Academic, Therapeutic, and Consultative Interventions

Articles

A Sweetgrass Method of Bullying Prevention for Native American Youth

This article outlines bullying prevention and intervention in a cultural and identity-centered context. Bullying is often related to various intersectional aspects of students’ identity and should be addressed with interventions around identity and resilience. The Sweetgrass method of bullying prevention includes several functions of introspection, family collaboration, and continuity. The comprehensive bullying prevention method is rooted in students’ sense of self, spiritually, emotionally, clan and affiliation for healing and resiliency.

Addressing Trauma in American Indian and Alaska Native Youth

This article brings historical oppression and current mental health issues within Native American communities together. The study reviews many research findings from evidence-based interventions for American Indian and Alaska Native Youth and examines several interventions that have not yet been systematically researched. Interventions include trauma-focused, suicide prevention, substance abuse programs, healthy parenting programs, frameworks for interventions with AI/AN youth, and one intervention created specifically for Alaska Native children.

American Indian Historical Trauma: Anticolonial Prescriptions for Healing, Resilience, and Survivance

Authors of this article give in depth theories and complexities of racial and historical trauma and implications for psychological practice. Psychology and mental health professions can be a highly individualistic process while limiting healing practices that focus on marginalization, intergenerational trauma, and sociopolitical factors of mental health diagnosis and treatment. This article poses a necessary shift in discourse and anticolonial prescriptions for healing when historical trauma is a clinical condition and life stressor for communities.

Healing Children, Adolescents, and Families Nature-ly

This article looks at the alienation and disconnectedness described in Brokenleg’s Reclaiming Youth at Risk and incorporates the importance of Nature therapy in promoting a sense of belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity for our youth. Practices of Nature therapy and ecopsychology adopt a more Indigenous, holistic approach to more clinical and Western therapies. The author stresses how the Indigenous philosophy of interconnectedness and nature is healing for all children.

Indigenous Knowledge Systems/ Alaska Native Ways of Knowing

This article shares research and personal stories as it focuses on Alaska Native experience to advocate for Indigenous knowledge in the education system. Historically, the conversation discussed self-determination and how to adapt education so Native students will better understand Western knowledge. These authors highlight the detriment of this mindset and demonstrate the potential of a more meaningful curriculum and sustainable community. It shows Indigenous tradition, process, and ways of knowing can be incorporated at the center of education.

Knowledge Fair Trade

This article is written by a family narrative therapist of Muisca, African, and European Colombian ancestry. She weaves her identities into a critical examination of neoliberalism and knowledge in mental health professions. The discussion is around Western, prosperous countries globalizing professional knowledge in a colonizing way. Dr. polanco describes training and transfer of knowledge as fair trade. She advocates for a more transformative, hybrid alternative that accounts for unique sociocultural, historical, and local factors of communities served by these professional realms of knowledge.

Kumeyaay Heritage and Conservation (HC) Project: Learning Landscapes Educational Curriculum

The Kumeyaay curriculum is an invaluable resource about the Kumeyaay people. It is a comprehensive set of Kumeyaay educational lessons created by community members Michael Connolly Miskwish, Stan Rodriguez, and Martha Rodriguez. The curriculum is organized into ten modules that range from information about Kumeyaay culture (e.g. music and games) to ecosystems and environmental management, to cosmology and more. This has been a great tool for scholars to look to when thinking of cultural activities and creating their own lesson plans.

National Association of School Psychologists Position Statement: Effective Service Delivery for Indigenous Children, Youth, Families, and Communities

NASP’s Indigenous American Group has created a contextual and conceptual framework for best practice for School Psychologists working with Indigenous populations. They create a graphic, non-linear image with all intersectional aspects of service delivery for Indigenous students. They recognize culture and identity at the core and provide guidelines and considerations for the spiritual, cognitive–academic, social–emotional–behavioral, and physical development of Indigenous youth. This position statement is important in developing an understanding of the interrelationships of all beings and the complexity of humanness, which is important to consider when delivering culturally relevant interventions with Indigenous students. This is a crucial standard for understanding ethical and legal standards when working with Indigenous communities.

