Volume 22 Fall 2010 Issue No. 1
In This Issue: Native Activism
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It’s Time to Talk
Tribal colleges tackle culture of silence about suicide
By Janet Freeman
“In our culture,” says Coloradas Mangas, “we don’t talk about death.” Mangas (Mescalero Apache) testified at a U.S. Senate Committee of Indian Affairs hearing March 25, 2010, on the escalating suicide rate among American Indians. Mangas, a 15-year-old, lost five friends to suicide over a two-year period.
He cited the need for more mental health therapists as well as an overall change in cultural perspective when it comes to suicide. Mangas said that law enforcement and the courts play a larger role during a suicide attempt than the local mental health clinic. Courts order people to attend therapy, and police often are the ones fielding hotline calls. “This role of the courts and law enforcement criminalizes their behavior and makes their recovery seem less important.”
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In some cases a “double stigma” may exist—the student, who has experienced discrimination and prejudice from the majority culture, encounters prejudice from other Indians if he seeks help.
“When it comes to suicide, talking about death and dying is the only way to break the culture of silence that is taking the lives of so many of my friends,” he said.
Although Mangas is a high school student, his experience with losing loved ones to suicide unfortunately resonates with some of today’s college students, where feelings of alienation and isolation can compound depression.
Compared to the general population, American Indians are experiencing an alarmingly increased rate of suicide, which some estimate at 50% higher than other ethnic groups. On the campuses of some tribal colleges, things look equally bleak, with 15% of students reporting that they seriously considered suicide over the past 12 months, according to recent research by Dr. Jennifer Muehlenkamp, a psychologist at the University of North Dakota, and her colleagues.
While the reasons for this tragedy are myriad and complex—and much remains to be done—some tribal colleges in New Mexico, Montana, Nebraska, and North Dakota are facing the crisis head-on, instituting prevention programs designed to reach students before they even set foot on campus. Just as importantly, they are doing everything in their power once they arrive on campus to significantly lower their students’ risk for suicide.
What does a good suicide prevention program look like? Muehlenkamp has one answer. In 2009 she, along with colleague and North Dakota Suicide Prevention Coalition member Dr. Jacque Gray (Choctaw/ Cherokee), developed a model program that integrates tribal communities with prevention program staff.
According to Muehlenkamp, an effective prevention program possesses three core components: integrating cultural tradition, connecting students with healthy mentors and role models, and erasing the stigma associated with seeking treatment. Many individuals simply don’t feel comfortable seeking help from a therapist from the majority culture. Sometimes the therapist, however well-intended, is unable to provide the culture-specific help that can really make a difference in treatment outcomes.
Reservation communities, however, face a stunning lack of resources dedicated to mental health services. Mangas testified about the local Indian Health Service (IHS) on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in New Mexico, saying, “We have a mental health clinic with only one full time psychologist. One psychologist to serve a community of 4,500 children, youth, and adults.”
Tribal colleges face other challenges when it comes to suicide prevention. Too often their students’ motivation to find help is buried under other concerns, such as worry over family members or an ongoing struggle with poverty. A prevention effort that extends into the student’s surrounding community, therefore, can be particularly effective.
Dakota Culture at the Core
Cankdeska Cikana Community College (CCCC, Fort Totten, ND) recently started one such program. Wiconi Ohitika (Strong Life) is directed by CCCC President Dr. Cynthia Lindquist Mala, who had a long history in Indian health before becoming president. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, with an emphasis on Indian health systems, from UND.
The CCCC suicide prevention project was started in 2009 with a federal grant from the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a subset of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The project was designed to address suicide prevention on the Spirit Lake Dakota Reservation, especially people aged 10-24. Efforts are focused on community engagement; creating partnerships with local schools; training for educators, community members, and care providers; and increased suicide prevention. It creates a culture-specific program designed to help Dakota students.
Risk Factors for Suicide
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“Articulating the relevance and significance of Dakota culture as the ‘core’ of our prevention model [was a key challenge]. The essence of Dakota culture is family, community, and socializing with elders. Engagement of family members is key,” Lindquist Mala says.
Culture-specific programs are pivotal for the success of suicide prevention at tribal colleges; Muehlenkamp’s research indicates that students who are more culturally and spiritually connected exhibit fewer suicidal tendencies. By engaging the community at large and incorporating cultural traditions, a tribal college can go a long way toward ensuring its students will seek help when they need it.
The Wiconi Ohitika project was modeled after the Sources of Strength program founded by Mark LoMurray in the mid-1990s. On the national registry of promising practices in suicide prevention, Sources of Strength says the program has trained over 40,000 North Dakotans over the last decade. From 1999-2003 the state experienced an impressive 47% drop in teen suicide fatalities. The Sources of Strength philosophy is that among tribal groups, the “power of social networking in public health strategies is not something new, but something very traditional.”
