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Celebrating Children of Alcoholics (COA)
Week,
February 8-14, 2004 and Introducing the
Children’s Program Kit
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The
Children’s Program Kit for Native Americans offers
a learning curriculum for children who are living
with substance abuse in their homes or communities.
The kit is for facilitators who will present programs
for youth. |
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| Don
Coyhis, Founder and President of White Bison, inc. |
Welcome
to the Children’s Program Kit!
Don
Coyhis, Mohican Nation, introduces an addiction-prevention
learning program for Native American youth
The Elders have told us that the most
important thing we can do for our children is teach
them respect and teach them to pray. The Elders have
told us that it is important to create a vision of a
healthy future. Growing up in a family hurt by alcoholism
or drug addiction blocks respect, the ability to pray,
and the hope for a healthy future. Elders have also
told us that bringing young people together in a circle
can rebuild the trust, autonomy, initiative, independence,
and identity that may have been disrupted by family
disturbances, trauma, addiction, or loss.
The Children’s Program Kit offers staff
training, age-appropriate education, activities, and
videos to help our youth participate in healing circles
and develop skills they need to gain strength from their
own resiliency. This program provides a unique opportunity
to structure learning experiences in a safe environment
in which young people can explore their feelings, learn
that they are not alone, and recognize that stressful
things that might happen in their families are not their
fault. It helps them build the skills that will create
healthy visions for their future. Through the program,
young people find that there are caring, healthy, and
safe adults in the community. They learn how to find
emotional help and community resources when they need
them.
It is very important for our Native American
youth to learn that they have choices, that they have
opportunities, and that they do not have to follow the
unhealthy path that many of them see parents and other
adults following. The principles addressed in this Children’s
Program echo the Four Laws of Change given to Native
American people by the Elders.
The Four Laws of
Change For the Youth
1- Change Comes From Within Young people learn that
they must be the change that they wish to see. They
learn that they can make choices, that they can seek
help, and that they have a place to go where it is safe.
They also learn the steps that they can take to assist
themselves and others.
2- In Order For Development to Occur,
it Must be Preceded by a Vision. Native American youth
can develop a new picture of themselves as they participate
in the Kit’s program activities. There are many opportunities
to create new images of self, family, and the community.
Not only will this program be valuable for the youth,
but it can also be inspirational to the adult facilitators.
This program can provide them with new insights and
new ways of framing childhood experiences so that they
can help the youth develop healthy self-talk and a clearer
understanding of how to help themselves.
3- A Great Learning Must Occur There is
much to learn about self, about alcoholism as a family
disease, about recovery, about hope, healing, forgiveness,
and about unity. The program provides a framework for
young Native Americans to learn about the issues that
affect their families and themselves. The topics are
presented in an appealing way and are easy for youth
to understand and to relate to in their own lives. Many
of the exercises are interactive and encourage discussion,
reflection, and trust building. These are important
steps toward creating a vision of a healthy self.
There is also room within the program
outlined in this Kit for each community to include traditional
ceremonies and teaching processes, tailoring the message
and the approach to familiar Native American practices.
In addition, community members (adults
and elders) are encouraged to participate as trained
group facilitators. The entire community can be involved
in helping the children and teens deepen their awareness
and create healthier images and new hope for their lives.
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4- You Must Create a Healing Forest The Healing Forest
Model depicts the way that culturally appropriate Principles,
Laws, and Values can offset the unhealthy characteristics
of communities, which cause many of the social ills
that impact the lives of our Native American children.
Creating a Healing Forest means that healthy and caring
adults provide opportunities for children to understand
that there is hope and help. The Children’s Program
Kit provides educational tools to enable these mentors
and their helpers by creating the opportunity to implement
regular talking circles where young people can speak
and learn with a feeling of safety. It also creates
the support and nurturing that some children might not
experience in their family setting. For others, the
program provides information for greater understanding
of what changes need to take places for them to heal.
The environment created by the Children’s Program is
the Healing Forest for our youth.
Wellbriety for
Youth—A Critical First Step
At White Bison, we see this program as an integral part
of the Wellbriety Movement for Youth. We see it as a
means of providing youth with the healing and the skills
that they need to become resilient and whole. It is
our hope that those whose lives are touched by this
program take the next step to promote Wellbriety in
their community. Wellbriety means that people choose
sobriety as a way of life. It also means that people
move beyond sobriety into a healthy lifestyle that is
balanced emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually.
