Besides being a therapist, I’m an interdisciplinary and community-engaged scholar dedicated to advancing the collective health and healing of Native American and Indigenous communities. As a Native (Tuscarora) psychologist, I work with organizations and communities on research and projects that focus on creating healthy and thriving Indigenous futures through our histories, cultural practices, and traditions.
Digital Storytelling & OrigiNatives
Since 2018, I’ve facilitated digital storytelling workshops through partnerships with 11 Native and Indigenous-serving organizations in the Twin Cities and Duluth. This work led to OrigiNatives, an award-winning digital storytelling project empowering Native peoples to tell our stories, our way. I’ve given several talks and webinars on how to facilitate digital storytelling projects.
Most recently, I consulted with Kelvin High School in Winnipeg (MB, Canada) to provide support and guidance as the school engaged in its own digital storytelling project with students, including First Nations students. I’m happy to discuss story-based and digital storytelling methodologies with you as you start your own project.
CIRCLE: Advancing Indigenous Equity in Substance Use Outcomes
Since 2023, I’ve served as a co-investigator and independent contractor for Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Indigenous Health’s CIRCLE Center of Excellence. The purpose of the center is to address substance use and amplify the strengths of American Indian & Alaska Native communities. It is funded through a five-year, $12 million award grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse. The foundation of the grant is a model that I developed called the Indigenist Ecological Systems Model, which foregrounds Indigenous histories and cultures in our development. As a co-investigator and independent contractor, I co-lead the Indigenous methodologies subcore of the grant.
Walking in Two Worlds
In 2017, I initiated a partnership between the University of Minnesota’s Student Counseling Services and Circle of Indigenous Nations to create a therapy group for Indigenous students on campus. Through this partnership, I facilitated a talking circle called Walking in Two Worlds once a week for three semesters that served over 19 undergraduate and graduate students. The focus of the talking circle was to connect students with community, and to provide a culturally-informed space where students could be their selves. With my colleagues, I published Walking in Two Worlds in a paper, which was received the Outstanding Paper Award from The Counseling Psychologist and featured in a podcast.