“I believe I've been put in a position to continue that wave, keep it strong and build it so it can wash over our people,” said Red Thunder, a motivational speaker who helped lead the Oglala Sioux Nation's Employment Assistance Program wellness conference.
On Saturday morning, laughter, smiles and giggling filled the conference room of the Grand Gateway Hotel where wellness participants gathered for the final day of the Oglala program's annual Wowasi O Ecun El Watukapi, or Stress in the Workplace, conference.
Red Thunder said Native communities are beginning to address all these issues, which is contributing to the wave of wellness.
“One of the last frontiers is sexual abuse,” said Georgine Looks Twice, a manager with the Oglala's Employee Assistance Program. “But we're starting to talk about it. It's a word that nobody wants to hear. We're gearing up to talk about sexual abuse. And we're not going to be the most popular people on the block.”
Jacob Flores, a psychologist, described domestic violence and sexual abuse as the epicenter of the many problems discussed at the conference. If you take care of the women, he said, you will heal the community of problems, like gang violence and child abuse.
“The spirit of the community and the women are saying, ‘It's time for it to go, it's time for it to go away,' ” said Flores.
James Junes, of the comedy duo James and Ernie, shared his own stories about leading an unhealthy lifestyle that included alcohol abuse. Some things in our lives hurt us, or make us sad and ashamed, he said.
“All of us have dealt with it in one shape or the other,” said Junes. “No matter what we do, we have to make a change in our lives. You have to put effort into it, and let it go. If you make that change today, it's like taking off a backpack.”
The Oglala Sioux Nation's Employee Assistance Program started the workplace conference seven years ago as a way to help families heal from the devastation caused by addictions.
Conference organizers aim to help people balance their spiritual, emotional, physical and mental selves. With balance, we become whole.
Flores encouraged people to choose a specific area they wanted to work on, be it spiritual, emotional, physical or mental. Make one choice, he said. All the rest will fall into place.
“Make a vow to change the parts of your life that don't let you honor your being,” said Flores. “Some of us need to let things go. We're like little monkeys. We need to learn how to let go. Our trust has been violated. We've been hurt. We need to break that wall down.”
The healing can come by finding people in our lives we can trust. The people we trust are dependable and consistent. And we, too, can become a trusted person likewise by being dependable and consistent.
Honor the people and activities that help keep your spirit strong and feed that spirit every day, said Flores.
“Hopefully, everyone will leave here with a better understanding of themselves,” said Everette Tuttle, the Employee Assistance Program's director. “We try to teach people something to take back to their community and to their programs. We hope they can leave here with a good spiritual feeling.”
Speakers like Red Thunder, Flores, Patrick Trujillo, Rick Two Dogs and Etheleen Iron Cloud-Two Dogs helped make the conference truly inspirational, spiritual and thought provoking.
Each shared many powerful messages.
Conference activities reminded us about the relationships we have with ourselves and others. I was invited to the conference to be the keynote speaker on bridging culture and community. My reporting for newspapers has allowed me to see how Native people and communities around the country are healing by building bridges between culture and community.
Like others, I can see and feel the wave.
Flores compared the building energy to the water behind a dam that slowly begins to breech it. It's a gradual process that will lead to a river of healing that carries one person at a time.
“We're not there yet, but we can feel the welling up of passion,” said Flores. “You can feel it.”
But he also offers these words of caution: “Our goal is to make sure the pace of our growth and the welling of the wave doesn't pass people up.”
Reporter Jodi Rave can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or at jodi.rave@lee.net
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