UMN Extension's Community-based Opioid Prevention and Education (C.O.P.E.) project collaborates with a network of partners around the support and prevention of opioid and substance use disorders (SUD). Monthly meetings will present opportunity to learn about and discuss different topics.
In September, we will welcome panel members representing the National American Indian and Alaska Native Addiction Transfer Center, the Indian Health Board, and the Native Center for Behavioral Health (NCBH).
This panel will open and guide important discussion around these questions:
- What are the barriers that Tribal/Indigenous facilitators, educators, practitioners face when bringing forth Harm Reduction practices and treatments with great care in their place of work and community?
- What is it like for Tribal/Indigenous facilitators, educators, practitioners to navigate bureaucracy and "colonizer ways"?
- What would harm reduction policy and procedure look like in a Native facility?
Panel Members:
Lena Gachupin LCSW, LISW, (Zia-Jemez Pueblo, Sun Clan). Upon completion of a Masters degree in Administrative and Clinical Social Work from the University of Utah, Lena began as a Social Worker providing Child Protective services with BIA. Much of her professional career has been practicing as a Substance Abuse and Mental Health therapist with the Indian Health Service. Lena also completed post graduate training at the University of New Mexico in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Since federal retirement, she has worked with several Tribal BH programs as a therapist and a program manager. Lena is currently employed with the Kewa Family Wellness Center as the KFWC Assistant Director and also works as a therapist with the Pueblo of Santo Domingo. Lena has been on the Advisory Council for the National American Indian and Alaska Native ATTC for 8 years, and serves on the Molina Healthcare Cultural Competency Advisory Board. Lena is an advocate and a voice for Native people.
Heather Benjamin is a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. In 2021, she joined the Minneapolis Indian Health Board (IHB) as Community Opioid Intervention & Prevention Health Educator. She has a BA in Psychology from Metropolitan State University and a Community Health Worker Certificate from St. Catherine University. Heather’s goal is to educate patients, families, and others on the effects of opioids on our community. She also supports patients in their recovery, increases safety measures in homes where opioids are stored, and teaches the community how to correctly give Narcan to someone who has overdosed. She co-leads a peer recovery group that is open to the community, recently passed the UMICAD test, and continues to work on her licensure.
Ed Parsells is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. He has served as the Clinical Director for the Rosebud Sioux tribe Methamphetamine Rehabilitation Program in Rosebud, SD. He is currently employed as a senior consultant with the National AI/AN ATTC and has also been a long-time ATTC Advisory Council Member.
Jim Wikel: I am a citizen of The Seneca-Cayuga Nation of Oklahoma. I am from the Wolf Clan on my mother's side. I currently live in Vancouver, WA and work as Peer Support Specialist in a Medicated Assisted Treatment Program operated by the Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde in Salem, OR.
Daniel Dickerson, D.O., M.P.H. (Inupiaq) is an addiction psychiatrist and Associate Research Psychiatrist at UCLA, Integrated Substance Abuse Programs (ISAP). His research focuses on the development and analysis of substance use treatment and prevention programs for American Indian/Alaska Native youth and adults. He has conducted research as Principal Investigator or co-Principal Investigator on various National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded studies including Traditions and Connections for Urban Native Americans (TACUNA), Native American Youth Sleep, Health, and Wellness (NAYSHAW), Motivational Interviewing and Culture for Urban Native American Youth (MICUNAY) and Drum-Assisted Recovery Therapy for Native Americans (DARTNA).
Elder June Blue, American Indian Cultural Coordinator, UMN Extension, will start the morning with a ceremonial prayer and blessing.
Moderators supporting this important conversation: Jennifer Garbow, UMN Extension Educator & Associate Extension Professor, and Steven G. Steine MA CADC, National AI/AN ATTC Program Manager
