In light of the recently uncovered graves of hundreds of Native children at boarding schools, we send our love and support to our Native members in this acute time of mourning. As Nick Estes, Kul Wicasa from the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, says, “there is so much mourning Native people have yet to do.†Rub your ears. Get a NADA treatment. Be especially gentle and caring with one another. In short, take care of yourselves and your relatives.
Here are some resources of support from Indian Country Today:
- A resource list for trauma responses from the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition in the US.
- The National Indian Residential School Crisis Hotline in Canada can be reached at 1-866-925-4419. If you’re in Treaty 4 territory, call 306-522-7494.
We stand in solidarity with Native communities’ ongoing resistance to genocide and colonization.
Though recently uncovered, these horrors are not new or surprising and are part and parcel of the historic and ongoing colonization of the Native peoples of Turtle Island. Native communities, led by survivors of boarding schools, have been working to bring light to this particular colonial violence for decades. Undoubtedly, more and more will come to light with ongoing investigations.
“Wounds to the soul can manifest as chronic illness, depression, anxiety, PTSD, addictions, difficulties in relationships, emotional numbness, and a feeling as though one doesn’t belong and is a burden.â€
– Dolores Jimerson, Seneca, bear clan, NADA Trainer, Remembering Our Place in the Circle, Re-membering Our Greatness, 2017 Video Contest
Indigenous ADSes are working to increase the accessibility of the #NADAprotocol in their communities.
The NADA protocol is a culturally resonant way of helping the healing process in response to the trauma of colonization. Land sovereignty, food sovereignty, and health justice are deeply connected, and we are committed to learning more together and working towards the decolonization of medicine.
We invite our non-Native members to learn who the stewards of the land they live on are and to look up how to support local efforts towards justice for boarding school victims, survivors, and their relatives.
In care and solidarity,
NADA