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National Tribal Health Conference looks at the power of culture as medicine

KNBA | By Rhonda McBride

Published May 3, 2023 at 4:04 PM AKDT

The smell of sage filled the room at the Dena'ina Center in downtown Anchorage, drifting out to the hallway, where people stood waiting to come inside. Julie Smith-Yliniemi’s workshop, “Healing Intergenerational Trauma by Incorporating Indigenous Practices,” was filled to capacity.

Indigenous culture and traditions are naturally therapeutic. That’s the message at the National Tribal Health Conference, which has drawn more than a thousand people to Anchorage this week to learn from each other.

“Not one tribe has the answers and the secrets to healing,” Julie Smith-Yliniemi told the crowd that had gathered for her presentation on healing intergenerational trauma by incorporating Indigenous culture into practices.

Smith-Yliniemi teaches at the University of North Dakota’s Indigenous Health Department. She believes sharing traditional knowledge can help bring about collective healing, to address the intergenerational trauma that has affected several generations of Native Americans.

Interest in Smith-Yliniemi’s session was so high, people had to sit on the floor. Other streamed out into the hallway, along with the scent of ceremonial sage.

Raquel Britton is Yuki and Pomo. She’s a member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes Youth Council in Northern California. She believes intergenerational trauma plays a role in domestic violence.

Raquel Britton from the Round Valley Indian Tribes Youth Council in California came in search of answers to deal with the fall-out from her own family's history with boarding schools and the loss of language and culture. She says it’s not an easy subject to talk about.

“I feel like my family went through historical trauma,” Raquel Britton said, “that we’re finally just breaking the cycle that my mother went through with her mother.”

Britton says her mother has just now started to talk with her children about her family’s history of trauma and wants to know what she can do to heal her own struggles and help others.

Smith-Yliniemi says she turns to trusted elders for advice, a source of wisdom that can be surprisingly close at hand, as it was when she visited an elder battling cancer. She found the woman in her hospital bed, doing beadwork and has never forgotten her words.

Julie Smith-Yliniemi’s daughter collecting tobacco, given to workshop participants to hold, as they say a prayer about something in their life they would like to let go of. The tobacco will be buried somewhere outside. Smith-Yliniemi says an important part of healing from trauma is learning to let go, and there are many ceremonies in Indigenous cultures to help you do that.

“When you’re in pain, or if you’re sick, help create joy in somebody else,” the woman told Smith-Yliniemi. “So she sat and beaded for hours and hours, and hours and hours, and brought me joy,”

Smith-Yliniemi shared what brought her joy at the conference. She passed around an elaborate beaded collar the elder gifted her. She says the woman survived cancer and is still alive today.

A collection of ceremonial items used to heal trauma. At the bottom, there’s a beaded collar, made by an elder, who gifted it to Julie Smith-Yliniemi. The elder was fighting cancer at the time and told her that when she’s in pain, she tries to make or do something that will give someone joy.

Smith-Yliniemi said traditional rituals and practices can also bring peace of mind. She says the sweat lodge, full moon and naming ceremonies, traditional medicines, smudges, dancing, singing and drumming can all help with the process of letting go, an important step in dealing with trauma. The worst thing she says, is, to try and ignore your pain.

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