Post by blackcrowheart on Oct 11, 2006 17:01:07 GMT -5
Alaskans offer prayer for Native American health
Wellbriety totem pole to stand as beacon of hope
Native American Times 10/4/2006
www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=82\
25
<http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=8\
225>
It's over 2,000 miles from Tulsa to the Alaskan town of Sitka-which,
by the way, is the largest city in area in the United States- but folks
over there are dedicating an icon in the hopes that all Natives, in
Oklahoma and all points beyond, will benefit.
The Koot�eyaa Project Wellbriety totem pole will be raised on Oct. 14
during a ceremony in front of a local community health building. The
plan is for dozens of people to carry the totem pole from the area where
Tlingit carver Wayne Price has been working on it since last April to
its resting place. The pole's Tlingit name is "Yei �ek kwa
n�ix," which literally means, "you are going to get
well."
"The raising of the Koot�eyaa pole has tremendous
significance," said Mark Gorman, vice president of the SouthEast
Alaska Regional Health Consortium, the organization funding the pole.
"The Koot�eyaa pole will serve as a beacon and symbol of hope,
health and healing for all who come into contact with it."
The pole represents the Native journey to wellness, support for
substance abuse and prevention treatment programs, and the process of
transformation to and the continuing journey of wellbriety. Wellbriety
is a term coined as part of a national movement that uses a Native
journey to wellness-one that links physical, mental, spiritual and
emotional health- as part of its process of healing the total person.
Representatives from White Bison, the Colorado-based non-profit group
that fostered the national Wellbriety movement, will be on hand with
their sacred hoop, marking the hoop's hoop's first time in Alaska.
"Wellbriety Koot�eyaa means healing, hope, unity and forgiveness
for Tlingit people and anyone who is working on the healing of mind,
body and spirit," said project chairwoman Roberta Kitka, a drug and
alcohol treatment specialist.
During the carving process, groups of around 10 community members each
formed several circles of healing. Each healing circle met to discuss an
aspect of Wellbriety, then each person in the circle made his or her
mark on the pole. Some of the topics discussed in the circles of healing
included alcohol and substance abuse, domestic violence, mental illness,
suicide, the methamphetamine epidemic, multi-generational trauma,
hepatitis C, HIV/AIDS, cancer, nicotine dependency, homelessness, issues
applicable to vets, eating disorders and diabetes.
Wellbriety totem pole to stand as beacon of hope
Native American Times 10/4/2006
www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=82\
25
<http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=8\
225>
It's over 2,000 miles from Tulsa to the Alaskan town of Sitka-which,
by the way, is the largest city in area in the United States- but folks
over there are dedicating an icon in the hopes that all Natives, in
Oklahoma and all points beyond, will benefit.
The Koot�eyaa Project Wellbriety totem pole will be raised on Oct. 14
during a ceremony in front of a local community health building. The
plan is for dozens of people to carry the totem pole from the area where
Tlingit carver Wayne Price has been working on it since last April to
its resting place. The pole's Tlingit name is "Yei �ek kwa
n�ix," which literally means, "you are going to get
well."
"The raising of the Koot�eyaa pole has tremendous
significance," said Mark Gorman, vice president of the SouthEast
Alaska Regional Health Consortium, the organization funding the pole.
"The Koot�eyaa pole will serve as a beacon and symbol of hope,
health and healing for all who come into contact with it."
The pole represents the Native journey to wellness, support for
substance abuse and prevention treatment programs, and the process of
transformation to and the continuing journey of wellbriety. Wellbriety
is a term coined as part of a national movement that uses a Native
journey to wellness-one that links physical, mental, spiritual and
emotional health- as part of its process of healing the total person.
Representatives from White Bison, the Colorado-based non-profit group
that fostered the national Wellbriety movement, will be on hand with
their sacred hoop, marking the hoop's hoop's first time in Alaska.
"Wellbriety Koot�eyaa means healing, hope, unity and forgiveness
for Tlingit people and anyone who is working on the healing of mind,
body and spirit," said project chairwoman Roberta Kitka, a drug and
alcohol treatment specialist.
During the carving process, groups of around 10 community members each
formed several circles of healing. Each healing circle met to discuss an
aspect of Wellbriety, then each person in the circle made his or her
mark on the pole. Some of the topics discussed in the circles of healing
included alcohol and substance abuse, domestic violence, mental illness,
suicide, the methamphetamine epidemic, multi-generational trauma,
hepatitis C, HIV/AIDS, cancer, nicotine dependency, homelessness, issues
applicable to vets, eating disorders and diabetes.