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Sober Leadership
What is it? Can we have well communities
without it?
Don Coyhis, Founder and President of White Bison, Inc.,
talks about sober leadership
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White
Bison, Inc. offers an array of programs and resources
for individuals, families and communities who
want to heal from addictions and live well lives.
Check out the website, www.whitebison.org
to find one that will fit for you. |
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| Don
Coyhis, Founder and President of White Bison, Inc. |
Taking
a Stand For Sober Leadership
From Remarks by Don Coyhis
The Wellbriety Movement in Indian country
put down its first roots in the late 1940’s and early
1950’s when some Indian people started going to AA to
find help for their problems with alcohol. This was
the start of the sobriety movement
and it found strength through the Native American Church,
and traditional spirituality and culture as the years
went on. The Wellbriety Movement began to take shape
when the Medicine Wheel and the 12 Steps cultural way
of working the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous was
videoed in an Idaho prison with Indian inmates in the
early 1990’s. The Medicine Wheel and the 12 Steps program
was later given to over 200 prisons by White Bison starting
in 1997, but it wasn’t until Hoop Journey I took place
in 1999 that the Wellbriety Movement started to become
visible all across Turtle Island.
| It
is almost impossible for communities to have wellness
unless you have leaders who are into wellness. We
are now working with communities to help them start
insisting on sober leadership. |
The Wellbriety
Movement
Hoop Journey I began in the Longhouse of the Onondaga
Nation in New York State in March of 1999 and traveled
to most of the Tribal colleges with Wellbriety Day presentations
in each community. The first
Hoop Journey was dedicated to the Unity
of all Nations. Hoop Journey
II began in Los Angeles, California in April
of 2000. The Journey traveled from west to east in a
Journey of over 4000 miles, concluding in Washington,
DC in July of 2000. The second Journey was dedicated
to the Healing of all
people from substance abuse and domestic violence. Hoop
Journey III traveled a great circle West of the
Mississippi in the Summer of 2002. It was committed
to healing women and children. It was dedicated to Hope.
Hoop Journey IV traveled east of the Mississippi in
the spring of 2003 and was committed to healing men
and children. It was dedicated to Forgiveness.
The four Hoop Journeys made the Wellbriety
Movement visible to Indian communities all across Turtle
lsland (North America), showing how people could participate
by becoming Firestarters in the Firestarters program.
The Hoop Journeys helped create awareness of the Wellbriety
movement.
| A
social drinker should have no problem in giving
up alcohol while leading the people. That is their
sacrifice. They have a reputation and are role models.
They let our children see that even though they
don’t have a problem they are still taking a stand
on alcohol and drugs. |
During the first four years as the Wellbriety
Movement was becoming visible, the inquiry from the
communities was, “What is this Movement?” Now that the
word has gotten out about what the Movement is, the
question is, “How do we get it going?” We developed
the Seven Trainings in
order to bring wellness activities to all parts of the
community. The Seven Trainings include the Medicine
Wheel and the 12 Steps for men and for women; Daughters
of Tradition; Sons of Tradition; the Firestarters Family
Series; Alanon Firestarter Training; and Children
of Alcoholics. These Seven Trainings make it
possible for everyone in the community to be part of
the Wellbriety Movement in the way that most makes sense
to them.
The Wellbriety Movement is built on the
Four Laws of Change, which were given to White Bison
by Indian Elders in the 1980’s. The Four Laws for communities
are
• Change is From Within
• In order for development to
occur it must be preceded by a vision
• A Great learning must take place
• You must create a healing forest
You can find more information about all
this by reading Wellbriety!
Online Magazine, Volume 4, #29 on the White Bison
website, (www.whitebison.org)
or by purchasing the new White Bison book, The
Red Road to Wellbriety— In the Native American Way
from White Bison.
| Traditionally,
we didn’t play with the dangerous consequences of
any plant or drug that affects the spirit. It’s
more of a European model to use those substances
for other than ceremonial purposes. |
Sober Leadership
As the Wellbriety Movement unfolded it became increasingly
necessary for us to start looking at situations in communities
that could block community wellness because they did
not support the vision for wellness. It is almost impossible
for communities to have wellness unless you have leaders
who are into wellness. We are now working with communities
to help them start insisting on sober leadership.
