|
Welcome to our second year of sharing the Spirit-Honor-Inclusion newsletter! Our intention is to hold space for Two-Spirit LGBTQ+ issues of relevance and share stories from American Indian and Alaska Native country to connect, grow relationships, and build community.
Each issue will share current information with our tribal communities and Native Connections grantees related to Two-Spirit and LGBTQ topics. We will highlight resources, articles, news or events, and a featured guest contributor will guide the focus of each newsletter. This month, our guest contributor is Lenny Hayes. Their work provides the theme of this newsletter: Walking in Two Worlds.
| | |
Two-Spirit Storytelling and Resilience | | |
|
By Lenny Hayes, M.A.
Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate
I am the Founder/Owner of Tate Topa Consulting, LLC, which works to educate, advocate, and bring awareness to individuals, communities, and organizations about mental health issues that affect American Indian and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) and/or Two-Spirit individuals. My vision is to promote healing where all Native people and the general population are treated with dignity, respect, and honor. My focus is not only on Historical and Intergenerational Trauma, but other various types of traumas that affects this population, the Two-Spirit community, and the general population. I also have extensive training and experience in mental and chemical health issues.
Currently, I have the honor of working with Two-Spirit Elder Darla Harrison, Rosebud Lakota Sicangu, who focuses on Two-Spirit issues, culturally-based interventions, and Mental Health First Aid. Darla is certified in White Bison Wellbriety Medicine Wheel 12 Steps for Men and Women, pipe ceremonies, sweat lodges, and talking circles and is able to perform Two-Spirit weddings. Darla has 38 years of sobriety, is a domestic violence survivor, and is a breast cancer warrior. Darla accompanies me on many trainings to provide a strong cultural, ceremonial focus and help participants work through feelings and emotions they may have during the workshops.
We both believe sharing our stories can be used to help others on their journeys. Research shows that even brief autobiographical storytelling exercises can have substantial impacts on psychological and physical health, even months after the storytelling. Oral storytelling is a major tool in many interventions developed by AI/AN healers.
| | |
|
Here are some of the benefits of storytelling that seem most important:
-
Realizing that sharing your story can help others. Stories can be very healing and many people benefit from getting the opportunity to pass on their wisdom to others. This can be especially powerful for people who do not always feel that they have the chance to help others. Resilience is strengthened by recognizing that we are all experts in our own lives and we all have something to share with others. Another piece of this is starting to understand that words can have positive power, which is often an under-appreciated benefit of narrative and storytelling.
-
Finding your voice. What does it mean to "find your voice"? It means learning how to express yourself and how to think about what has happened in your life in a way that makes sense. Developing and organizing your story often means imposing a traditional story structure on the events of your life. Sure, it may be true that many of the events of our lives are random and unconnected. From a psychological point of view, however, it does not help to think about them that way. It helps to think about your life as a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. It helps to think about how the various events—even the bad ones—have been part of a journey toward the person you want to become. Writing it down or telling it to someone else can help you identify key events and remember details in a way that helps you become the author of your own life.
-
Re-affirming your values. Sometimes you learn things about yourself from the act of writing or storytelling. It can be a way to clarify what is important. Taking some time to focus on values can be beneficial.
-
Finding peace, finding hope. What's the difference between someone who has achieved resilience and someone who has not? One important difference is a sense of well-being. People who have found their voice, shared their story, and reaffirmed their values often find a sense of peace and a hopefulness (i.e., resilience) that they did not have before.
| | |
|
Lenny Hayes, M.A.
Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate
"Two-Spirit" is a modern day term that was created in 1990 to identify Native American LGBTQ people who wanted to get away from the mainstream LGBTQ language. The term was created to help individuals have a deeper understanding and connection to culture, spirituality, and the roles we once played in our tribal communities before colonization. While Two-Spirit is a universal term used across AI/AN nations, it is important to understand and remember that there are some tribes or individuals who do not connect to the term. Some people will identify as "Native LGBTQ" but not Two-Spirit. It is always important to ask an individual, “How do you identify?"
| |
|
Historical and Intergenerational Trauma
Prior to European colonization, Two-Spirit people were revered and treated with the utmost respect and honor in tribal communities. In the face of violence committed by European settlers and missionaries, tribal leaders hid their Two-Spirit people out of love, respect, and honor for them. As a result, they were forgotten. After this Historical and Intergenerational Trauma committed against Native LGBTQ people, Two-Spirit individuals went to being looked upon as "Spiritual Beings" to today being viewed as "Sexual Beings."