But, first, our children need this program in order
to grow in awareness, safety, hope, and health. They
first need the opportunity to be children. Establishing
this Children’s program for our youth is a critical
first step.
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How
to get the Children’s Program Kit
By
phone: Call NCADI at 1-800-729-6686,
talk to a customer service representative, and
be sure to ask for the Native American version
of the Children’s Program Kit
Website:
Visit the NCADI website at http://ncadi.samhsa.gov/seasonal/coaweek/default.aspx
to learn more about COA week and other Children
of Alcoholics resources for your community
Webcasts:
Visit the NCADI webcast archive site at http://ncadi.samhsa.gov/multimedia/webcasts/w.aspx?ID=238
to watch and hear a program featuring:
Charles G. Curie, Administrator of the Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services • Beverly Watts Davis, Director of SAMHSA's
Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) •
Sis Wenger, Executive Director of the National
Association for Children of Alcoholics (NACoA)
• and Don Coyhis, Founder and President of White
Bison. Hosted by Ivette Torres, Associate Director
for Consumer Affairs, SAMHSA’s Center for Substance
Abuse Treatment (CSAT).
NaCOA (National Association for Children
of Alcoholics: www.nacoa.org
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The Children’s Program Kit
New hope for children living in alcohol-and-other-drug
impacted homes
This issue of Wellbriety! Online
Magazine introduces a great new addition to learning
and healing programs for Native Americans. In
conjunction with a special week dedicated to the
healing of children growing up in families affected
by alcohol and other drugs, White Bison, Inc.
is proud to present the Children’s
Program Kit—Supportive Education for Children
of Addicted Parents.
February 8-14, 2004 is COA Week
nation wide. It is a week set aside to become
aware of the millions of young people under the
age of 18 who are growing up in homes with alcoholic
or drug dependent parents. But it is also much
more than that. It is a week to learn of the many
educational and healing resources that are now
available to help youth who find themselves in
this position. It is a week to learn how you can
help children ask for the help they need as they
live with the results of alcohol and other drugs.
It is also a week that goes beyond this one single
week because the learning resources and programs
that are now available for COA’s are just getting
out to Native American and other communities across
Turtle Island—the Native Name for North America.
The good news at this time is that
there are two versions of the Children’s Program
Kit available without charge from SAMHSA (Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration).
Both versions contain the same supply of knowledge
and hands-on teaching curricula for adults who
will facilitate the COA program for the youth
of their communities. But the Native American
kit has been developed specifically for use with
Native young people. In the Native kit you’ll
find introductions on the three program videos
by Don Coyhis, Mohican Nation, as well as some
footage of the White Bison Hoop Journeys, and
some other culture-appropriate materials. So what’s
the Children’s Program Kit all about and what’s
in it?
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| Claudia
Black (L) works with a volunteer at the Circles
of Recovery Conference in Albuquerque in 2003 |
The learning experiences you’ll
find in the Kit are really a distillation of over
20 years of knowledge concerning children who
live in households impacted by alcohol and other
drugs. It was back in the 1980’s that Claudia
Black’s books came on the scene to teach and talk
about those who live with alcoholics and now,
drug users. Her famous words Don’t
Think, Don’t Talk, Don’t Feel
sum up what happens in the substance-abusing family.
Ms Black was one of the presenters at the Fourth
Annual Circles of Recovery Conference in Albuquerque,
New Mexico in 2003, and she is featured in the
Children’s Program Kit along with many other people
who have spent their lives creating some hope
for children of addicted parents. But what’s in
the kit?
When you open the stylish container
you’ll find a curriculum notebook, three videos,
two announcement posters, and a diskette. These
materials contain everything a facilitator needs
to assist Native youth in their often-difficult
journey to adulthood in the face of dysfunctional
families or communities. The curriculum notebook
contains a summary of over 20 years of knowledge
in the form of information, teaching tools, graphics,
overhead slides, letters to parents, and an entire
COA curriculum. The three videos are meant to
be shown to the youth, as well as to educate adults
about what it’s like being a child living in a
drug and alcohol impacted household or community.
The posters can be put up in the community to
announce availability of the children’s circle.
And the diskette contains handouts that can be
printed to augment the teaching and learning activity.
What are some of the messages conveyed
to the youth who will participate in the learning
circles arising from this kit? One of the strongest
is the Seven C’s.
The Seven C’s is a survival teaching that says
in very few words what young people need to hear,
and then to carry out, in order to walk a good
road as they grow up around alcohol and other
drugs. In addition to the simple statement of
the Seven C’s, the curriculum notebook helps the
facilitator present the Seven C’s. And the videos
show them in action with the many children who
appear on the videos. Here are the Seven C’s:
The Seven C’s
I didn’t Cause it.
