Building Native Wellness Networks

Native Wellness Network gatherings are two-day workshops called “Creating Community Circles for Change.” These workshops serve two purposes: 1) continued support and extension of networks that have been built over prior gatherings, and 2) intensive consultation and coaching for participants. For each gathering, HNCP undertakes the following steps:

Selects a topic of mutual interest to tribes. For each event, HNCP collaborates with local community partners to identify health and wellness topics of mutual interest. This shared approach to agenda-building creates opportunities to discuss issues, such as suicide, that can be stigmatizing if there is no awareness that other tribal communities are struggling with these issues as well. Past Circles have addressed healthy weight; healthy kids; support for new families; promotion of healthy relationships to reduce family violence; breastfeeding; and re-connection to tradition, culture, and language. Circles can also incorporate environmental or transportation issues, as those factors affect wellness on many reservations. The process of identifying topics and co-constructing an agenda can take between one and six months.

Partners with a local host to help build coalitions for each Circle. Network gatherings are designed to widen the circle of community participants from each tribe. “The idea of coalition and coalition-building really came to the forefront to counteract STP, or ‘the Same Two People’ that always step forward,” says Ms. Jones. Today, workshop planning starts by identifying an individual with broad knowledge of regional Native communities and their leaders. These “Network Weavers” identify a host for the workshop and collaborate with the host to recruit and build coalitions for each Circle. Local hosts are key to turnout, says Ms. Jones, because “people already have somebody that they know and trust.” Local hosts also know where people live and work and can identify locations that are convenient.

Extends invitations to multiple tribal communities. Each Circle invites members from multiple communities and encourages participants to bring local partners so as to expand the number of people who can help with implementation. Network events are capped at 50 people for funding reasons. “It’s important that the invitation feels personal,” says Ms. Jones. “It builds that sense that you’re needed, that you’re important. And it builds a sense of reciprocity that you should help.”

Travels to the community, rather than asks the community to come to them. Many reservations, such as New Mexico’s Navajo reservation, host multiple tribes or Pueblos that are located near one another. As a result, workshops are typically held close to or on a reservation, and all surrounding communities are invited. Key locations such as Albuquerque can provide convenient access that maximizes participation from different tribal communities.

Designs engagement using Indigenous culture-centered models. Workshop activities are built around the Medicine Wheel—a centuries-old symbol used by many Native tribes in health and healing. The four directions of the Medicine Wheel represent all dimensions of wellness: physical, spiritual, mental, and social health.

Employs participatory methods throughout the workshop. Sessions are designed to promote tribal agency and voice, and to uncover the wisdom and resilience that has resided in their communities for centuries. Workshops start with a “focus question” to put the group in dialogue with each other around the workshop topic. Ms. Jones explains: “It’s not a health education presentation about diabetes or rheumatoid arthritis, because most of the time people already know that. We start with more of a broad question: ‘If you could make any changes in your community, what would that be and how could we do it together?’” Focus questions are followed by participatory methods, such as World Café (called “Rez Café”), open space technology, and theme clustering to promote interaction and active listening. Exposure to these tools and methods also teaches participants how they might engage their own communities in building new community-effective prevention and wellness strategies.

Promotes continuity over time. Participants grow more comfortable, build capacity, exchange updates about projects, and seek advice. Because most participants attend each year, “it really feels like a family reunion,” says Ms. Jones.

PROJECT OUTCOMES

Network membership has taken time to build, due to lack of trust and lack of perceived agency to lead change. However, HNCP has seen less turnover in coalition members and participants, leading to greater trust and connection. Outcomes vary by network but, for example, the 250-member New Mexico Native Wellness Network has been thriving since 2012 and has:

• established a statewide support network,
• created local and regional partnerships,
• developed patterns of trust and reciprocity among community organizations,
• opened channels of communication between Native community groups that had been previously isolated from one another, and
• created links within the network between community groups based mostly on geographic proximity and increased their ability to assist each other with ongoing wellness work.

Using surveys and interviews with participants, Network Weavers, and the HNCP team, evaluation of the New Mexico network suggests: 1) improved leadership skills and effectiveness of local community members; 2) improved functioning of local Native community coalitions and increased connections and collective actions; and 3) improved capacity of community coalitions to track and evaluate processes and outcomes.

ASSESSING COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT OUTCOMES

Below, the Assessing Community Engagement Conceptual Model is mapped to the Impact Story. This mapping illustrates how CORE PRINCIPLES of engagement lead to impact across the four OUTCOME domains, and to specific measurable indices within those domains.