A member of the Cherokee Nation, Galen Gritts is proud to be an elder in St. Louis. He was born and raised in the area and graduated from University of Missouri-St. Louis with a history degree. When he was young, it was Gritts’ goal to stay put and grow old in St. Louis. Now, he […]
Members of the St. Louis area Native American community gathered at the Center for Spirituality and Sustainability to discuss the mistreatment of Indigenous people by the United States and relationship building between these two groups, both in the past and present. During their introductions, the panelists provided background on themselves and the Native American peoples […]
An oak tree that had guided Illinois travelers for nearly three centuries collapsed on April 20, 2008. Today, its spirit endures on the Washington University in St. Louis campus, maintaining an ancient practice of human connection with nature. Born in northern Illinois around 1730, that fallen oak, known as “Pathfinder,” was among the last of […]
As humans grapple with how to protect the environment and sustain life amid intensifying climate issues, St. Louis-area universities and other local institutions are looking to time-tested approaches for ideas as they kick off a free virtual conference later this week. One of those ideas has to do with kinship, an ancient concept that Kyle Whyte, the […]
An innovative program to support Brown School students who are interested in completing part of their practicums in Indian Country has received additional funding of nearly $1 million for an additional four years to build capacity for integrated and trauma-informed behavioral health care. The program, Social Workers Advancing through Grounded Education (SAGE), is led by […]
The Brown School community is saddened by the loss of David Patterson Silver Wolf, associate professor. An Irish/Cherokee descendent, David’s research focused on two main areas: substance abuse recovery and advocating for underrepresented minority college students, especially those from American Indian/Alaska Native populations.
This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Donald Warne, Director of Indians Into Medicine (INMED) at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences. A renowned expert on American Indian health policies, Dr. Warne talks about the devastating toll COVID-19 is exacting on the nation’s most vulnerable communities, particularly American […]
COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting Native communities across the United States. While these communities are not new to devastation from disease, trauma, and broken treaties, this latest public health crisis reveals deep roots of systemic injustices that have spanned hundreds of years. Part IV of the series features Native professionals who will shed light on how […]
As the Covid-19 epidemic sweeps across the country leaving death and confusion in its wake, let’s not forget the other epidemic — opioid overdose deaths — that continues to do the same thing and that was until just a few months ago considered to be the greatest public health crisis of this generation. I’m fascinated, […]
The Navajo Nation now has the highest rates of coronavirus infection per capita in the U.S. The people need assistance, says Wynette Whitegoat, assistant director of the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies at Washington University’s Brown School and a member of the Navajo Nation. “There are many factors that have led to the Navajo Nation’s current […]
Every year since 1990, Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis students and the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies have hosted an annual Pow Wow—a gathering that brings together people from all across the country to celebrate Native culture. The 30th annual event was to occur on April 11, 2020 with […]
Similar to treatment resistant depression, there is a subpopulation of those addicted to opioids who do not respond to standard opioid use disorder (OUD) treatments. In a new paper, an addiction expert at the Brown School suggests a new category for these types of patients: treatment resistant opioid use disorder (TROUD). “The field has suggested […]
As the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies celebrates three decades at the Brown School, it has emerged as the preeminent center for the academic advancement and study of American Indian issues related to social work, public health and public policy. Offering a unique graduate degree focus for social work students, the center recruits American […]
Each year, UIHI hires full-time public health interns to work on various projects under the mentorship of UIHI staff. The interns assist in the planning, implementation, and follow-up of initiatives happening during their internship period. They also work to establish a relationship with the Department of Health (DOH) and are encouraged to use some time […]
Two Brown School students were recognized as CSWE Minority Fellows at the 2019 Council for Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting in Denver. CSWE’s Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) aims to increase the number of individuals trained to work with underrepresented and underserved racial/ethnic minority persons with or at risk for mental health and/or substance abuse disorders. […]
One of the reasons I became an addiction counselor and obtained advanced degrees in social work was my awareness that people in power neither resembled nor came from those communities most in need. In 1990, after I completed a 30-day addiction treatment program in Louisville, Kentucky, I decided that rather than returning to my job […]
