Kewa/Hopi
Capacity Building Center for Tribes. “Hopi Protocol for Research, Publication, and Recordings - Tribal Information Exchange | Capacity Building Center for Tribes.” Tribal Information Exchange | Capacity Building Center for Tribes, 27 July 2023, tribalinformationexchange.org/index.php/document/hopi-protocol-for-research-publication-and-recordings.
Bird, Corey. “Senior Sunrise”, 2025.
Santo Domingo Pueblo. “Home &Ndash; Santo Domingo Pueblo.” Santo Domingo Pueblo, 6 Aug. 2025, santodomingopueblo.
Identity
Bird, Corey. Brothers in Football. September 19, 2025.
Sharing One's Skin
By Jeanette Armstrong
The author, Jeanette Armstrong, is from the Okanagan Nation. The Okanagan people are hunters within the Columbia Valley. Like the Okanagan people, our culture and traditions guide and shape our identity. The Okanagans believed that a person is composed of four selves that each bond to form our capacity. Jeanette also has a right to the Columbia River through her mother's side.
Bird, Corey. Campus of Snow. January 9, 2024.
And Then I Went to School
By Joe Suina
Indigenous teachings are passed down from elders, but in school, all they were taught was being disgraced and told to be forgotten. Being in a boarding school is unfamiliar and uncaring to the children, and after a while, it leaves the kids unsatisfied with their own home after being told that everything they had was not nearly as good as the white man's.
Bird, Corey. Kewa Sunset. July 17, 2025.
How Place Names Impact The Way We See Them
By Toastie B.
Sacred sites also hold a mythical layer. Names often stem from a distinct feature, such as "The Grand Canyon" deriving from the extreme size of the canyon. Dine people refuse to take the names of the dead without their permission. Cash says, repeating the names of colonisers keeps the trauma of dispossession fresh.
History
Bird, Corey. Questa Sunset. April 17, 2026.
Natural History of Alcohol Dependence and Remission Events Among Native American Sample
By Kamilla L. Venner
Addiction/substance abuse affects an individual's life the whole time it is present in their life. In a Native American sample, the onset of drinking started as early as 12 years of age, and frequently happened with others. The order of alcohol-related events varied from person to person, as well as variation in dependence items. During their 20's, individuals began regular drinking and began receiving pressure from friends and family to reduce their drinking. During their 30's, many had admitted defeat, and prayed to God for help/ made their decision to stop drinking. It took about 16 years of trying to achieve abstinence for the onset of sobriety to begin. From 13 to 38. 25 years affected by alcohol. The first attempt at sobriety won't always work, but it marked the transition to a new help-seeking stage.
Bird, Corey. Cumulus clouds. September 19, 2025.
Substance and Behavioral Addiction Among American Native and Alaskan Native Populations
By Zephier Olson
American Indians and Alaskan Natives are more prone to substance abuse/addiction than other ethnic groups in the United States. Some risk factors that were found were historical trauma, socio-economic challenges, and cumulative emotional and psychological wounding across generations and social norms. Historical trauma ties into emotional and psychological wounding through the massive group trauma AIAN people experience due to colonization and genocide incurred after European contact.
Bird, Corey. Captivating Orange. February 6, 2025.
Impact of substance abuse/ addiction within Native American Populations
By Walter Hillabrant
Addiction/ substance abuse has, for a while, been the result of trauma or problems. Substance abuse has been in our history as far back as the relocation act of 1956. Addiction is often in a domino effect with unemployment, education, and health. It was said that addiction was a threat inflicted by ourselves, which I think is false to an extent, because Alcohol was brought to us from overseas. Choosing to lean towards it is our own fault.
Current Events
Bird, Corey. Mountain side view. June 10, 2024.
By Corey Bird
The Red Ribbon Relay Run is a representation of living drug-free lives and a symbol of Enrique Camarena Salazar's honorable death, cultivated by the communities and people. Enright fought to protect his community as a special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Imperial County Narcotic Task Force. The Event started as red ribbons worn to honor Renrique, and then turned into runs when Navajo Nation President Peterson Zah recruited Navajo runners.
Bird, Corey. Flowers beneath rock. June 10, 2024.
By Corey Bird
In New Mexico, high school students are more likely to use marijuana, e-cigarettes and experience frequent mental distress. We wouldn't see this clearly without the New Mexico Youth Risk & Resilience Surveys that take anonymous responses from participating students in participating high schools. The YRRS asks questions to provide results similar to those mentioned above for New Mexico students compared to the United States. Understanding what our teens are experiencing will give us the reason to take action.
