The victim in a boating tragedy in Sitka on Sunday, Deanna Moore, was a well-known and respected counselor and advocate at Sitkans Against Family Violence and Sitka Counseling.
Moore’s advocacy work brought her to the airwaves many times. Most recently, she shared her perspective on historical trauma in a panel discussion on KCAW’s Talk of Southeast Alaska in October 2020.
“When we’re talking about historical trauma too, I often think about how we can look back, and I think that the local indigenous people talk about the impact of seven generations. And so perhaps it goes back much, much farther than that. But to appreciate that what happens today will impact what’s happening in the future, and we are all a product of experiences that have come before us, and just to make that really small and tangible in my mind, I can think about myself and some experiences I’ve had in my life that have caused me stress or discomfort, or maybe altered the way that I perceive the world. And I’m a mother now. So while as a mother my children are my first and ultimate responsibility, I am still healing from my own experiences. And that’s going to impact the way that I’m able to be available for my children, and the coping skills that I’m able to share with my children. So just to bring it down to two generations, how could historical traumatic experiences not be impacting future generations? It seems naive to think that any one of us has an isolated experience that doesn’t impact the way we participate in the world.“
Deanna Moore, a counselor at Sitkans against Family Violence and Sitka Counseling, appeared in a panel discussion on KCAW in October, 2020. Moore died in a boating accident in Sitka on Sunday (11-27-22). She is remembered as a mother, partner, and fierce advocate for women.
