White Bison is proud to announce our 2009 Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness, which will begin May 16th in Salem, Oregon and travel across the United States.This Journey across the country will focus on community issues regarding boarding schools and intergenerational trauma.  We believe that in order for our communities to begin the healing process, we must start with addressing these issues and finding ways to forgive.

White Bison is asking for your help and support.  In order to raise funds for this journey, we are conducting a Fund-a-Mile program in which we are asking for $18.79 per mile.  We chose this number to honor the year that the first off-reservation boarding school was opened up in Carlisle, PA.  We are looking to raise 6,800 miles worth of funding.  White Bison is now actively searching for grassroots fundraisers who are supportive of the Wellbriety Movement and have a continuing passion to help their communities find hope and healing.

If you are interested in helping us with this journey, please contact Joan Dacus on the White Bison toll free number 1-877-871-1495, or call us at 719-548-1000.  Please feel free to log onto the White Bison website www.whitebison.org for further information as well.

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In conjunction with the Journey for Forgiveness, White Bison partnered with the Takini Group to provide a series of historical trauma workshops, with an emphasis on Native American boarding school experiences in the United States. The all day workshops were held in the communities listed below, included are the trainers and local coordinators identified for each community. The workshops were scheduled to be held simultanously on two Saturdays in April, the 4th and the 18th. Local coordinators organized logistics for the workshops and registration. Please go to the White Bison website, see the link above, to review how the Journey for Forgiveness is getting accomplished in 2009.

Lead Coordinators of the historical trauma workshop project were Don Coyhis & Ray Daw
info@whitebison.org
raydaw@aol.com

Historical Trauma Training Team Coordinators are:
Charlene Poola (Santa Clara)Email
Nadine Tafoya (Mescalero Apache)Email

APRIL 4TH TRAINING SITES AND TRAINERS

Community	Lead Trainer
Portland, OR	Blaine Wood Email Local Coordinator:Larry Pressnall
Coeur D’ Alene, ID Coeur d’Alene Tribal Wellness Center 1100 A Street, Plummer, ID 83851	Joe Stone, PhD Email Local Coordinator: Lanette Higgins
California Rural Indian Health Board, Inc. 4400 Auburn Blvd., 2nd Floor Boardroom Sacramento, CA	Ray Daw, MA (Dine') Email Local Coordinator: Deborah Kawkeka, P: 916-338-5800
Ft. McDowell Recreation Center 16402 N. Ft. McDowell Road, Ft. McDowell, AZ	Beverly Gorman Email Local Coordinator: Jeff Woolley
YWCA Oklahoma City 2460 W. I-44 Service Road, Oklahoma City, OK 73112	Paula Feathers Email Local Coordinator: Beatrice Johnston

APRIL 18TH TRAINING SITES AND TRAINERS

Community	Lead Trainer
Heritage Center, 8520 Marbel Ave NE, Albuquerque, NM	Gloria King Email Local Coordinator: Judy Wellington
CANCELLED: Pioneer Campus 2700 East 18th Street, Kansas City, MO 64127	Maria Brock, LISW Email Local Coordinator:
General Beadle School Rapid City, SD	Kim Ross-Toledo (Lakota) Email Local Coordinator: Laurette Pourier
Minneapolis American Ind. Center 1530 E Franklin Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55404	Lois DeLong, MA,Turtle Mountain Chippewa (Anishinaabe) Email Local Coordinator: Michelle Mills
Norbert Hill Center Seminary Road & Highway 54 Oneida, WI	David Kagabitang, LCSW, Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians Email Local Coordinator: Justine Souto
Ziibiwing Center for Anishinabe Culture and Lifeways 6650 E Broadway, Mt. Pleasant, MI 48858	Willie Wolf, MA, Cheyenne River Sioux Email Local Coordinator: Hunter Genia
CANCELLED: University of Nevada Anasari Business Building, Rm. AB 106 1664 N. Virginia St., Reno, NV	Maria Brock, LISW Email Local Coordinator: Sherri Rupert
CANCELLED:Wind River Tribal College, Room, C-1, 533 Ethete Road, Ethete, WY 82520	Stephanie Autumn, Hopi Email Local Coordinator:Nolita Wallowing Bull

WORKSHOP AGENDA: the following training agenda was used as the guide for the workshops. It is an example of how Takini adapts to the needs of the community.

9:00 am	Opening Blessing Ground Rules (Confidentiality and Respect for time) Intros (Name, Tribe, Occupation) Purpose of training (individ./community healing) National Apology- powerpoint (4 slides
9:30 am	What is historical trauma (4 components from Braveheart’s work) Signs and symptoms of HT Relocation, Assimilation, and Termination policies
10:00 am	Video clips First Contact work sheet or 1) what do you know about Boarding Schools in your area, 2) how has it impacted your life? 3) if it was a painful experience what have you done to address the pain? Small group discussion
10:30 am	Break
10:45 am	Signs of symptoms of Boarding School trauma
11:20 am	Small group discussion on experiences and impact on today’s family
11:45 am	Lunch
1:00 pm to 1:15 pm	GONA exercise/ice breaker Questions to larger group
1:15 pm	Transcending the Grief: How do we move on.
2:00 pm	Small group exercise; 4 groups (individual, family, community, and environment) brainstorm identifying the strengths in each of these areas that make Native American Communities resilient and strong. Report out to large group. Discussion (healing circle) Healing from HT and BS experience -examples from community on how they are healing -How do we do healing in our community
3:00 pm	Closing: Using the ideas from the previous exercise, draw a picture of a healed/well community.

