"Wounds to Wisdom" Symposium Provides New Perspectives on Menal Health
On Monday, August 11, Comanche Nation 988 Tribal Response program held a “Wounds to Wisdom” symposium at Museum of the Great Plains in Lawton, Oklahoma.
Project Director Robert Allen said the seminar was to help provide resources and talks on suicide prevention.
“That is important for the community so they can have something to rely on, so they can reach out to someone,” he said. “Or they can have that information to look at when they're in a time of need or when they're in a time of a struggle.”
About 75 people registered for the event.
Allen said the entire community was welcome to the event, which featured psychologist Dr. Darryl Tonemah, Harlequin Ototivo, Shailah Redelk-Ramos and Lanora Parker.
Tonemah discussed trauma and healing in the native community, which he specializes in.
“One of the things that I start out with is we as Native people have everything we need already in our homes, in ourselves, in our communities to not just deal with trauma, but to heal from it,” he said. “Which includes eating what we fish, hunt, and grow, living in well communities, taking care of each other, moving our bodies. We all, that's really part of being indigenous and the more we get back to those things, I think the more we see results, but I think people we need to encourage each other in getting back to that.”
Tonemah said one way is through community gardens.
“There are a lot of tribes that are starting gardens, like community gardens for people, because many of our residents have limited access to good, fresh fruits and vegetables,” he said. “So, if we become more sovereign in that and creating our own, then we actually create opportunities for each other. Also recognizing that there are some behaviors we do in our communities that are just trauma behaviors, that if we can change our heart posture toward each other and bring each other along instead of seeing each other as adversaries, that goes a long way, that sense of safety and connection in our communities.”
Tonemah said there was unwellness and hurt in his community growing up, which got him into the mental health field.
“…One of the things that I talk about, which I truly believe is the us as a system, the brain, the mind, and the body, but also the spirit,” he said. “And understanding that there are broad sets of tools that we need to think of ourselves more completely than ‘Just, well, if I change this thought, then everything's going to be better.’ It's more than that, and we're cutting out so much of ourselves, we just focus on one area of our lives, and also encourage people to collaborate. You don't have to be alone on this journey because the journey's hard, and working on these things, find your tribe, find your clan of people that are going to work with you and support you that you can support, so it doesn't have to be, you don't have to do it in isolation.”
Mental Health Family Specialist Ototivo, who works with the Indian Health Services, said she was grateful to be invited to speak.
“Not only for the audience, but for my personal life as well, to help me realize…like everyone usually goes through the same thing,” she said. “But there's…different patterns, and so I just love to grow.”
Both of Ototivos’ parents struggled with addiction, and she was raised by a grandparent who attended Fort Sill Indian School.
However, she said she wanted to become a positive influence for the younger generation.
“I can relate to most of these tribal youth that I worked with,” Ototivo said. “And I just want to have a better system, and that's why I went to school and progressed in my education, so I can help Comanche youth and all of the Native American youth, and youth in general, to break that, show them how to break that cycle, and to just process it in a healthy way.”
She discussed self-sabotaging and being critical of herself more than bringing herself up.
For anyone needing support, 988 is a suicide and crisis lifeline. Comanche Nation Prevention and Recovery can be reached at 580-492-3614.
