Healing the Wounded Spirit: Best Practices

The Alaska Natives have experienced historical and cultural trauma from the Russian American Experience and after the acquisition of Alaska by the United States. Forced acculturation and assimilation policies laced with missionization, boarding schools, have resulted and contributed to the loss of culture, language, indigenous spirituality, identity, loss of sovereignty, loss of traditional lands and the introduction of diseases that disseminated many Alaska Natives. Some of the more obvious symptoms are: elder-youth mistreatment, alcoholism, fetal alcohol syndrome/effect, drug abuse, mental health dysfunction, and suicide. Great effort has been taken to alleviate the negative symptoms by the development of culturally appropriate health services designed by the Alaska Native people themselves. Prior to this effort the design, the implementation and delivery of health services to Alaska Natives have been designed by outsiders who have no knowledge of Alaska Native cultural dynamics. Local control and grass root efforts have been created to improve the life and health of Alaska Native people. Best and Emerging Practices are being shared through networking so that they can be replicated and adjusted to fit the local cultural groups. It has been known by Alaska Native leaders and people that one size does not fit all. The formation of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium has been created to design and deliver culturally appropriate health services to each culturally group to lessen the racial and ethnic disparity in health for Alaska Native people.