Now here is the link for the powerpoint slides used during the Journey for Forgiveness historical trauma workshops, in Adobe fomat, for viewing and download. It is a large file, but is a rich source of information about boarding school trauma and can be used to further understanding and healing.Historical Trauma: Boarding School Trauma

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WHY A JOURNEY FOR FORGIVENESS ABOUT BOARDING SCHOOL TRAUMA?

• High rates of substance abuse, domestic violence, child sexual abuse and suicides continue to plague Native American communities.
• Most efforts to address these issues to date have focused primarily on the symptoms rather than potential causes.
• An increasing body of evidence indicates that the patterns of physical and sexual abuse in Native communities today stem from widespread abuse of Native children at the 25 Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding schools and 460 government-funded boarding and day schools run by churches between 1879 and 1940.

• The Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness is a national campaign planned for 2009 to support a collective healing of Native American peoples from the curses of historical trauma and unresolved grief believed to have their deepest roots in what Native people experienced at these schools.
• Historical or intergenerational trauma has been described as a type of post-traumatic stress disorder that has been passed down through generations.
• The Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness is about going back to these schools and taking back what was lost there.

• The vision of TWJF is to further the efforts of Native American communities to heal themselves by:
o Acknowledging those aspects of the Indian school experience that left a curse on Native communities.
o Providing a collective time and space for Native people of all tribes to join together in forgiveness, release and healing from this sad chapter in our history

• The 2009 Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness is being organized by the Colorado-based non-profit organization White Bison Inc. (www.WhiteBison.org)
• The Wellbriety Movement is a term coined by White Bison back in 1999 to denote the grassroots efforts in Indian communities to get well through culturally-based programs and practices

• The Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness events will include:
o A 6,800-mile coast-to-coast journey to 23 present and former Indian school sites in the US
o Designation of June as National Forgiveness Month.
o An educational exhibit about the boarding school experience.
o Filming for a full-length documentary currently in production.
o Creation and transport of a 40-foot tall Wellbriety totem pole from Haines, Alaska, to Washington, D.C.
o Educational workshops and ceremony at many of the school sites.
o The convening a task force of Native Americans, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians to develop the national goals and strategy for a culturally-appropriate wellness and sobriety plan.
• Planning for the tour will be guided by an advisory committee of Native elders.

• The flagship of the tour will be the 6,800-mile cross-country Journey.
o The Wellbriety Movement’s Sacred Hoop of 100 Eagle Feathers and recently-gifted eagle staff will be transported cross-country during the 40-day Journey beginning May 16, 2009, at the oldest continuously operated Indian boarding school, Chemawa, in Salem, Ore.
o The route will end the week of June 21 at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
o The route will include a stop at the site of the first boarding school, Carlisle Indian Industrial School, opened at Carlisle, Penn., in 1879. The school was the model school for educating Native American children for more than 60 years.
o The Journey includes stops at 23 present and former school sites where educational activities, facilitated talking circles and traditional Indian ceremonies will be held to promote awareness and support healing from the intergenerational trauma originating from the boarding school experience

Historical background.
o Between 1879 to 1934, Native children were forcibly removed from their homes to attend one of 500 schools run by the government and churches to assimilate Native people.
o At these schools, children were severely punished for speaking their native language and practicing their traditions and cultural ways.
o Widespread physical and sexual abuse against children occurred at the schools and has been documented. Many died there. Their bodies remain in marked and unmarked graves.
o While most of these schools had shut down by 1940, others stayed open and loopholes in the law allowed abuses to continue there into the 1980s.
o The Canadian government took the US boarding school model and employed it against Native people in Canada in full force up until the 1970s.
o On June 11, 2008, the Canadian government apologized to Native people for the thousands who were traumatized at the schools.
o A bill is currently in the US Congress to apologize for what happened at the boarding schools here.

• During Forgiveness Month, peoples will be asked to forgive those responsible for what happened at the schools in order to promote a collective healing of the nation.
• The Tour is intended to send the message that Indian people can heal from the historical trauma of the schools without waiting for a formal apology or monetary settlement from the US government.
• All Native communities will be encouraged to host activities in line with The Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness vision. Resources to participate will be provided to the communities on the designated website www.wellbrietyjourney.org.
• The Ancient Ways of Knowing Foundation is slated to release a documentary during the ride on the boarding schools from a historical perspective, through the sharing of personal stories and an examination of intergenerational trauma and its effects on the social fabric of Indian communities.
• The ride will be led by two sacred objects created to support the healing of Native peoples – the Wellbriety Eagle Staff and Sacred Hoop of 100 Eagle Feathers.
o The Wellbriety Eagle Staff of 36 feathers was gifted to the Wellbriety Movement by Nancy Kingbird, a member of the Leech Lake Ojibwe Tribe and grassroots community activist, during White Bison’s national conference April 18 in Minneapolis, Minn. The staff was made for the movement in remembrance of Kingbird’s husband, Warren Bradley Tibbetts, who was murdered at their home in 2005.
o The Sacred Hoop of 100 Feathers was created just after the birth of the white buffalo calf and has since traveled more than 40,000 miles bringing the messages of unity, healing, hope and forgiveness to Indian communities in the United States and Canada.

• For the last 20 years, White Bison has offered sobriety, recovery, addictions prevention and wellness resources to Native American communities nationwide. Its goal is to bring 100 Native American communities into healing by 2010. Visit the White Bison website at www.whitebison.org

• The Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness is being organized because Native people need to heal from this trauma now so that it doesn't get passed on to yet another generation.