Each year Missouri Humanities recognizes outstanding citizens throughout Missouri for their achievements in and dedication to the humanities. This year the organization is proud to recognize four Missourians in the following categories: Distinguished Literary Achievement, Excellence in Education, Exemplary Community Achievement, and Partnership in the Humanities. Nominations are collected from across the state and chosen […]
(PORTLAND, Ore. August 9, 2019)— Today, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals published its decision in Brackeen v. Bernhardt, the federal court challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). The court’s decision affirmed the constitutionality of ICWA, recognizing the unique political status of tribal nations and upholding the federal law that is so critical […]
A few weeks ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released some positive statistics related to the ongoing opioid crisis. While drug overdose deaths in the U.S. had reached record levels in 2017, the nation saw an overall 4.2% decline in 2018. In Missouri, though, the 2018 outcomes were far less hopeful – despite an […]
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today introduced a bill that would designate the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site as a National Historic Park. Cahokia Mounds is currently a National Historic Landmark, but Durbin’s bill would provide a new designation that ensures protection for the ancient mounds in St. Clair and Madison counties along […]
Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that, after decades of relentless increases, there is finally evidence that the number of fatal drug overdoses is declining. Averaged across all states, in 2018, there were 4% fewer deaths. Experts from around the country expressed cautious optimism that the money and effort spent to […]
In the last half-century, the United States has endured three major drug epidemics. The first began in the 1970s, around the end of the Vietnam War when veterans returned home addicted to heroin. The death rate due to overdoses at that time was about 1 per 100,000 people. America’s second drug epidemic happened in the 1980 […]
Joy Harjo, a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, has been selected as the 23rd U.S. poet laureate, a move that will inspire Native American people throughout the country, says Kellie Thompson, director of the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. “Her selection will inspire us in expected ways […]
The theme of this year’s Pow Wow at Washington University in St. Louis is “Keep Them Sacred: Honoring Generations of Indigenous Women.” The 29th annual event, a celebration of American Indian cultures, will be held Saturday, April 20, in the Washington University Field House on the Danforth Campus. Hosted by the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian […]
A new op-ed on STAT News highlights a troubling concern in regard to medication-assisted treatment (MAT). Author David A. Patterson Silver Wolf, PhD, opined that the reason why methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone aren’t more widely used to treat opioid use disorders (OUDs) may be due to “branding”—specifically, concern on the part of primary care physicians about the stigma associated […]
One morning last week as I arrived at our new addiction treatment center, the CAPA Clinic in St. Louis, one of the social work student interns I supervise couldn’t wait to tell me about the “excitement” they’d experienced in the few hours the clinic had been open for the day: a patient had been stabbed, another was […]
With more than 2 million Americans suffering from an opioid use disorder and the escalating rate of deaths from opioid overdoses reaching about 130 per day, efforts to date have had little impact in curbing this crisis across the country. As a result, a committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine released on March […]
Archaeologists have struggled to explain the rapid rise and fall of Cahokia — the mysterious Mississippian mound-building culture that sprang up about a thousand years ago in the fertile southern Illinois bottom lands just across the river from modern-day St. Louis. Scholars have painted the civilization as a hierarchical, highly centralized society where ruling elites […]
Cheyenne River Sioux member Jasmine Grika contemplated taking a year off before starting graduate school. But when she received her acceptance from the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies, she was suddenly hitting fast forward and paying student deposits. Lindsey Manshack, a member of the Choctaw-Apache Tribe of Ebarb, toured Buder before applying. […]
Four Directions is in search of a Native artist to create a canvas mural to be hung in the Mizzou Student Center. Four Directions: Indigenous Peoples and Allies is the Indigenous student group at the University of Missouri. Our organization works towards creating an Indigenous community on campus as well as advocating for the political, […]
Tribal casinos receive a lot of attention. What doesn’t receive as much attention is the higher incidence of problem gambling among Native Americans compared to the rest of the population. Washington University Professor David Patterson Silver Wolf has studied how the Native American population has a higher rate of gambling addiction than the average rate […]
When David Patterson Silver Wolf refers to the U.S. opioid epidemic as part of a “disease of despair” and “a tough disease to treat,” he’s speaking from experience both professional and personal. He experienced substance-use disorder firsthand after growing up in a troubled home that quickly led him toward drugs and alcohol. “I was young […]
