Calling Upon the Warrior Spirit to Heal Historical Trauma Conference and Ceremony

I attended the Calling Upon the Warrior Spirit to Heal Historical Trauma Conference and Ceremony. This conference was held October 8^ththrough 10^th, although I only attended the 8^thand first half of the 9^th. The Viejas Band Tribal Government of the Kumeyaay Native American tribe hosted the event at the Viejas Resort and Casino in Alpine California. In addition to them the conference was sponsored by the Barona Band of Mission Indians, Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, Morongo band of Mission Indians, IPAI, Pala band of Mission Indians, Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians and San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. Across the three days there was a great number of presenters and speakers.

As a member of the Native American and Indigenous Scholars Collaborative Project (NAISCP) we choose to attend this conference to seek additional knowledge and support in how to best address the concerns of historical trauma that we see manifesting with our native students. The conference and ceremony aimed to focus on the Indigenous perspective on how to holistically address historical trauma and develop specific goals and plans on how to do so.

The particular counseling intervention that was guiding the conference was addressing historical trauma through storytelling. Although there was not a specific session that told participants storytelling is counseling technique to use, instead it was the tool that each presenter used to demonstrate the power of storytelling in healing. For example, there was a panel of both elders and youth who told short versions of their own personal stories that included both the effects of trauma on their lives but also their inner resilience and stories of how they overcame their personal trials and tribulations. Many of the speakers did something of the same, telling their story while also exploring how historical trauma influences the community overall.

The technique of storytelling can be used with any population of students; however, it is particularly powerful for those who have suffered great trauma. As part of the NAISCP we use this counseling technique with both ourselves and our students. It can be adjusted and implemented with almost any age group. For adults, more depth and detail and therefore time can be used to truly explore a person’s story and allow them to share all the influential parts of their journey. With children the tool can be adapted to be more prompting and interactive but still with the underlying purpose of allowing the students to tell their stories. We use this technique with ourselves and students over the course of entire year, always allowing time for adding editing and reinterpretation. 

Storytelling as a technique can absolutely be replicated in any setting. All that is required is the time and attention to listen and hear a person’s story and insights on their life and allow someone to share. Although this technique may not be specifically evidence-based we have found incredible success and impact with in our groups as part of NAISCP, and also in this conference. With Native American students recognizing that their unique stories greatly impact their ability to succeed in school allows us to work with them to recognize their resilience and strengths in the face of current and historical trauma.

The use of storytelling can be linked to the well-known technique of Narrative Counseling in schools in which a counselor also explores the narrative a student shares and in addition works with them to explore strengths heard in the narratives. This is similar to what we explored in this conference of finding the resilience in the stories of historical trauma.

Marisa Leone