Since our founding in 2006, the NNCTC has been part of many system-level, community-level, and national conversations about the role that historical trauma plays in the perpetuation of other traumas and in the overall mental health of Indigenous individuals, families, and communities. We are proud to have helped shine a light on this basic framework for understanding the experiences of many Indigenous communities and families, but we are also aware that little guidance exists in the psychological literature for engaging with clients on the subject of historical trauma. Clinicians may harm clie ..read more

By Dr. Maegan Rides At The Door Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and NNCTC Director Dr. Maegan Rides At The Door On Sunday November 5th, I had the opportunity to travel to Bozeman, Montana, with two close friends to attend the last of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s Road to Healing events. The first Road to Healing event was held in Anadarko, Oklahoma, in July of last year. (Our colleague at NNCTC, Kimee Wind-Hummingbird, was in attendance.) Secretary Haaland and her team from the Interior Department have since held events in Michigan, South Dakota, Utah, Arizona, Washington, Minnesota, Califo ..read more

By Kimee Wind-Hummingbird On November 9, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Haaland v. Brackeen, a case in which the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) was at issue. This case posed one of the most serious threats to ICWA in decades, as well as threatening to undermine Tribal sovereignty more generally. Ultimately the Supreme Court reaffirmed ICWA’s constitutionality, but the journey toward that decision was a fraught one for many citizens of Native nations and advocates for Tribal sovereignty and self-determination. As we approach the one-year anniversa ..read more

Ethleen Iron Cloud-Two Dogs (Oglala Lakota) and Shannon Crossbear (Ojibwe), Cultural Consultants for the NNCTC, draw on their knowledge of their own Tribal cultures to advise our Center and our partners on strength-based approaches to promoting resilience. We invited Ethleen and Shannon to share any reflections they might have on the occasion of Indigenous People’s Day (October 9, 2023) as it relates to our work at NNCTC.  Ethleen Iron Cloud-Two Dogs Shannon Crossbear Ethleen’s Reflection  When marking Indigenous People’s Day last year, President Biden said, “We honor the sovereign ..read more

The National Native Children’s Trauma Center (NNCTC) invites applications for a Child Advocacy Center Training and Technical Assistance Specialist for its Native Child Advocacy Resource Center. The Native Child Advocacy Resource Center (NCARC) develops resources and provides training and technical assistance to Tribes interested in developing Multidisciplinary Teams (MDTs) and Child Advocacy Centers (CACs) for the investigation and prosecution of child maltreatment, as well as to non-Tribal CACs that serve American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children and families. Check out the Universit ..read more

Important Dates. Application Deadline 8/31/23; AI/AN Live Q & A 8/3/23 16:00 EDT; Period of Performance 1/1/24 - 6/30/25 The National Children’s Alliance (NCA), under a cooperative agreement with the United States Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), is now accepting applications for the 2024 National Subgrants Programs. This is an exciting opportunity to access funds in order to expand Child Advocacy Center (CAC) services to American Indian tribal areas and Alaska Native villages to better meet the needs of child victims and their families ..read more

The NNCTC is offering a free, 2-day training event at the University of Montana in Missoula on July 18 and 19. The training will cover BounceBack for Classrooms and Students, Trauma, and Resiliency, NNCTC adaptations of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy approaches for promoting resilience and recovery at a universal or whole-school level. Bounce Back for Classrooms, an adaptation of the trauma-focused group counseling intervention Bounce Back (Langley & Jaycox, 2015), is a social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum based on cognitive behavioral therapy components designed for 2nd  thr ..read more

Join NNCTC’s Director, Maegan Rides At The Door, PhD, for a June 30 webinar based on her recent paper, “The Other Side of the ACEs Pyramid: A Healing Framework for Indigenous Communities,” coauthored with Sidney Shaw. Dr. Rides At The Door will discuss the importance of recontextualizing our understanding of Adverse Childhood Events to better serve Indigenous communities, families, and children. Advance registration required ..read more

by Fred Fisher I came to the National Native Children’s Trauma Center (NNCTC) two years ago with the goal of contributing to the Center’s efforts at preventing trauma in Tribal communities. The approach I brought to the NNCTC is one that I developed working with state agencies and nonprofits in Montana and then during my 15 years at Casey Family Programs, working nationally at the intersection of Tribal human services and community development. In my early work in Montana, attempting to coordinate the delivery of prevention services across systems ranging from maternal and child health to hig ..read more

NNCTC Director Maegan Rides At The Door and coauthor Sidney Shaw recently published “The Other Side of the ACEs Pyramid: A Healing Framework for Indigenous Communities,” in the International Journal for Environmental Research and Public Health. The authors propose a new visual aid for conceptualizing Indigenous wellness, by contrast with the deficit-based “ACEs Pyramid.” Their holistic Indigenous Wellness Pyramid identifies pathways toward healing starting with a foundation of broad-based community healing and empowerment. The article offers examples, supporting research, and implications for ..read more