A 2016 National Institute of Justice Research report shows that more than 4 in 5 AI/AN women (84.3%) have experienced violence in their lifetime, and findings from the 106 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey indicate that more than 4 in 5 AI/AN men (81.6%) have experienced violence in their lifetime.
Tate Topa Consulting was created to educate and train organizations on how to provide proper services to address AI/AN historical and intergenerational trauma and the impact on the Two-Spirit/Native LGBTQ community. These traumas include substance misuse, mental health issues, and violence of all forms (sexual and domestic violence, sex and human trafficking, and missing and murdered Two-Spirit and Native LGBTQ people).
| | | |
Walking in Two Worlds: Understanding the Two-Spirit/Native LGBTQ Community: Training Snapshot | |
|
Walking in Two Worlds: Understanding the Two-Spirit/Native LGBTQ Community is an overview of information about the historical roles and identities of Two-Spirit/Native LGBTQ people and how Native American Historical and Intergenerational Trauma have impacted this community. History tells us that, because of the effects of Historical and Intergenerational Trauma, this once honored and respected individual is now ostracized within our tribal communities.
Ultimately, the Two-Spirit/Native LGBTQ community is individually and collectively trying to bring balance, beauty, and acceptance back into our tribal communities. The purpose of this training is to help educate social workers, educators, foster-care providers, advocates, community members, and others on how to specifically understand and work with children, adults, and elders who may identify as Two-Spirit or Native LGBTQ.
Please contact Lenny Hayes of Tate Topa Consulting for more information about this important Two-Spirit training.
| |
 | |
Each month, a Two-Spirit ally reflects on their journey of learning from our Two-Spirit relatives.
Opening the Door to Learning How to Connect with our Two-Spirit Community
By Maria Fairman and Michelle Levy
Kansas Serves Native American Families
In our work, it is important that we listen to our community. In doing so, we learned of an interest to better understand how to work with young people who identify as Two-Spirit/LGBTQIA+. We reached out to the SAMHSA Tribal Training and Technical Assistance Center to figure out where to start. Our small local collaborative group - Kansas Serves Native American Families, Southern Plains Tribal Health Board and Tribal Food Systems - was lucky to enough to meet Gary Neumann and Lenny Hayes to start our ally journey.
What resulted was a community training, Walking in Two Worlds: Understanding the Two-Spirit/Native LGBTQ Community. Participants included professionals and other community members across the lifespan from young adults through elders including individuals from all four tribes in Kansas, as well as Native and non-Native child welfare and behavioral health systems. Through activities, videos, presentation, and discussion, this powerful training opened the door for conversation, awareness and understanding. One thing that stuck out to us is the important opportunity of learning from a person who identifies as a Two-Spirit or Native LGBTQ. Both Lenny and Gary shared their own stories and experiences including their pain, trauma, challenges, and strengths. They were vulnerable in sharing themselves which was a gift to us. Viewing the Two-Spirit experience through the lens of someone who identifies helped to open our hearts to recognize why it is so important to do our part in accepting our Two-Spirit community.
Two-Spirit individuals are family, and they are among those that we are serving. We continue to think about the training and realize that this is just the beginning for us in becoming true allies. In writing this, the two of us (a Native and non-Native ally) reflected together on our learning from the training and what it means to be an ally through incorporating what we learned into the work we do. We started to wonder about the questions asked in our research processes. In reviewing the study enrollment form, we saw that the options for gender (with directions to “MARK ONE ONLY”) are "male" and "female". As much as we tried to adapt other questions to be inclusive and a cultural fit, it is humbling to acknowledge that we must learn and apply new concepts to become better allies. We are thrilled that we can continually support social change from the bottom to the top. In other words, how can we educate and make change throughout our program, our university and all the communities within which we interact, work and live.
We are grateful for the opportunity to connect with Lenny, Gary, and Darla. The door has opened and now we look forward to continued opportunities and efforts to connect, appreciate and promote advocacy for the entire Two-Spirit/LGBTQAI+ community. As allies, we are committed to create environments where our young generations to come will feel accepted and safe!
| | |
Do you have any resources or events to share in an upcoming TSLGBTQ Newsletter? Please click on the button below to complete a short form and send us your information. We will include items in future newsletters as appropriate and approved by SAMHSA. Thank you! | |
If you are not currently on our listserv to automatically receive the TSLGBTQ newsletter each month, please use the button below to submit your information and sign up. | |
The views, opinions, and content expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the views, policies, and positions of the Center for Mental Health Services, the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. | | | | | |