Government & Organization Impact
Bird, Corey. Valley View. June 10, 2024.
By Corey Bird
I chose the Kewa Family Wellness Center (KFWC) as my government impact because of the various services it provides to its members, with the goal of inspiring and nurturing well-being, one person at a time. The wide array of services includes referral/intake, case management/ client navigation, community health representative services, youth shelter services, and a few others. But the ones I was to highlight are outpatient substance abuse treatment and behavioral health therapy. Their vision is "To collectively promote and provide the best quality of services that create a healthy community. That fosters balance and harmony for all tribal members while respecting culture and tradition as a way of life.”
Bird, Corey. Evaded Disaster. March 11, 2025.
By Corey Bird
Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of people who come together to solve their drinking problem. It doesn’t cost anything to attend A.A. meetings. There are no age or education requirements to participate. Membership is open to anyone who wants to do something about their drinking problem. A.A.’s primary purpose is to help alcoholics to achieve sobriety. A.A.’s Twelve Steps are a set of spiritual principles. When practiced as a way of life, they can expel the obsession to drink and enable the sufferer to recover from alcoholism.
Global Connections
Bird, Corey. Bee's Duties. September 27, 2025.
By Corey Bird
This article offers a good methodology for researching any topic; in this case, it is used to research the benefits of cultural practices in the context of addiction. Cultural approaches to addiction affect the four dimensions of wellness: Spiritual, Physical- Behavioral, Mental, and social- emotional. The most common cultural practices were sweat lodges and using sage, cedar, or sweet grass smudges.
What is being done in Canada is most relevant to New Mexican Indigenous communities in terms of approaches. Using cultural practices to connect to our culture and identity is a huge protective factor we have found through interviews and research. The practices vary among cultures, but the effect remains consistent. I myself place my identity through my culture at the core of my being. Doing so has given me an unshakable truth to lean on in hardships and tribulations.
Bird, Corey. Questa Mountain Range. April 17, 2026.
By Corey Bird
This article provides various social methods, such as Motivational Enhancement Therapy(MET) and Alcoholics Anonymous(AA), that were proven to significantly reduce drinking frequency and volume over a 9-15 month follow-up. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy(CBT) was especially effective when paired with traditional treatments of sweat lodge ceremonies and talking circles in a 90-day alcohol consumption period. In this study, there were significant reductions in psychiatric severity, medical problem severity, and measures of physical and functional well-being at the conclusion of treatments.
By human nature, we are social animals, and this is seen in this article, which includes Indigenous staff and culturally specific elements in the recovery plan among numerous studies. Taking a psychosocial approach to addiction yielded significant reductions in drinking frequency and volume. We found evidence of this first-hand in interviews with alcoholics or ex-alcoholics, though social interaction was with people close to the alcoholic.
Bird, Corey. Green to Red Gradient Tree. November 22, 2025.
By Youthrisk.org
This article affirms that the health status of Indigenous people is a direct result of historical and ongoing colonial policies and practices in the healthcare system, and that Indigenous people have the right to influence health research, policy, and practices that impact them. This review was guided by Indigenous knowledge holders at Knowledge Holders Gatherings. In the Knowledge Holders Gathering, Elders emphasized five key contextual factors affecting opioid dependence in their communities, including structural violence, trauma, culture, community, and experiences.
The five key contextual factors can be thought of as protective factors and risk factors. Traumas from the past generations affect a person just as much as their own traumas. Generational traumas pre-wire your responses to any experiences that may trigger similar feelings or survival responses. This, along with how a child is raised, can determine if we continue the precedence. The contextual factors that were constructed through the Knowledge Holders Gathering are key to future changes.
Action Plans
Bird, Corey. Discussions. November 14, 2025.
By Corey Bird
My action plan took place on November 13, 2025, in the 1st-floor boys' study room. I invited the 1st floor North-wing boys to participate in a group activity similar to a bit-life. I planned to show the boys plausible situations of exposure to commonly addictive substances with consequences if they had chosen as a group to accept what was offered. Through this game, the boys learned how severe the consequences may be if they had chosen the worst path towards addiction.
Bird, Corey. !YouthWorks Group Photo. February 25, 2026.
By Corey Bird
My action plan took place on February 25, 2026, at !YouthWorks on Cerrillos Rd. I invited students to participate in a talking circle and learn about !YouthWorks and what they do. There, we learned about the different branches of the program and how it’s similar to Alcoholics Anonymous(AA). The discussion was youth-led with adults participating as spectators. We experienced a traditional method to combat addiction and mental unwellness.
