Restoration Magazine

Listening to Survivors. Strengthening Services.

Storytelling has always been vital to Native lifeways. Since time immemorial, Native peoples have shared knowledge, traditions, and practices through storytelling. Stories passed down from one generation to the next ensure that a community’s heritage and traditions continue and connect communities to their ancestral roots.

These oral traditions inspired the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center’s Advocate Storytelling project. We wanted to create a space where Tribal Nations, domestic violence victim services advocates, Tribal leaders, and American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) victim-survivors could have a direct line to the organization—an opportunity to share lessons learned, challenges faced, successes achieved, and the lived experiences of victim-survivors in Indian Country.

To respect the sacred nature of these experiences, no identifying information will be shared. All submissions are anonymous. We value your honesty and vulnerability. By offering this anonymity and protection, we hope survivors feel encouraged to share what helped, or could have helped, them in difficult times.

These collective narratives will be the foundation for shaping recommendations and identifying resource needs. These resources, in turn, will support, develop, and sustain domestic violence programs led by Tribal Nations. By elevating these voices, this project raises broader awareness about the unique experiences of AI/AN victim-survivors and informs future advocacy, policy, and program efforts.

This project was made possible by Grant Number 90-EV0533-04 from the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Family and Youth Services Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.