Sources of Strength relies on social networking and peer relationships to combat suicide risk, saying that “no one source is strong enough to keep a suicidal person safe by itself.” In a little over a year, the CCCC project has increased awareness and prevention through a media campaign that includes PSAs, videos, brochures, community presentations, and posters featuring Spirit Lake youth. To increase resiliency, the project sponsors culture camps, youth leadership events, a monthly day of prayer, and weekly talking circles. In addition, the program initiated a referral and depression screening service so at-risk high school and CCCC students are referred to a mental health therapist for help.
The Wiconi Ohitika project has faced challenges. The most daunting of all, says Lindquist Mala, is finding qualified staff. But here again community involvement plays an integral role in building a strong program. The Wiconi Ohitika project enlists a broad swath of peer groups in its efforts to reduce risk, including tribal elders, youth mentors, and educators.
Resources on Suicide Prevention If you have reason to believe someone you know is contemplating suicide, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can provide immediate help through its toll-free number: 1 (800) 273-TALK (8255). In addition to offering immediate assistance, the lifeline also connects suicidal individuals with a nearby crisis center. For more information, visit: suicidepreventionlifeline.org and sourcesofstrength.com.
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“Adults and elders working with peer leaders are what give prevention impact,” according to Antonette McDonald Halsey, vice president of Library and Community Services at CCCC and coordinator for the project.
Fostering students’ sense of connection to their culture and community ultimately furthers their sense of belonging in the world at large. As a result, two vital characteristics for building healthy self-esteem—a sense of purpose and connection—are strengthened, and the risk of suicide subsequently lowered.
This becomes even more important when considering the effects of historical trauma, which in recent years has become widely regarded as a possible cause for escalating suicide rates. The genocide, severed family ties, and weakened cultural identity incurred from colonialism continue to devastate the American Indian community. (See TCJ, Vol.17, No. 3 for more on historical trauma.)
At the same time, a broader connection to community enables depressed students to move beyond this inherited pain. For this reason, cautions Muehlenkamp, historical trauma should be regarded as only one aspect of individual therapy.
“Mental health therapists can help clients focus on valuing who the person is alongside finding value in the person's culture and cultural traditions. I believe it’s important for American Indian/Alaska Native students to be aware of the historical trauma but also to focus on ways to grow and connect with their true culture outside this trauma—for example, integrate the historical pieces into one’s cultural story and then find the positive in one’s culture to express… to promote positive growth and resilience,” she says.
Reaching Out to the Community
Each suicide prevention program has its own approach, but all rely upon community. Every year, the Center for Lifelong Learning at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA, Santa Fe, NM) hosts a Suicide Prevention Conference and Tribal Training that focuses on strengthening connections between the surrounding communities and the college. In March 2010, the fourth annual conference was open to a wide variety of people, including mental health professionals, veterans, tribal leaders, and educators. According to Hayes Lewis, the program’s director, root causes must be addressed. With proper support strategies, programming, and appropriate cultural resources, youth suicide can be stopped, he says.
Nebraska Indian Community College (NICC) started a suicide prevention counseling certificate program in 2009 for members of the Santee Sioux Nation. With classes in counseling techniques, ethical and legal issues, crisis intervention, and more, the college hopes to address the specific needs of Native American communities. After a year of study, the first graduates will emerge with a certificate that enables them to work under the supervision of a licensed mental health practitioner.
The Montana/Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council recently began a prevention program called Planting Seeds of Hope. Coordinator Stephanie Iron Shooter has gone to the campuses of several tribal colleges in Montana, including Stone Child College, Salish Kootenai College, Chief Dull Knife College, Fort Belknap College, and Blackfeet Community College. She is currently creating a Speaker’s Bureau coalition whose purpose is to unite community mentors with young people. These “ambassadors” will talk about challenges they themselves have faced and how they overcame them.
Chosen for their strong cultural identity and sense of self, the mentors are able to speak persuasively about the importance of academics, Native culture, and self-esteem. Speaking of the grassroots project, Iron Shooter says the goal of Planting Seeds of Hope is to “empower and elicit what is already within us as a people.”
Components of an Effective
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Experts agree that bolstering self-empowerment among today’s young Native population is critical for people with an acute sense of powerlessness. On some reservations, the suicide rate is 10 times higher than the national average. The people ending their lives are sisters, brothers, friends, fathers, cousins, and mothers of those they left behind, creating an incredible void in the life of a young person who may or may not have the coping skills necessary to overcome such tragedy.
At the Senate hearing, Mangas, the high school student, pleaded with his peers and with the system to break the culture of silence and remove the stigma associated with seeking help. Community members can provide help that might be unacceptable coming from the legal system. Muehlenkamp says a good program must use American Indian individuals who “speak about their fears of seeking help, what the experience was like, how it helped them, and how it’s actually a sign of strength to seek help.”
In other words, when the problem becomes more visible, the healing follows.
Janet Freeman is a writer and photographer living in Santa Fe, NM. A former English professor, she maintains ties to the educational community by writing for venues such as TCJ and TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language).
To see the webcast of the Senate hearing on suicide where Coloradas Mangas spoke, see http://indian.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?hearingID=4485