Sober leadership means two things. It
means for leadership that is drinking and drugging to
either quit or else for the people not to vote them
in. The second thing it means is our leaders, drinking
or not drinking, need to start thinking about how we
really can’t lead our communities to wellness if the
leaders are not working on wellness themselves. This
applies to the sick forest idea, which comes from the
Fourth Law of community change that says, “You Must
Create a Healing Forest.” Those who are in charge of
leading our communities need to make wellness a significant
priority. The priority of wellness has to be tied to
the strategic goals of the community and show support
for the hundreds of wellness organizations that are
in our communities right now. This has got to become
a top priority for our leadership in terms of financial
support, community planning strategies and investments,
sponsoring wellness conferences, alcohol and drug-free
powwows, and other trainings around wellness. And it
has to include leaders who are working on their own
wellness.
Sacrifices
When you are leading people in Native communities there
are certain sacrifices that need to be made. One of
the sacrifices is that you don’t ask people to do what
you are not willing to do yourself. A social drinker
usually won’t have the problem of insisting that he
or she has the freedom to drink while leading Indian
people. A social drinker should have no problem in giving
up alcohol while leading the people. That is their sacrifice.
They have a reputation and are role models. They let
our children see that even though they don’t have a
problem they are still taking a stand on alcohol and
drugs.
Kevin Gover, who was the former head of
the BIA under the Clinton administration, spoke about
sober leadership at our Fourth Annual Circles of Recovery
Conference in Albuquerque in 2003. He took a strong
stand for sober leadership and spoke from the heart
about the need for our leaders to be sober. If you read
his talk in Wellbriety!
Magazine, Volume 4, #25, you’ll see that he said:
“Those of you who feel the urge
to serve as a tribal leader, as a sober persondo it!
Please do it. Go out there and do it. The sober leadership
for the new millennium, what's going to change the way
Indian people live on the reservations, is for people
like you to lead by example. To lead by leading good
and healthy lives. To lead by not permitting alcohol
and drugs in your homes. To lead by honoring your spouses
and treating them with the respect and the love that
they deserve. To lead by teaching sobriety to your children,
and to all children who come within your influence.
If your children stray, do whatever it takes to get
them back on the road.”
There was an incident of drinking at the
National Conference of one of our National Indian organizations
in November of this year. The NCAI (National Congress
of American Indians) is a leadership organization that
has been representing our Indian people since the 1940’s.
Many of our people have looked up to NCAI to set a direction
for a long, long time. But this year there was a party
at the NCAI annual Conference in Albuquerque in November
where alcohol was involved. Even though there was a
sign outside the party room that said you had to be
21 to enter, some of the youth ended up inside the party
and watched as our leadership drank at the bar. Next
morning the NCAI Youth Commission confronted the leadership
of NCAI in a protest asking them not to allow alcohol
at the National Conference. They took a stand on sober
leadership.
Even our children are telling our leaders
not to allow alcohol at our national Native conferences
because it is not a good example for young people. The
young people are the ones who said don’t
do it. Most national Native organizations do
not allow drug and alcohol functions at their National
Conferences. It’s time for all national Native organizations
involving our leaders to take that same stand. That’s
part of the sacrifice we have to make as individuals.
Our national organizations should not only ask our Native
people at the national conferences not to drink, but
the rule should apply to anyone attending it, no matter
what direction you are fromRed, Yellow, Black or White.
We should make our reputation as Native Americans that
alcohol is not used at our national conferences. That’s
the way we keep a safe camp. This commitment should
filter all the way down to our communities. Sober leadership
should not allow our community functions to support
the presence of alcohol. It’s not cool anymore.
Protecting Our
Gift
Social movements are like a pendulum swinging. The back
and forth movement of the pendulum is part of a large
system of correction that’s operating now. First the
social drift goes one way, and then the other. The outcome
of some of the wellness programs in the non-Native community
might be to allow people to drink once again after their
recovery. But if we take a look at our history in Native
country, it has always been the cultural-traditional-spiritual
model, or way of abstinence, that our people have followed.
