On a Sunday in July, I received a heartbreaking call from a friend. She was calling to tell me that one of our friends had died by suicide. She was young, inspiring, and still had things to accomplish in this world. She was also very open about her mental health, and our friend group surrounded her with love and support, trying to push the scary things away and help her keep living. In the end, the scary things won, and we are still picking up the pieces.

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and I know my friend’s story is not unique. Every year, more than 40,000 Americans die by suicide. Some of you reading this may have your own stories to share about how suicide has affected you; I’m sorry you have to carry that weight with you.

Also in July of this year, the Argus Leader published a story on suicide in South Dakota, including the fact that in 2017, South Dakota saw its highest rates of suicide deaths. One of the protective factors for suicide (something that is likely to stop someone from suicide) is effective behavioral health care. That makes sense, right? If someone is receiving effective care for their mental health needs, they are less likely to die by suicide. The problem with this, though, is that mental health care around the U.S. is inadequate. We have more people who need help than providers who can see them, and the system itself can be incredibly hard to navigate.

If you tried right now to get an appointment for the first time with a counselor or psychiatrist in Sioux Falls, many places would require a referral from your primary care provider. This means you would need to, first, be able to afford to see a primary care provider. This also means you would need to have transportation to make it to multiple appointments, then possibly to the pharmacist, and you would need to have a place to call home, where you can store your medicine. You need a clock so you know when to take your medicine or when to leave so you can make it to your next appointment. These things aren’t feasible for everyone.

There are so many moving pieces to effective mental health care. One suicide risk factor that we encounter in our work at CRCAIH is historical trauma in our Native populations. Historical trauma is trauma that our ancestors faced (i.e., boarding school placement, assimilation, and the loss of culture and language) and carrying this trauma around increases our risk for suicide. Things we have no control over are contributing to the high rates of suicide throughout Indian Country.

What can we do? NAMI has some great resources available to understand the warning signs and risk of suicide and to prevent suicide. There are calling and texting hotlines available. There are some programs in South Dakota are making herculean efforts to combat suicide; one I learned about recently is called BeThe1SD, and they’ve put out some powerful videos and resources that are relevant to communities around the state. It's going to take a lot to change the current crisis we are seeing, but we can begin by shifting the narrative around mental health and suicide. It's okay to be sad, and it's okay to need help.

Check on your friends and family. Tell them you care.

If you need to talk, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255 or text NAMI to 741-741.

By: Michaela Seiber, MPH | Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate | CRCAIH RKC

Hi, I’m Margeaux. I recently finished up my internship at Sanford Research in Sioux Falls as part of the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE). Over the summer, I had the opportunity to work in the Kenyon Lab on the College Social Support Study, a research project that examines factors in Native American (NA) College students’ experiences and how these factors subsequently affect retention and persistence rates. Overall, this study hopes to promote change by identifying these factors and positively influencing university policy that affects Native students.

Because of the research I was involved in this summer, I had the chance to work directly with Native communities on several occasions. As a non-Native woman who has only recently begun to work with NA communities, I’ve found that it’s extremely important to understand the nuances of engaging with these communities, especially as an outsider (i.e. someone who is non-Native, not an enrolled member of a tribe, and has not lived on a reservation).

When working with NA communities, it is important to familiarize yourself with the concept of historical trauma and understand its impact on Native communities. As a non-Native researcher, it is your job to educate yourself about the populations you want to work with. This also includes educating yourself on past research wrongdoings. By doing these things, you will be in a better position to show these communities that you are there to work collaboratively with them. By learning about the adversities specific to Native communities and their reasons for hesitance towards research conducted by outsiders, you can divert from harmful past practices and maintain an equitable relationship with the community.

When I worked with a tribal community in South Dakota as part of my internship, I always kept this in mind. I listened, watched, and learned from those who were part of the community. While recognizing the adversities that the community faced, I also had a wonderful time learning about Native culture and education. As a non-Native researcher, I think it is important to recognize that a research project shouldn’t be one-sided and communities have valuable information to teach those working with them. Be grateful that those in the community are giving you their time and input.

Before I started this internship, I wasn’t aware of the strong push being made by Native researchers to focus on strength-based results as opposed to deficit-based results. I learned that it’s much more effective to look at the positives. Something else I try to keep in mind: When looking at the negatives, it’s my responsibility as a researcher to work with my partners to see how these results can help initiate positive change in the future. Always work towards creating and maintaining an equitable environment for the research to occur within.

Because I am lucky enough to be able to pursue higher education, I want to use this opportunity to continue to work alongside Native communities. Near the beginning of this year, when I first began working with Native communities, I met some young students at a tribal school who were already dealing with adverse situations at home; similar situations that I had dealt with as a child as well. This is the primary reason why I want to work to be an agent of change within these communities.

This internship has offered me so many invaluable experiences, as well as igniting a passion for collaborative, applied research. I hope by sharing some of the experiences I had, non-Native readers looking to do work with Native populations can reflect on their own mindset when working with Native communities in the future.

