May is Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Awareness Month (MMIR). The MMIR movement calls attention to the disproportionate impact of violence on Indigenous Peoples, and seeks to find solutions. This week, to provide the community with cultural knowledge and resources, the Sitka Tribe of Alaska is hosting a two-day summit on trauma recovery.
The workshop will be led by Christina Love, a Juneau-based advocate for domestic violence survivors and incarcerated women. She was recently appointed by President Biden to the US Advisory Council on Human Trafficking.
“You will equally feel devastated by the absolute atrocities that are happening, and also, I hope, empowered and liberated and knowledgeable and equipped with action,” Love says of the participants that attend the workshop this Wednesday and Thursday.
“The title of the training is ‘Moving from trauma to healing,'” she continues. “And so we really hope to put a lot of emphasis on action, so people can walk away with tangible things to do.”
Love says participants at the two-day workshop will spend the time in storytelling sessions and panels, exploring everything from the science of trauma to the stigma of substance use and the role it can play for survivors.
“So really, a big point that we’re going to drive home again and again is that when people experience harm, that they will end their pain and suffering in any way that they can,” Love says. “So we want to move away from deficit, and look at how some of the worst parts of addiction lead to trafficking, some of the worst parts of addiction, that shame and that stigma, comes from people not really knowing what to do. So pushing family members away, kicking people out of shelters or programs, because they don’t know what else to do.”
Harper Glazer is the transitional housing manager for Sitka Tribe of Alaska. She says the workshop is possible through funding from the US Department of Justice’s Office of Violence Against Women. And she says while tribal citizens are disproportionately affected by violence, it affects the community as a whole.
“Sitka Tribe of Alaska is looking to not only provide direct service, but also being able to provide learning opportunities and workshops for providers in the community, so that we can build our response services that we offer to the whole community,” Glazer says.
Love says one thing she hopes people will walk away with is this – recovery is possible both for victims and for people perpetrating harm.
“For me, and a lot of the people that I work with, there’s no shame on either side there. We know that…healing isn’t possible along with shame, and so I don’t want people to feel that.” Love says. “Most people who have perpetrated harm were victims themselves. So that false dichotomy, I just want people to know that healing is possible.”
The workshop will be held Wednesday May 8 from 10:30am to 4:30pm and Thursday, May 9 from 9am – 3:30pm at the Sitka Tribe of Alaska offices at 204 Siginaka Way. For more information, or to register, call Harper Glazer at 907-747-7152 or email harper.glazer@sitkatribe-nsn.gov. Learn more about MMIR here.
