Healing Projects

In the 19^th and 20^th centuries, Indian children were removed from their homes and communities and taken to boarding schools. Abuse of every kind was widespread at these residential schools and as a result Native people have had to find ways of coping with these physical and emotional abuses that have effected generations. Organizations like the Boarding School Healing Project, are working to heal, educate, and document for those victimized by the boarding school experience, and also to work to hold those accountable for the treatment of Indian children. 

To take action for the Boarding School Healing project, which advocates for American Indian and Alaska Native people , there is a letter they ask supporters to send on their website to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; this letter advocates that “The Forum recommends that the Commission on Human Rights appoint or designate a rapporteur to undertake a study on genocidal practices and ethnocidal practices perpetuated on indigenous peoples, including programmes for the sterilization of indigeous women and girls, the use of indigenous communities as subjects of nuclear testing or for the storage of nuclear waste and as subjects of testing of unapproved drugs on indigenous women, children and peoples.”

Catawba Indian Nation has a program called the Healing Spirits Project, where they work with members of Catawba nation who have been victims of abuse. The Healing Spirits Project is not specifically geared towards those effected by generational trauma due to the boarding school experience, rather it offers many services for those seeking out help, such as counseling and therapy, where the patients’ histories and experiences are carefully recorded to benefit the patient as much as possible. This project is meant to advocate for safety of those seeking out help, and support to make the right changes to start the healing process through treatment planning and therapy.

Bibliography:

Boarding School Healing Project. “Take Action.” Boarding School Healing Project.   http://www.boardingschoolhealingproject.org/takeaction.html (accessed  May  12, 2010).

Davis, Julie. “American Indian Boarding School Experiences: Recent Studies from  Native Perspectives.” OAH Magazine of History 15, winter 2001 (May 12, 2010), http://www.oah.org/pubs/magazine/deseg/davis.html.

Facebook: Catawba Indian Nation Longhouse. “Catawba Indian Nation Longhouse:  Job Vacancy: Councelor.” Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?# !/pages/Rock-Hill-SC/Catawba-Indian-Nation-Longhouse/87272816029? v=app_2347471856&ref=search (accessed May 12, 2010).