official views

628
00:27:07.020 --> 00:27:08.270
of the Children's Bureau.