In our traditions, the tolerance for the misuse of any
plant was zero. Psychoactive plants were always used
within the context of a ceremonial purpose. Traditionally,
we didn’t play with the dangerous consequences of any
plant or drug that affects the spirit. It’s more of
a European model to use those substances for other than
ceremonial purposes. (Please see Wellbriety!
Online Magazine, Volume 4, issues # 23 and 24
for more on this)
The Creator gave every individual a talent
and a gift—that’s not a secret. Likewise, every culture
has a gift. Think of the Germans, the Chinese, the Japanese,
the English—you can easily see what they are known for.
That’s their gift. But every individual or culture also
has an enemy, which is the ego part of anything you
do.
So, for example, suppose you are a writer,
but all of a sudden you get judgmental and opinionated
against certain things in your writing. Then you can
never write about that in a healing way any longer,
because even though your gift allows you to do it, the
enemy showed up and your mind isn’t open any more.
Or suppose I get a swelled head in my
work. Then even though I have the ability to be involved
in leading the Wellbriety movement, the enemy will show
up and I will lose the gift I have. This is a natural
system of feedback designed to keep us in balance.
I think that every community and every
culture has a gift. It so happens that the gift of Native
people is the gift of spirituality. That’s what we are
known for. We are a spiritual people but we have an
enemyand that enemy is alcohol. Suppose the enemy
of a writer is anger. As soon as anger shows up, it
doesn’t matter if you justify it, it doesn’t matter,
because that’s the enemy to your gift. It’s the same
in Indian country with alcohol being our enemy.
Other countries and cultures have gifts.
They can drink and it wouldn’t affect their gift. But
our gift as Indian people has an enemy and it happens
to be alcohol. One bottle can destroy the gift. Our
sacrifice to the betterment of humanity is to keep that
enemy out of our camp. Having Indian leaders who are
sober and who are working on their own wellness is a
way to support the gift of spirituality and to guarantee
that we live in safe camps.
| What
are your thoughts and feelings about sober leadership
in your community? Whether yours is a Reservation
community, an urban neighborhood, or whether you
participate in organizations or activities that
support Native sovereignty and strength, what do
you think about the kind of leadership you want
for your community? Send your thoughts, letters,
or other kinds of writing to White Bison and we
may put your article up as part of Wellbriety! Online
Magazine. Fax to (719) 548-9407 or e mail to
info@whitebison.org |
I’m No Longer Available
For That…
When an individual starts getting into wellness there
comes a day when they get well enough along their path
of wellness that they start to draw boundaries. They
say, “I’m no longer available for abuse. I’m no longer
available…” This draws a boundary on the part of wellness.
When you get a circle of people in a community committed
to getting sober and well, the day comes when they have
the right to draw a boundary on behalf of the community.
They have the right to insist on sober leadership. The
community can say, “We are not being led by a drinking
leadership any more.” You have to draw that boundary.
It comes under the principle, “When the community leads,
the leaders will follow.” When a small group of people
advocates for sober leadership they have the ability
to talk it upeven if it means they get involved in
the political system. This means they don’t necessarily
care who runs, they are not taking sides in that way,
but they put the word out to the people that whoever
is running, vote for thembut only vote for the ones
who have made a public commitment not to drink. You
have the right to do that. And you have the right to
stop domestic violence in your communities. When a community
starts taking that stand, their leaders will follow.
That will become their political agenda and wellness
will come to the community.
Your Thoughts on
Sober Leadership?
You, the reader and person in recovery from addictions,
are most impacted by non-sober leadership. What are
your thoughts and feelings about sober leadership in
your community? Whether yours is a Reservation community,
an urban neighborhood, or whether you participate in
organizations or activities that support Native sovereignty
and strength, what do you think about the kind of leadership
you want for your community? Send your thoughts, letters,
or other kinds of writing to White Bison and we may
put your article up as part of Wellbriety! Online Magazine.
Fax to (719) 548-9407 or e mail to info@whitebison.org
If the subject of sober leadership interests
you, we invite you to introduce a discussion topic on
the Discussion Board on the White Bison website. To
find the Discussion Board, click on the following sequence
of menu items on the website: Wellbriety Movement/Talking
Circle/Discussion Board. You can go directly to the
discussion board at the following URL address: www.whitebison.org/discussion/index.php
We want to hear from you!
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