I can’t Control it.
I can’t Cure it.
But
I can help take Care of myself
by
Communicating feelings
Making good Choices and
Celebrating myself.
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| Two
versions of the Children’s Program Kit, top
and bottom. The two kits are identical in
COA subject matter and learning presentations. |
Resiliency, having a purpose
in life, and having a mentor or positive role
model are other factors that are emphasized when
COA education is presented in the Native community.
Claudia Black talks about some of this on one
of the videos. She says, “I
think today what we’re doing is recognizing more
the resiliency in children. I think we are trying
to support children in their resiliency even more
so. We are trying to help children discriminate
as they learn new behaviors as to where it’s safe
and where it’s not safe. I think that we’re not
working with the child so autonomously today as
we did back in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.
We facilitate this child more in terms of involvement
in their community. I’ve always felt that our
goals with children are to educate, to give them
a framework to understand their experience, to
validate their emotional experiences, to facilitate
them in problem solving skills, to offer a connection
to other people because these are children who
live in isolation, and to assess and respond to
protection issues. Any family involvement that
we can insist upon we will. We do a lot more parenting
practices today.”
Jerry Moe is another children’s
advocate whose work has been instrumental in supporting
children of addicted parents. His many appearances
with children on the videos provide a good energy
for the kids, as well as an impetus for adults
to pitch in and lend a hand. He says, “The
good news is that children of alcohol and drug
addicted parents can and do recover. Treatment
programs and community-based organizations can
use specifically designed games and activities
to help children play their way to health and
understanding. During this process they build
upon their strengths, deepen their resilience,
and further realize their intrinsic beauty and
worth.”
At
the Beginning
The introduction of the Children’s Program Kit
early in 2004 as a resource for kids who live
in dysfunctional families is really just the beginning.
We see this kit at the very beginning of its own
cycle of life. Each community will use it for
the wealth of knowledge it contains, but will
also modify, change and tailor its message to
be culturally appropriate to their own community
reality. In the case of Native communities, the
local traditional ways can find their way into
use of the kit. Once local facilitators are trained
in the use of the kit, or just take off on their
own with it, they can begin to make it Indian
in a way their youth will understand. In a year’s
time we expect that Native communities will have
added their own special ways of saying and understanding
things right into the 3 ring binder that makes
up the curriculum notebook of the kit. And we
hope your community will share what you come up
with. Then we, at White Bison, can make your additions
available to other Native Americans as well as
to the many people who worked so hard to introduce
the kit at this time.
We want to thank the many good-hearted
people at SAMHSA, CSAP, and especially at NaCOA—people
who didn’t give up on the youth who suffer in
this way. We want to thank the many people and
organizations mentioned on pages 5-21 and 6-1
of the curriculum notebook that you’ll learn about
when you get your own kit. We want to offer a
big Indian thank you! to all who made this kit
possible for all our children. We will close with
some words from Don Coyhis, Founder and President
of White Bison about the Children’s Program Kit:
“I’m really excited for you
to see this Children of Alcoholics kit. It is
something that we have needed in our communities
for years and years and years and it is finally
here. It’s something that can be used whether
you’re in a traditional community, whether you
are working with children on reservations, in
treatment centers, it will work with our Native
people who are in urban settings, or even in the
faith-based community. I ask you to please, please
look at this program because our children are
suffering and this is a once in a lifetime program
to help our children grow.”
Richard Simonelli
Editor, Wellbriety! Magazine
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Native American Facilitators Speak About the
Children’s Program Kit
Both Maria
Barrera and Willie Wolf are facilitators who will
utilize the Children’s Program Kit in the near
future
Maria
Barrera
The Children of Alcoholics kit is an extremely
good resource. I was very impressed with it when
I saw it even before it came out. The version
for Native Americans brings some of the culture
into it. It’s more for us than the other version.
I hope Native communities will take advantage
of it. The information there can be extremely
beneficial in the life of children who have parents
who have alcohol or drug problems. I’m looking
forward to using it right here in DC where I live
and where I have my office. There is an after
school program called Good Shepard that is a possibility
for a program. I’m talking with them about doing
the program this summer. It is a curriculum that
I will facilitate and might also work into my
doctor of education program that I’m working on
now. I also think a good place to launch the Children’s
Program Kit might be the 27th Indian School on
Alcohol and Other Drug Related Issues that’s taking
place from February 28 to March 5, 2004 in Albuquerque,
New Mexico. The Children’s Program Kit is an extremely
good curriculum that I think you can use cross
culturally. No matter what the culture, the facilitator
will have to adapt it for the culture of the group.
