Health and Wellness

Written by Brianna Theobald. Coercive sterilization of Indigenous women at Crow Agency, and the activism of Indigenous women, has a longer history than scholars have recognized. In the late 1920s and 1930s, Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail, the first Crow registered nurse, and other Crow women charged hospital personnel with violations of their reproductive rights, including cases of coercive ster­ilization.

The work to end violence against Native women and recreate peaceful, harmonious communities is based on reclaiming our traditional values, belief systems and life ways. As shown in the Nonviolence Equality Wheel, the key values of this life way are: compassion, respect, generosity, mutual sharing, humility, contributing/industriousness, courage, love and being spiritually centered. At the center of this tool is equality. Equality is recognizing that everyone has the right to follow their path. Equality means power-sharing, not holding power over.

Our whole world has changed, our whole way of life has been put on hold. These are truly trying and difficult times for so many people. Tribal domestic violence advocates are struggling to find their footing and respond as best they can under the circumstances, given the lack of resources, tribal infrastructures and an increase in domestic violence. Indigenous people and Tribal Nations experience multiple levels of trauma, including Historical Trauma. All this contributes to our response to the current pandemic.

This timely and important webinar will define and look at burn out versus moral injury.  The term “burnout” is a relatively new term, first coined in 1974 by Herbert Freudenberger, in his book, Burnout: The High Cost of High Achievement.

Does your program or tribe need some help creating materials promoting non-violence against Native women and children?

Understanding the mind body spirit connection, using its power and accessing its’ benefits is the basis of holistic healing.  The concept of mind body spirit has been rooted in the culture and traditions of Indigenous peoples for thousands of years and is central to our belief and healing systems. Our healing systems and cultural practices took advantage of the power of belief or mind over body.