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Intergenerational trauma plays large role in Indigenous addictions problems | Blood Tribe’s declaration of a State of Emergency

 

Officials with the Blood Tribe say one of the biggest contributing factors in the opioid crisis is the intergenerational trauma Indigenous people face. Herald file photo

By Lethbridge Herald on July 10, 2024.

https://lethbridgeherald.com/news/lethbridge-news/2024/07/10/intergenerational-trauma-plays-large-role-in-indigenous-addictions-problems/

Editor’s note: This is the first of a three-part series that looks at the opioid crisis in southern Alberta through an Indigenous lens.

Alexandra Noad – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

In April 2023 the Blood Tribe declared a State of Emergency due to opioids.

According to Alberta’s Opioid Response Surveillance Report: First Nations People in Alberta, published in June 2021, First Nations people represented 22 percent of all opioid poisoning deaths in the first six months of 2020.  Which was an increase from 14 per cent in 2016.

While many may have the perception drug abuse only happens in city limits, the Blood Tribe’s declaration of a State of Emergency would prove otherwise.

Leslie Wells, Blood Tribe’s opioid response coordinator, says the opioid response started back in 2014. She says one of the biggest contributing factors to the opioid crisis is the intergenerational trauma Indigenous people face.

“There’s just like a lot of things that contribute to this crisis. But it is here and because even though Kainai is considered the largest First Nations in Canada, that has historical trauma, has really kind of wiped out and caused us to go into crisis not just with opioids but traumas and everything like that,” said Wells.

When someone goes through trauma, it can effect many generations because it not only affects how the person reacts to dealing with the traumatic event but studies have been done which suggest trauma can affect how the body reads DNA, which is then passed on through generations.

Many Indigenous peoples’ trauma stemmed from residential schools and the Sixties Scoop which caused many Indigenous people to be isolated from their culture.

Charles Weaselhead, former Blood Tribe chief and  Treaty 7 grand chief, says the intergenerational trauma caused by the residential school system has played major factors in addictions.

“The intergenerational trauma came to the forefront and people started speaking out with regards to the mental health and addiction and the impact that residential school had on huge number of people over that period,” said Weaselhead.

Travis Coleman, fire chief and director of Emergency Services for the Blood Tribe says education on intergenerational trauma is crucial to understanding the opioid crisis.

“I don’t think most people know the severity of the childhood trauma and residential schools on First Nations and Aboriginal people. We see it out here because I work out here and I just don’t think people are educated enough to understand the results of the residential schools and childhood trauma, everything that they had experienced over the years,” said Coleman.

https://lethbridgeherald.com/news/lethbridge-news/2024/07/10/intergenerational-trauma-plays-large-role-in-indigenous-addictions-problems/

 

NEW! TODAY! One Small Sacrifice is republished: Four Traumas #ICWA

Back in stores soon, ebook is on Amazon Kindle

By Trace Hentz, Blog Editor

After requests and many kind words, the second edition of ONE SMALL SACRIFICE is back on Amazon HERE and it will start showing up in bookstores again, or you can request your local bookstore order it for you.

I never wanted to write about me, but my story helped others and it might help you open your adoption, and process what happened to you.

 

 

👇👇👇This is a reblog from 2012:

 

 

The Special Place of Children in Aboriginal Cultures

Children hold a special place in Aboriginal cultures. According to tradition, they are gifts from the spirit world and have to be treated very gently lest they become disillusioned with this world and return to a more congenial place. They must be protected from harm because there are spirits that would wish to entice them back to that other realm. They bring a purity of vision to the world that can teach their elders. They carry within them the gifts that manifest themselves as they become teachers, mothers, hunters, councillors, artisans and visionaries. They renew the strength of the family, clan and village and make the elders young again with their joyful presence. Failure to care for these gifts bestowed on the family, and to protect children from the betrayal of others, is perhaps the greatest shame that can befall an Aboriginal family.  It is a shame that countless Aboriginal families have experienced some of this repeatedly over generations.  

 By Trace Hentz (formerly DeMeyer)

I saw a photo today (see below) This book cover reminded me of this excerpt and chapter in my memoir.

via

Four Traumas (published in 2012) (10 years later, republished in 2022)

            Now that we have the internet and many ways to find information, I read that adoptees are more traumatized than a prisoner of war. That’s right. It’s called post-traumatic stress disorder. A prisoner of war may escape or be released, but an adoptee may suffer their entire life.