By: Margeaux Gaiani | South Dakota State University | SURE Intern | Kenyon Lab

Indigenous data sovereignty: “Assertion that Indigenous people have inherent and inalienable rights relating to the collection, ownership, and application of data about them and their lands and lives.” -Jack Latimore

I get extremely car sick. However, this drive didn’t feel as bad as most of the ones I have been on. Throughout much of my previous work, I’ve ridden in vans across rural Oaxacan terrain and been very dependent on Dramamine. This time a combination of participating in fun workbook help with my mentor’s kids and residual school sleep deprivation allowed me to sleep and laugh my way through the three-hour drive on our way to Pierre, SD for the Annual CRCAIH Tribal Partner Retreat. Halfway through, we also stopped at the Akta Lakota Museum and Cultural Center, during which I appreciated wandering the breath-taking exhibits that showcased the resiliency, beauty, and creativity of the original people of the land we were travelling across.

Once we arrived in Pierre, I helped unload the car of all the supplies and snacks, like the good intern I was, to the hotel. I was excited! When I saw the extra-large Post-it notes, I was immediately reminded of the projects that I’ve contributed to in the past, during which we didn’t have internet, so our PowerPoint slides were a series of extra-large Post-it notes. Luckily, we would have internet during this retreat. The retreat commenced the following morning with prayer and a large consumption of coffee and tea. I was excited to meet all the tribal partners and witness the River of Life exercise, which I had been learning a lot about during my initial week at Sanford.

The River of Life is an evaluation tool, to facilitate partnership, that uses the river as a symbol which is often a cornerstone in many Indigenous cultures. The activity encourages reflection and discussion between partnerships and an opportunity to examine the history and influences as well, in this case between CRCAIH staff and the individual tribal partners (i.e. Rosebud, Oglala, Sisseton-Wahpeton, and TNRG. FDL was unable to attend). It was created through the Engage for Equity Center for Participatory Research at the University of New Mexico. My mentor, Melissa Buffalo, had been chosen from a nationwide pool of Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) projects, along with Heather Larsen, tribal partner from Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, to participate in a series of workshops in Albuquerque, New Mexico, this past fall. It was exciting and inspiring to witness the staff from CRCAIH and tribal partners from all over the region be able to discuss and creatively express their perceptions of what the relationship had been between their tribe and CRCAIH, whose goal is ultimately to empower tribes to be the directors and drivers of the kind of research that happens in their community.

This is ultimately linked to tribal data sovereignty, which was a significant topic of discussion during the retreat. A few weeks after the conclusion of the tribal partner retreat, I was granted the opportunity to be able to visit one of the tribal partners at a health fair. On the way home, we visited the tribal research office in order to listen to some of the issues that had been raised during the retreat. These included inconsistent return of study data by research projects, lack of communication from Principal Investigators, and enforcement of research fees to the tribe. Data sovereignty and management, as I’ve come to learn is a complicated and detail-oriented process that involves researcher enforcement, organization, and resources, among other things. As I progress in my career in hopes of continuing research in Indigenous communities in order to improve health outcomes, particularly my own Ñuu Savi communities in Oaxaca, I cannot forget the lessons that I’ve learned this summer. The on-the-ground challenges that many tribes face when it comes to their research offices and the strength and passion that many of them possess when they are working with a single-person staff and limited resources will be lessons that I never forget.

It was amazing to see the way that tribal partners were able to share with CRCAIH staff about the needs of their community and be able to intern in the office in which those needs are attempted to be met through guide development and resource provision. I have learned so much this summer about what research really entails and the way that the connections you make with the community far surpass the academia-oriented expectations that are set to researchers so often. I would like to thank everyone at the CRCAIH tribal partner retreat who talked to me, and those who gifted me words of encouragement! I have learned so much from you.

Tixa’vi to my mentors for an amazing summer!

By: Gianna Nino | Mixteca, San Pedro y San Pablo Tequixtepec | Stanford University | SURE Intern with Melissa Buffalo

Hau Mitakuyepi. Conrad emaciyapi. Hello my name is Conrad. I am an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. I send good thoughts and feelings with these words. What a wonderful summer this has been. Due to the rains everything is so green here yet, which is surprising for it being so late in the year. For many here on the Rosebud Reservation, it is a time for ceremony and gathering of medicines and foods with prayer and purpose for the winter months and accepted as gifts from our Creator.

I have had the wonderful opportunity to have now been a Sanford SURE intern for the second year. In my first summer as a SURE intern, my research project was for the The Sicangu Lakota Birth Parent Repatriation Project. This project looked at the historical aspects of what happened to systematically attack our family social structures and how the trauma is still being felt and passed on today. This project had very personal feelings for me as I am an adoptee, taken away from my family, community, tribe, and culture. For myself and others, it is a long difficult journey home filled with many emotions.

My project this year was to evaluate the outcomes and impacts of the horse camps on the youth here on the reservation. It seemed as if this project was intended for me; I know that there is healing that can come for our youth, communities, and tribe. These horse camps are offered during the summer months at the Sinte Gleska University (SGU), Tiwahe Glu Kini Pi (Bringing the Family Back to Life) Horse Ranch. My mentor, Marlies White Hat, who is also the director of TGKP, offers these culturally based camps to the area youth with teachings in spirituality, culture, language, and the Sunkawakan (horse). I developed surveys appropriate for the camp graduates as well as the caregivers of those youth to determine the effectiveness of these camps. The Sunkawakan is helping to facilitate the healing and cultural connectivity for our youth. Just as the youth expressed that they hated to see the camps end, I feel the same with my experience at SURE. It has been a truly wonderful learning experience. Thanks to all that helped make it happen. 

By: Conrad Eagle Feather | Sinte Gleska University | SURE Intern