Wellbriety Certificate Program

Transcription

1 Wellbriety! The Wellbriety Movement s Online Magazine Volume 12, Number 4 April, 2011 Substance abuse counselors, recovery coaches, and others, can learn about the Native American Wellbriety principles for recovery and healing through an online, seven month, 14 undergraduate unit course. For North America and the world! The Native American Wellbriety Certificate Program Available Online from the University of the Pacific and White Bison, Inc. The Program begins September 6, 2011 Learn about it in this issue Published by White Bison, Inc. Colorado Springs, CO An American Indian non-profit Organization For the Wellbriety Movement and the Wellbriety Training Institute

2 2 phone: (877) web: Wellbriety!

3 The Native American Wellbriety Certificate Program Learning from The Cloud Starting in September, 2011 you can learn about the cultural knowledge base behind White Bison s Wellbriety approach to Native American substance abuse healing and recovery. By enrolling in a first-of-its-kind online course through the Center for Professional and Continuing Education at the University of the Pacific, Stockton, California, you will receive a Native American Wellbriety certificate that can help open diverse doors in your career. F or the first time ever, professionals of many kinds who work with Native communities in North America can learn some of the principles, laws and values that underlie the communities they serve. This background will help Native and non- Native people alike to be more effective in their jobs. Diverse staff members won t have to travel great distances to upgrade their skills. The new program will be as close as your own computer and Internet connection, offering 14 academic credits on completion of the entire course. Who might benefit from this college-level curriculum? For starters the list includes, Substance abuse counselors, Addiction, prevention and treatment and recovery counselors and coaches, Law enforcement, including police, probation and parole officers, Physicians, Social workers, Mental health providers and counselors, Tribal health providers and counselors, including Indian Health Service personnel, Clergy, Psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists and psych techs, Behavioral Health specialists, Marriage and family therapists, and, Educators, including those representing Native Studies programs. The seven month, 14 credit course will cover the following broad topics in a systematic, seven lesson learning format presented online by various instructors who have been involved with the Wellbriety Movement in many capacities: 1. Overview and Introduction (2 units) 2. Teachings of the Elders (2 units) 3. Inter-generational Trauma (2 units) 4. Alcohol and Addiction Problems in Native America (2 units) 5. Recovery and Relapse Prevention (2 units) 6. Our Children are Sacred: Children and Prevention (2 units) 7. Community Development (2 units) 3 info@whitebison.org phone: (877) web: Wellbriety!

4 Successful completion of the program will result in a certificate from the University of the Pacific, a respected and prestigious institute of higher education whose roots go back to the mid-1850 s in Santa Clara, California. But how does the Internet based online learning classroom or environment work? In the University of the Pacific approach, a class of perhaps students goes through together as cohorts, or a learning team. University of the Pacific uses a learning platform or App known as Sakai. Let s hear what Bob Bechill, Associate Director for Training and Programs at the University of the Pacific Center for Professional and Continuing Education has to say about the learning experience for students taking the course. Cohort learning means you start with a group and finish with a group. You and your fellow students will eventually form as a team as you go through the program. Not only are you learning from the instructor and from the material, but you will learn from each other. It is a very powerful way to learn. Within Sakai you can go into discussion groups. It s basically an online chat. You can do it real time, or you can do it where you post a comment. If you are talking about the boarding schools or other topics, someone might post a comment. That evening, another student would get on, read the post, and they would post a comment. So you can have a running dialog that occurs. You don t have to be on the program at the same time. It s a very powerful way to learn because you are exchanging ideas. You can also go into a private chat room to discuss material. It s kind of like Facebook on steroids. When you complete the course you get a certificate and 14 credits. But just what does having this certificate mean? Bob Bechill again: This is going to result in a certificate but it is not a certification program. Those are two completely different terms. The certificate proves that you took the 7 classes from the University of the Pacific. A certification would basically say you have the certificate and you are also certified in, and by, the state to practice as a substance abuse counselor. This course presents a body of knowledge for of the Wellbriety approach but it is not a certification program for you to be a substance counselor where you are located. You have to certified by your state or province. This new program is going to open a lot of possibilities. For example, at White Bison we are in the process of beginning to certify substance abuse treatment centers in the Wellbriety approach. A certificate in the Wellbriety Certificate Program could be the starting point for a new Wellbriety capability in treatment centers all around the US and Canada. The Program will provide some of the Native American cultural knowledge counselors need to present substance abuse counseling in a way that is culturally-appropriate for Native Americans. It will also prepare counselors, and others, to participate in some of the specific recovery and healing training programs offered by the Wellbriety Training Institute in Colorado Springs. Visit to learn more about these. Are you interested in this exciting new rising star in substance abuse recovery, healing and prevention education? The easiest way to make contact and get more information is to visit the University of the Pacific web page for the Native American Welbriety Certificate Program at: Education/Native-American-Wellbriety-Certificate-Program.html 4 info@whitebison.org phone: (877) web: Wellbriety!

5 Check out To Apply and Additional Information located at the bottom of the page and click on the links you find there. Or you can contact Kateri Vergez at White Bison, or Bob Bechill at the University of the Pacific to get started: Kateri Vergez: or Bob Bechill: or At this time, we are negotiating to offer Continuing Education Units (CEU s) as well as undergraduate college credits for the certificate program. We will announce the availability of CEU s as soon as this is possible. The Wellbriety Movement offers a teaching that says when a community is ready for healing, a cloud will come over the community and its rain will be the Wellbriety teachings needed by that particular community. Today we hear the vast interconnected network of the world wide web referred to as the cloud. Covering all of North America, and the world, The Native American Wellbriety Certificate Program could be rain from that cloud. As we get closer to the September 6 start date for the new program, Wellbriety Online Magazine will present a more in-depth look at the curriculum of the seven classes. So keep coming back to learn more as the months to September wind down. Richard Simonelli, Editor Wellbriety Online Magazine Enter the Gate info@whitebison.org phone: (877) web: Wellbriety!