Reading and Thinking Skills Category Fact Sheet

This quick reference sheet describes critical thinking skills for different aspects of reading comprehension: gathering, transferring, and communicating information.

Revealing Culturally Embedded Knowledge in the Practice of School Psychology: A Personal Perspective on the Navajo Way of Life

This article is a personal story from a Native School Psychologist. She illustrates the strong impact her Navajo identity has had on her critical thinking, communication, and cognitive skills. She experienced a disconnect between her cultural skills and school-based academic skills when teachers failed to consider the fact that cognition is rooted in culture. Her story makes a poignant case for culturally and cognitively mediated learning instead of an explicitly academic, Western view of these skills.

Videos and Presentations

Cultural Trauma and Youth Suicides in Indian Country

This video is a short documentary video about the history of Native American boarding schools and its relationship to cultural trauma and ongoing mental health issues in Indian Country. It includes historical facts and current statistics. The video centers around personal stories from Native American people affected by boarding schools and suicide. It has helped scholars understand Indigenous-specific issues in the mental health and counseling setting.

Doctrine of Discovery: The Domination Code

Steve Newcomb gives an Indigenous peoples’ history and perspective on the Doctrine of the Discovery as an imperial Christian doctrine that created a system of domination that continues across the world. He outlines many key historical events that cater to this code of domination including Johnson v. M’Intosh. This video is a presentation Newcomb gives with his daughter about his work and documentary. It includes personal stories from their lives, their research, and a Q & A with audience members. Newcomb also wrote a book, Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery that explores these topics.

Supporting Children Who Have Experienced Trauma PowerPoint

Maegan Rides At The Door of the National Native Children’s Trauma Center created a presentation to provide educators information on Native trauma and trauma-informed schools and interventions. It includes an overview of traumatic experiences, the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACEs) study in Indigenous communities, and historical trauma. The slides also provide insight into the relationship between trauma, behavior, and how trauma manifests in educational settings. Thorough examples of trauma responsive services, interventions, strategies, activities and ongoing self-care that can better equip school staff to become trauma-informed in their responses are excellent resources for scholars.

The Canary Effect

This documentary discusses U.S. history since initial contact with Columbus from an Indigenous viewpoint. It highlights genocidal acts by colonizers, founding fathers, and White people as they built what is now the U.S.A. It accounts massacres, killings, forced relocation, boarding schools, forced sterilizations, and religious subjugation. The video leads into a portrayal of lasting effects of these traumas in contemporary Native American communities (alcoholism, unemployment rates, mental health impacts, sovereignty, and lack of resources). The stories help scholars understand Indigenous-specific issues in counseling and better grasp the historical context of counseling with Native students.

Websites

Department of Diné Education

The Navajo Nation Department of Diné Education’s website includes many resources and contact information for public schools, BIE schools, school boards, and departments of education. Their mission is to “promote and foster life-long learning for the Navajo people, and to protect the Integrity of Sovereignty of the Navajo Nation”. Scholars suggest reaching out to contacts on the website when researching language revitalization and promoting culture for Navajo Diné students.

We R Native: For Native Youth, By Native Youth

This website is designed for students to use directly, but it could also be used by educators to broach sensitive topics in a culturally appropriate way or supplement lesson plans. Topics include my culture (e.g. powwows, sovereignty, land), my life (e.g. anxiety, obesity, adoption or foster care), and my relationships (e.g. family, LGBT- Two Spirit, dating). There are videos, articles, blog posts, and even an "Ask Auntie" section where students can submit questions and receive answers from a Native perspective.

Information Hub: Adverse Childhood Experiences in Indian Country

Many Tribal individuals, families, and communities have been impacted by childhood experiences causing physical and mental health adversities throughout the lifespan. However, with understanding and effort, individuals and communities can confront Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) for positive health outcomes. This information hub, launched by the National Indian Health Board includes a "resource basket" designed for American Indian and Alaska Native individuals, families, communities, professionals, and leaders to rummage through, harvesting resources. In the resource basket, you will find links to information on programs, treatment, and policy to help plan for interventions.