Maria
Barrera, (Anahuac/Apache)
Founder, Within-Without the Circle, Washington,
DC
And White Bison Firestarter
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| A
look inside the Kit |
Willie
Wolf
Alcoholism is the number one health problem in
Native communities. Many kids can benefit from
learning about how it affects their families.
In Indian culture, alcoholism affects the parents,
the grandparents, and sometimes three generations
are affected. Even if a child’s parents didn’t
drink, because they may have gone to boarding
school the children still have the characteristics
of those parents and that may be part of the reason
they are struggling. There are some different
issues between the mainstream presentations for
children of alcoholics, but in terms of how alcohol
affects children I think it’s very similar to
other populations. The basic education contained
in this kit is appropriate to all populations.
There are
a lot of similarities between Indian kids and
other kids where drinking parents are concerned.
Some of the drinking behavior might be different.
You see more binge drinking in Indian families
than you might in society as a whole. The anger
part might be different also. I have a friend
who does a training called “Red Rage.” He says
Indian people go directly to rage. I think that
because of the oppression our people have faced
they will see more rage. Our anger is often withdrawn.
We have Indian people who are very reserved, sometimes
with that stereotype of being shy, isolated or
apathetic. But on the other side of it, the anger
comes out in people who are very loud and aggressive—it
turns into rage. We often see one extreme or the
other, with wide mood swings.
Our family
structure is a little different also, and that’s
both a negative and a positive. The positive side
of it is when you get down to your support system.
I think Indian people, particularly on the reservation,
have potentially a larger support system because
of the extended family. They have aunts and uncles
whom they can be very, very close to. Those relations
can be like a brother or sister, or even a parent
to an individual. So if a person’s parents are
not healthy, then they need to spend more time
with one of those others. One of the resiliency
factors for individuals is that you have to find
somebody who is a positive role model to make
a difference for you. In Indian country that’s
a little harder because there aren’t as many healthy
people. But in other ways it’s not so difficult
because there are more people whom they are close
to due to the extended family.
The concept
of a child needing safe
people that comes up in the kit is the
same for both Indian communities and the general
population, although where Indian kids go to look
might be a little different. They may not have
anybody in their immediate family who is “safe.”
They might have to go to the extended family,
or to a teacher at school. A lot of the reservations
now have Boys and Girls Clubs. A safe person might
be somebody who works there, or maybe a staff
member at a youth program. Or there may be a spiritual
leader, either from the traditional ways, or if
they are following Christian ways it could be
a minister. Those are all examples of safe people
who can be trusted.
It’s also
important for young people to learn how to take
care of themselves. This might include being able
to call someone, or to learn how to do some relaxation
exercises, or to learn how to work on their breathing—things
like that. If a young person has found their spirituality
or has a spiritual connection, that is one of
the ways they can take care of themselves. They
can take quiet time and pray. In Indian country,
these Circles, which are called “group” in the
kit, would probably take place in a ceremonial
way.
The 7 C’s
are useful for kids to deal with messages they
get from the dysfunctional family. For example,
an Indian way of looking at number 7, Celebrating
Myself, has to do with honor. If you put Celebrating
Myself in that context, Indian youth will probably
understand it better. Indian youth often beat
themselves up. They feel they are unworthy or
have feelings of inadequacy. They might have poor
self-esteem. So that’s where this comes in. An
example of Celebrating
Myself would be if I do something, like
get a B in a class, I might go to a movie or do
something else that I enjoy doing as a celebration.
When we facilitate
Indian Circles to implement the Children’s Program
Kit, we can add in stories. For example, in the
7 C’s where it talks about Communicating feelings,
Making Good Choices, and Celebrating Myself, we
could share stories from Indian youth that illustrate
each of those. We could ask facilitators to share
stories from their tribe or from others you know
who would convey those concepts from the 7 C’s.
Facilitators of the Children’s Program Kit can
also use stuff the other White Bison youth programs,
such as Daughter of Tradition
and Sons of Tradition
because some of what’s in those programs relates
to children of addicted parents. They kind of
intertwine with each other.
Willie
Wolf (Cheyenne River Sioux)
WC Consulting, Longmont, Colorado
White Bison Program Provider
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| Another
poster from the kit |
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