The Brown School has partnered with Preferred Family Healthcare in St. Louis to launch the Community Academic Partnership on Addiction (CAPA), a teaching, learning and research clinic aimed at combating the opioid epidemic and treating other substance use disorders. “Our aim is to develop a system of shared resources for attacking this issue, in St. […]
“On an autumn day in 1808, elders of the Osage Nation gathered at Fort Clark, a new outpost overlooking the Missouri River near what is now Sibley, Missouri. The council assembled to consider a treaty with the young American republic, a treaty requiring them to give up over 52 million acres of Osage land east […]
Alexandria Niksik has been in and out of prison for seven years. Her most recent return home only lasted 16 days. But what might look like failure from the outside is actually a key step toward success and recovery from alcohol misuse. Read Article
During Native American Heritage Month, visitors to Hillman Hall can interact with the Red Dress Project commemorative installation. The piece displays 21 red garments— from dresses and infant onesies to jumpsuits and a shawl— suspended from the ceiling on black hangers. The contrast of the red dresses hanging against the white walls is visually striking. […]
November is Native American Heritage month. As such Tribal communities come together to converse on what they’re most thankful for. For some attaining a higher education is on top of their priority list. According to Native Partnership statistics more than 60 percent of U.S. high school students go on to college, while only 17 percent […]
Therapist-patient profile matching for more effective treatment of substance use disorders (SUDs) is especially important to address the current opioid crisis, according to the author of a recent study on the issue from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. “The results from this study have important application to performance-based practice,” said the […]
The Udall Foundation’s Native American Congressional Internship program offers a unique opportunity to gain professional leadership experience in Washington, D.C. The Foundation seeks candidates who demonstrate academic excellence, leadership qualities, and an interest in working with Native American issues and policy. Interns are provided round-trip airfare, lodging, per dium, and an educational stipend. The application […]
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are, unfortunately, familiar in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities, where factors such as poverty, unemployment, chronic stress and intergenerational trauma contribute to ACEs and their resulting detrimental effects (Warne et al., 2017). Recognizing that AI/AN populations are disproportionately impacted by trauma requires translating research into appropriate interventions. The Indian […]
David Patterson Silver Wolf, associate professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, has been appointed to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Committee on Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder. Read Article
On Oct. 20, 2017, I received an email from the Tower Grove Park Board of Commissioners asking for input on the Christopher Columbus statue at the entrance of Tower Grove Park. I was asked my thoughts as a St. Louis local, as a Washington University researcher, and as a Native American. I’ve always loved spending […]
One in three Native American women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. They also go missing and are murdered at an alarmingly high rate. Adria Brown, a graduate student at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, hopes to address the crisis in both […]
Rather than social work practice being based solely on a therapist’s intuition and assumptions, social workers should consider a system of evaluation and measurement based on hard data, suggests a professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis. “Not only do current professional social work therapists not know their past performance stats, they […]
October 8 looms. In South Dakota, it’s Native American Day. In 2016, Vermont’s governor proclaimed it Indigenous People’s Day. Oregon avoided Columbus Day altogether until last year, when it made Indigenous People’s Day official. A long list of cities have done the same. Here in St. Louis, the bronze Christopher Columbus in Tower Grove Park […]
The National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development (the National Center) is pleased to announced its 2018 class of “Native American 40 Under 40” award recipients. Nominated by members of their communities, this prestigious award is bestowed to individuals under the age of 40 who have demonstrated leadership, initiative, and dedication and have made significant […]
Rather than social work practice being based solely on a therapist’s intuition and assumptions, social workers should consider a system of evaluation and measurement based on hard data, suggests a professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis. “Not only do current professional social work therapists not know their past performance stats, they […]
The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) has received a 5-year, $7.1 million grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to continue the Minority Fellowship Program (MFP). The grant includes more than $95,000 in additional funding annually compared to grants in the two previous cycles. This will enable the MFP to […]
When Cody Goodwin, of Independence, Missouri, was 24, he had already been hooked on opioids, including heroin, for years. His sister decided jail was the only way he could be cut off from drugs, so she reported him to the police. “I was mad at my sister at first, boy, you know, she got me […]