Workshop to address Native health
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TweetLani Hotch said she sees a day-long workshop in Klukwan Aug. 2 as the next step in village wellness efforts. Non-Natives and people from outside the village are welcome to attend.
“Building Relationships” begins 9 a.m. in the Klukwan ANS Hall. A $10 morning session led by writer and historian Dan Henry will discuss historic relations between Natives and non-Natives here.
Henry’s presentation will serve as a jumping-off point for discussion on generational trauma, Hotch said.
“People carry around baggage. It’s not just Native people. Everybody has issues from the past. It’s safer to approach your own issues when you take someone else’s issues and examine it, and say, ‘That’s kind of like my issue,’” Hotch said this week.
“There’s trauma that Native people have experienced that spans generations. Many Native people carry this trauma and it affects their outlook on life and colors all their experiences. Dan Henry’s historical presentation might be able to unveil some of those issues for people, and Robin Grace will be there to help us address them as a group,” Hotch said.
Henry’s wife, psychotherapist Robin Grace, will work with the group in an effort to teach and provide tools for people to recognize and address their mental health issues. Joanne Elsie Spud, a lifelong Klukwan resident and behavioral health specialist for Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) also will participate.
Hotch said culture camps and other activities have gone a distance toward improving health of community members and other participants. The assistance of mental health professionals will take that healing a step further, she hopes. In the future, she would like to host “Wellness Retreats” in the village.
“In 1992 we began weaving the Klukwan Healing Robe and it started us on the path to wellness but I can’t say we have arrived yet. I think we have come a long way since then but there is still a ways to go,” Hotch said.
Grace will lead an afternoon class for social workers on complexities of relationships between Natives and non-Natives. Tools for becoming more attuned to relational nuances will be discussed.
For more information, contact Lani Hotch at 767-5581. Sponsors include Alaska Arts Confluence, 7 Echoes Farm, Lynn Canal Counseling, SEARHC and the Village of Klukwan. Registration details can be found at: http://www.7echoes.org/building-relationships.
