Yurok Circles of Care Project
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YUROK CIRCLES OF CARE PROJECT COMMUNITY STRENGTHS AND RESOURCES ANALYSIS By Chad Keith Olson A Project Presented to The Faculty of Humboldt State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Social Work Committee Membership Ronald Swartz PhD., Major Professor Margaret Waller PhD., Committee Member Allyson McCovey CoC Project Director, Committee Member Michael Yellow Bird PhD., Graduate Coordinator May 2013 ABSTRACT YUROK CIRCLES OF CARE PROJECT COMMUNITY STRENGTHS AND RESOURCES ANALYSIS Chad Keith Olson The Yurok Circles of Care project seeks to develop a behavioral/mental health service model for Yurok children, youth and transition age adults 0-25 and their families. System improvement is being sought in this community because of the disproportionate number of Yurok children being served by the juvenile justice, child welfare, mental health, and alcohol and other drug systems. There are also high rates of trauma exposure, depression, anxiety, suicide, substance use, teen pregnancy, and accidental death in the community. For this project 15 semi-formal interviews were conducted with service providers in three identified service areas. Information was gathered on services provided, service system strengths, identified gaps in services, barriers to participation and traditional, informal and natural supports that are currently used. A variety of services were found to be present in each service area. Geographic barriers, transportation issues, intra-system communication issues and system navigation issues were seen as significant barriers for families seeking funded services. The renewal of traditional Yurok practices, values and beliefs was presented as a sustainable model for improving, promoting and supporting health and wellness in the Yurok community. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project would not have become a reality without the assistance of numerous dedicated and inspirational people. My first thank you goes to the Yurok Circles of Care Project Director Allyson McCovey for her assistance, support, encouragement and direction throughout this project. I also give thanks to Dr. Michael Yellow Bird for being willing to share his knowledge and insights regarding decolonization and for challenging me to think at a higher level. Thanks also need to be given to the service providers that agreed to be interviewed, the committee members that took me in and shared of themselves during the Circles of Care conference in Denver and to the Yurok community and people for sharing their experience, insights and many gifts. A special thank you is given to Patti Gibbens, teacher at Jack Norton School, and to my mom, Pam Olson, who was a past administrator of the River Schools. Lastly, I want to thank my daughter, Kaylee, for mentally challenging me on a daily basis with her fierce debates and quick mind. Thank you one and all. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... iv INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE ............................................................................................. 5 METHOD ......................................................................................................................... 15 RESULTS ......................................................................................................................... 20 Eureka/Arcata/McKinleyville ....................................................................................... 22 Crescent City/Klamath .................................................................................................. 32 Hoopa/Weitchpec .......................................................................................................... 37 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................... 46 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 50 iv 1 INTRODUCTION There are almost 5,000 enrolled Yurok tribal members, making it California’s largest indigenous group (Yurok Tribe, 2012). The current tribal lands consist of an area extending one mile on either side of the mouth of the Klamath River and 44 miles upriver, covering 63,035 acres. There is limited access to basic services for tribal members living on the reservation, with the majority living in areas that do not receive electricity or phone service (Yurok Tribe, 2012). In addition, 80% of tribal members have incomes below the poverty line and limited access to employment opportunities, healthcare and educational services due to what is considered a grossly substandard transportation system. (Yurok Tribe, 2012) The Tribal council, Tribal members, and employees of the Tribe have worked hard to improve this infrastructure. Improvements have been made to roads in the area and electrical service is being extended into areas that did not previously receive it. Various tribal entities, under the direction of the tribal council, have sought and acquired grant funding for a number of projects to improve infrastructure, manage tribal resources and improve the quality and availability of services on the reservation. Yurok Social Services received a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grant in 2011 to design a system of care that will meet the mental health needs of Yurok tribal members 0-25 years old. The Circles of Care SAMHSA grant provides funding for three years for the research and design of a program model. Circles of Care seeks to improve access to 2 culturally appropriate, timely, behavioral health supports and services for individuals, children, youth and families living on the Yurok reservation (A. McCovey, personal communication, September 21, 2012). Formal and informal supports that encourage overall community health and wellness will be identified and assessed through this grant. The current service system’s components will be described and mapped. System strengths, barriers and gaps will be identified through this process. A relational paradigm that incorporates mind, body, spirit and environment will inform the process. Circles of Care is a research and design grant and does not provide funding for the implementation of the model that is developed. The sustainability of the services and supports that are included in the model will also need to be assessed to insure that the program model is a good fit for the community over time. Between 1999 and 2004, statistics placed suicide as the second leading cause of death for Indigenous people in the United States 10 to 34 years of age (The Suicide Protection Action Network, 2012). The rate of anxiety, depression and substance abuse among indigenous peoples was identified as a contributing factor to the high rate of suicide (SPAA, 2012). High levels of poverty, a substandard infrastructure, negative experiences with unresponsive, culturally inappropriate or ineffective Euro-American service providers has made it difficult for individuals and families to seek or access supports and services they may need or want. The disruption of cultural life-ways and past experiences of trauma, coupled with assessments and funding sources that emphasize Euro-American beliefs, values and concepts of health, has left many communities with few options for families and individuals needing assistance. 3 Behavioral health services and supports for people that identify as Indigenous are increasingly combining Euro-American treatment models with Indigenous traditional models of health and wellness. This trend toward more holistic models of care that incorporate Indigenous beliefs, values and practices has been driven by the lack of improvement in health statistics for these groups. Indigenous communities in North America consistently had the highest rates of suicide among their youth aged 15 to 29 from 2003 to 2007 and an overall rate that was matched only by whites at 18.1% during those years (Crosby, Ortega & Stevens, 2011). These statistics may have been significantly underreported as they depend on correct identification of a person’s ethnicity and the reporting agencies’ identification of the death as a suicide. The figures for Indigenous youth are believed to reflect an underreporting of 25% to 35% (Crosby, Ortega &Stevens, 2011). Deaths from motor vehicle accidents, the leading cause of death for people 5 – 34 years of age, were also seen at higher rates for Indigenous people. The rate for whites was less than 2% while the rate for people who were identified as Indigenous was 7% during the period from 2003 to 2007 (West & Naumann, 2011). Indigenous females had higher drug induced death rates than any other ethnic or racial group from 2003 - 2007 reaching a peak of 11.5% in 2007 (Paulozzi, 2011). The preceding statistics clearly reveal the need for a reassessment of the service systems currently used to promote the mental health and wellness of Indigenous people in the United States. Describing the elements that make up the current service system for the Yurok community has been identified as the first