             
I believe there are four distinct traumas in being an adoptee. They are: 1) in utero, when you feel what is happening to you or sense what is coming; 2) when you are delivered, abandoned, and handed to strangers; 3) later when you are told you are adopted and realize fully what it means; and 4) when you realize you are different, from a different culture or country, and you can’t contact your people, or know them, or have the information you need to find them.
            
 It took me years to get this. There are more traumas, too – like when I’d fill out forms at the doctor’s office. I had no medical history. I had no idea if I was sitting next to someone who could be my biological brother, sister, mother or father. It was terrifying to think I could marry my own relative! I could carry a gene or trait that I pass down to my children – and I wouldn’t know until it’s too late. If my birthparents were alcoholics, then I really shouldn’t drink. I could be pre-disposed to diabetes or heart disease or cancer or depression and not even know. My list went on and on.

             
In 2006, I found out my birthmother had diabetes, which came as another shock.

             
I realize a powerful link exists between what I’m feeling, and what happens in my body. Years ago I’d use emotional binging, working more than one job, creating drama, just to numb my emotional pain. By 18 I was a total workaholic!  I blamed myself and hated myself for everything.  What grief, too young to understand. My birthmother’s rejection destroyed my ability to trust anyone.

           
There may be some adoptees who do not wish to heal this and go on as they are, holding on to these sad feelings and self-pity, rather than do the mental work to heal. Recognizing a pattern of belief is tough, partly because you gain sympathy by stealing (or sucking) energy from others when you act sick. That is no way to live. You need to be your own person, self-energizing, and not steal energy from anyone.

            Adoptees are meant to survive this, no matter who we are or how we were traumatized. It’s a test.

            Can we heal our own minds? Yes.

            Can we love two families? Yes.

            Can we take our recovery and story back to our families? Definitely.

           
Some adoptees believe that when we meet mother or father, all pain and agony will disappear. That sadly is just hope. That is not the way it works. A reunion is just one step on the journey and it helps, but there are many many more steps just as difficult. It’s truly a test.       

Regardless of ancestry, creed or complexion, adoptees can heal this. The only one who can fix it is you.

            
 I’m uneasy around new people, reserved and shy at times. I’ve lived through many disappointments. It’s very upsetting to find out about orphan trauma now, years later, knowing no one bothered to tell me or help me while I was experiencing it. 

After multiple traumas, which I’ll describe, I came to terms with it… eventually.

Kintsugi: What it means to heal from childhood experiences

As I’ve written, Western culture sees healing—it literally means “to make whole”—as restoring something or someone to an undamaged state; when something of value is damaged, such as a painting or other artifact, our practice is always to repair it in such a way that it looks as though the damage never happened. That tends to be the mindset we bring to our emotional healing from childhood which is, of course, impossible. For that reason, I think it’s far more productive to think of healing using the Japanese art of Kintsugi as the guiding metaphor. When a valuable or cherished ceramic object is broken, the Japanese repair the piece with lacquer mixed with precious metals—gold, silver, or copper—so that the breaks are not only visible but form a pattern of their own, testifying to the object’s history while transforming how it looks. The repaired object remains its old self while becoming an emblem of resilience and newly envisioned beauty.

12 signs that you are beginning to heal:

You’re getting better at naming your feelings.
When things go wrong, you don’t automatically blame yourself.
You don’t automatically second-guess or ruminate.
You’re able to speak up without worrying.
You’re much less sensitive to rejection or slights.
You recognize, label, and dismantle triggers.
You respect boundaries and set your own.
You take pride in what you handled well and cope with what you botched.
You’ve begun to see yourself wholly.
You are no longer ashamed.
You are now setting personal goals.
You are beginning to manage your emotions with skill.           
 

READ: 12 Signs That You're Healing from a Toxic Childhood | Psychology Today

Mending the Hoop 

StrongHearts Native Helpline (1-844-7NATIVE) – The StrongHearts Native Helpline (1-844-762-8483) is a safe, anonymous and confidential service for Native Americans affected by domestic violence and dating violence. Advocates are available at no cost 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. CST, 7 days a week when you are ready to reach out. StrongHearts offers immediate peer-to-peer support, crisis intervention, safety planning and referrals to culturally-appropriate resources. Visit strongheartshelpline.org for more information on abuse types and behaviors.