Attaching Your Heart
Bird, Corey. Vast Landscape. January 19, 2026.
By Corey Bird
Native American communities are always interconnected. The old man who runs the pueblo store? That is your uncle. The young lady who is always dusting out rugs? That is your sister. The kids who play in the plaza? They’re your younger siblings. The entire pueblo is a family, and we all help to nurture one another. I would like to think of SFIS as an interconnected community as well. Bill Coriz is from the pueblo of Santo Domingo and is a present part of SFIS as a counselor, dorm staff, and chaperone. For all the years I have come to school here, Bill has been here and has been present in the lives of the dormitory boys. He is our role model to be present in our culture, to learn the stories of our past, and to teach the youth behind us. Cultural practices like stories, prayer, and tradition, Bill is a representation of. “Growing up without a father, I looked to these two men as fulfilling that role. Grandpa Chosa was a daily figure in my life who provided structure, discipline, and life’s teaching through farming practices and as a traditional health practitioner in our Pueblo.”(Chosa 175). I have grown up without a father, and having male role models like Bill has given me the reassurance that I can still learn and contribute to my community.
Throughout my SHP presentation and research, I included people of all ages. I acknowledged the future with my peers, acknowledged the wisdom of the past with our elders, and the reality of the issue with ex addicts/ ex-dependents. “Values are common across Pueblo and Indigenous communities, and their significance is magnified when considering small populations and the realization that every community member’s contributions and talents are valuable to the whole.”(Chosa 168) In a topic so sensitive, I wanted to make sure that my audience could find commonality with some part of it. When the elders in my audience realize that their wisdom is valuable, I hope it warms their hearts. When the youth in my audience see the shift we are trying to make, they join the movement. With my SHP, I address an issue that I feel we can resolve with the help everybody can offer. Each person can feel they belong in creating a better future, no matter who they are now or who they were in the past.
Citations
Armstrong, Jeanette. 1996 “Sharing One’s Skin: The Okanagan Community”. Pp. 460-470 in Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith (eds.), The Case Against the Global Economy, San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books.
Henderson, Rita, et al. “A Realist Review of Best Practices and Contextual Factors Enhancing Treatment of Opioid Dependence in Indigenous Contexts.” Harm Reduction Journal, vol. 20, no. 1, Mar. 2023, p. 34. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-023-00740-x.
Hillabrant Walter. “The impact of substance abuse/addiction within Native American populations.” YouTube, 13 Nov. 2014.
Rowan Et Al., Margo. “A Scoping Study of Cultural Interventions to Treat Addictions in Indigenous Populations: Methods, Strategies and Insights From a Two-Eyed Seeing Approach.” ResearchGate, July 2015. www.researchgate.net/publication/280030423_A_scoping_study_of_cultural_interventions_to_treat_addictions_in_Indigenous_populations_Methods_strategies_and_insights_from_a_Two-Eyed_Seeing_approach. Accessed 28 Jan. 2026.
Suina, Joe. (1985). “And then I went to school: Memories of a Pueblo childhood”—New Mexico Journal of Reading.
Toastie, B. (2022, May 1). “How place names impact the way we see landscape”—High Country News: KNOW THE WEST.
Venner KL, Feldstein SW. Natural history of alcohol dependence and remission events for a Native American sample. J Stud Alcohol. 2006 Sep;67(5):675-84. doi: 10.15288/jsa. 2006.67.675. PMID: 16847535; PMCID: PMC2911362.
VLeske, Stuart, et al. “Systematic Review of Interventions for Indigenous Adults With Mental and Substance Use Disorders in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.” Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 50, no. 11, Aug. 2016, pp. 1040–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004867416662150.
Zephier Olson, M.D., Dombrowski, K. A Systematic Review of Indian Boarding Schools and Attachment in the Context of Substance Use Studies of Native Americans. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 7, 62–71 (2020).
---. “Home - New Mexico Youth Risk &Amp; Resiliency Survey.” New Mexico Youth Risk & Resiliency Survey, 14 Aug. 2025, youthrisk.org/#who-we-are.
---. “Kewa Family Wellness Center &Ndash; Santo Domingo Pueblo.” Santo Domingo Pueblo, 18 Nov. 2025, santodomingopueblo.com/kewa-family-wellness-center.
---. “Red Ribbon Runners Promote Healthy, Drug-free Lifestyle.” Navajo Times, 17 Sept. 2015, navajotimes.com/ae/health/red-ribbon-runners-promote-healthy-drug-free-lifestyle.
---. "Alcoholics Anonymous." Alcoholics Anonymous. www.aa.org.