Culturally responsive mental health care and suicide prevention
World Suicide Prevention Day, data sovereignty in Kahnawake’s Oral History Project, the importance of Indigenous sovereignty for climate resilience.
Boozhoo News River Readers,
Every week, we hand-pick the most important stories in Indigenous innovation, research, and culture. Stay connected to what matters.
There are helpful crisis resources in this week’s News River for World Suicide Prevention Day today. You can forward this email to friends or colleagues to spread awareness about culturally responsive mental health care and toll free crisis support lines.
Thanks for being here, look out for one another, and as always - here’s the news,
This week’s stories include:
Data sovereignty is at the heart of the next phase of Kahnawake’s Oral History Project, with elders’ stories ready to be archived in a way that keeps community knowledge for the community.
Climate resilience, the burden to recover placed on those most harmed, and why Indigenous sovereignty matters.
The CARE principles assert that Indigenous peoples have inherent rights to govern data about themselves, their territories, and their knowledge systems. Mainstream LMS platforms violate every one of these principles.
Sept 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day
What they’re saying: "It’s common for First Nations Peoples to refer to 'helpers' or 'helping work' when describing individuals who provide relationally-based support to others. As a community psychotherapist and later PhD student, I became increasingly interested in these helpers as unsung heroes of community wellness. They didn’t necessarily have a graduate degree in a mental health field, and they were rarely recognized or compensated for their efforts, yet they made great personal sacrifices to support the healing journeys of those around them. My doctoral research investigates who these Indigenous helpers are, the nature of their helping work and the role of language and dialogue in the relationships they form with those they help." - Louis Busch
Learn more: This World Suicide Prevention Day we encourage you to read the full article on culturally responsive mental health care by Louis Busch, published earlier this summer in The Conversation.
Key numbers to call:
The BC Wide Indigenous Toll Free Crisis and Support Line, established by the KUU-US Crisis and Care Society. If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide, please know that you deserve support and it's okay to reach out: 1-800-KUU-US17 or 1-800-588-8717
The National Suicide Prevention crisis line can also be reached 24/7 by call/text: #988
Curated Articles:
Community control for oral history
Data sovereignty is at the heart of the next phase of Kahnawake’s Oral History Project, with elders’ stories and family life in Kahnawake ready to be archived in a way that above all keeps community knowledge for the community. “It’s looking really good, the possibilities are really exciting,” said Gerald Taiaiake Alfred, project manager. “This is super up to date cutting-edge technology, and it looks fantastic.” The first phase of the project wrapped up in February 2022 and saw 25 elders and their families interviewed over a two-year period. The result was a short film titled “Resistance and Resilience: Stories and Remembrances of our Elders,” which was shortlisted for the prestigious 2023 Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Community Programming. The initial idea was to make not just the resulting short film but the tens of hours of video content gathered throughout the two years accessible online for community members - but the team was faced with a very real concern: who would be able to access that data?
When Indigenous LMS Technology Supports Indigenous Futures
"To them, the idea of data existing in the cloud is almost like the knowledge is leaving the territory," Rudo Kemper, founder of Terrastories, explained to reporters. This isn't metaphorical. When an Indigenous student submits an assignment in Canvas, their data flows to Instructure's servers. When a tribal college uses Blackboard, student information sits in Anthology's data centers. These companies can aggregate, analyze, and monetize this information according to terms of service that Indigenous communities had no role in creating. The CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance is an acronym for Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, and Ethics . These principles articulate why this matters. Published in Nature and adopted by the UN, these principles assert that Indigenous peoples have inherent rights to govern data about themselves, their territories, and their knowledge systems. Mainstream LMS platforms violate every one of these principles.
Climate resilience won’t save us — but Indigenous Peoples’ sovereignty might
“Resilience” has become a buzzword — celebrated in climate plans, public health programs, and mental health grants. But in Indian Country, resilience is not what we need more of. The word now praises us for surviving trauma while ignoring the systems that caused it: colonialism, environmental racism, disinvestment, extractive economies, and violence. The burden to recover is placed on those most harmed, while the structures that created the harm remain intact. Survival and adaptation should not be the measure of success. Justice should. Too often, resilience language justifies underinvestment: ‘They’re tough. They’ll survive.’ That same logic fuels chronic underfunding of IHS, inadequate mental health care, and climate policies that prioritize survival strategies instead of systemic change. Indian Country doesn’t need more resilience. We need repair, equity, and sovereignty.
Facing Defunding, Indigenous Cultural Workers Say They Cannot Be Suppressed
The proposed elimination of the National Endowment for the Humanities threatens Indigenous libraries and arts programs. Institutions offering Indigenous arts and culture programming, as well as those centering the histories and culture of other communities of color, are at disproportionate risk of being defunded and further marginalized under the administration’s policies. Faced with sweeping cuts to federal agencies that have historically supported cultural programming nationwide, these institutions are dipping into reserves, building new partnerships, turning to their communities for donations, and receiving added support from philanthropic organizations. The Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums (ATALM) called the proposed elimination of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) a threat to the future of Indigenous archives, libraries, museums, cultural centers, historic preservation offices, and language programs in the U.S.