6 A message from George Feicht, Director of the Substance Abuse Counselor Certificate Program for the University of the Pacific, and member of the White Bison, Inc. Board of Directors. T he University of the Pacific has a goal of reaching out to the greater community to provide specific programs that are directed at communityfocused needs. The student population of the University comes from many of the States in the United States. The original Substance Abuse Counselor Certificate Program was developed in 1985 to meet the need of providing educational opportunities in the areas of alcohol and other drug abuse issues, from prevention to treatment, to those interested in providing counseling to this population. When I became a Board Member of White Bison in 1993, I began to understand the issues of the Native American population as they related to substance abuse use and addiction. The Wellbriety Certificate Program provides the understanding of the special needs of the Native American Population for those working with Native Americans. California, as well as other States, has a significant population of Native Americans. The Program meets the goal of the University in reaching out to the greater community, and provides the understanding needed to work with this population. I believe the Native American Wellbriety Program provides non-native American counselors with a better understanding of Native American Culture, and enhances both the counseling skills of individuals to work more effectively with Native Americans, and increase treatment outcome for those who need help with addictions. With the increased understanding of trauma and its effects on human development, we should begin to look at more effective treatment for this population as well. This program accomplishes that. 6 info@whitebison.org phone: (877) web: Wellbriety!

7 A message from Don Coyhis, Mohican Nation, Founder of White Bison, Inc. and the Wellbriety Movement W e are excited to partner with the University of the Pacific in this new online course. I think the Western model has never given any significance to using cultural knowledge in terms of healing. The four directions of human growth are Emotional, Mental, Physical, Spiritual. I believe each culture has its own version of cultural knowledge that works for them. So this new program brings Native Spirituality to the Western Model to complete the Emotional, Mental and Physical understandings for Native Americans. I don t believe that has been honored in the development of the Western science approach to addictions and counseling. This allows two things. First, this allows a sustainable system because the Wellbriety teachings will be ongoing as a very formal education process through the University of the Pacific program. Number two, I think it will help the non-native people who love to work in Native communities. It will help build that bond because they will have an understanding of the basic cultural Wellbriety principles that will make them more effective in their work. I think this new program brings balance between the science world and the Native world, where addictions recovery approaches are concerned. This new program will be an online course that will especially reach the small Native communities that are far, far away and in the past would never have a chance to have access to that information. This course allows us to use the web and the net to interconnect the villages in Alaska, Canada and the remainder of the US. It will level the playing field for remote, rural areas and help with the creation of Wellbriety certified treatment centers. We are actively working to create the first Wellbriety Treatment Center in the U.S. One of the options that the new Wellbriety Treatment Centers will have is to send their counseling people through the University of the Pacific course. This will help counselors understand the unique cultural needs Native people have in order to be successful in recovery programs. Then, as an organization they can further pursue accreditation as a Wellbriety Treatment Center through White Bison, Inc. Having certification as a Wellbriety Treatment Center from White Bison will help to increase the clientele of a treatment center so we feel it will take a Center forward. 7 info@whitebison.org phone: (877) web: Wellbriety!

8 W e are honored to hear some words by Firestarter Terry Begay about the one-year-old Firestarters Circle he and his wife facilitate in the Sioux City, Iowa area. We, at White Bison, on behalf of the Wellbriety Movement send prayers to Terry s group for ongoing success in bringing the Medicine Wheel and the 12 Steps way of sobriety and recovery to the region. We also thank Terry and his group for sharing with us the Four Directions Prayer they use in their Circles. We encourage other Firestarters groups to send stories like Terry s to Wellbriety Magazine so that others may be heartened to start Firestarters Circles in their communities and sobriety may grow. Thanks Terry! I The Medicine Wheel and a Personal Path to Recovery Our Firestarter s Group in Sioux City, Iowa By Terry Begay went to training for "The Medicine Wheel & 12 Steps" program in Red Lake, MN in July of 2009 because I wanted a program for Native Americans in the Sioux City, Iowa area who wanted to seek sober life. This program was started by Don Coyhis for White Bison in the 1990 s. I felt Don Coyhis' White Bison program would benefit the community and I believe it comes closest to bringing awareness of our cultural ways. I met with a group of Native Americans and non-indians in the community who were interested in helping get this program started. In March of 2010 we held the first meeting and received some positive feedback from the people involved. We hold meetings every Wednesday morning at 9:00 am at the Fellowship Club at 1403 Summit Street in Sioux City, Iowa for one hour because this was the time allowed for use of the building. Since we are not a non-profit group, we cannot afford to pay for the building to hold these meetings and it takes us longer to complete the program. We start the meetings by smudging the room. After smudging the room, I smudge everyone who wishes to be smudged. Then we start with an opening prayer and a reading from the daily meditation book from White Bison (Meditations With Native American Elders: The Four Seasons, by Don L. Coyhis). We view the DVD's from the Medicine Wheel and the 12 Steps Program and have a discussion about what we watched on the videos. We allow people in the group to share their thoughts and the issues of their daily life with the group in our Talking Circle. We close with a prayer. 8 info@whitebison.org phone: (877) web: Wellbriety!

9 I am a retired correctional officer from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons with over 20 years of service. I was born in Rapid City, South Dakota to Johnson Begay (Navajo) and Dorothy White Hawk (Rosebud Sioux). I served in the US Army for 3 years. My own family, including myself, had trouble with alcohol and drugs. I have witnessed alcohol abuse by my father growing up and my mother also went through the same problems as my father. I did quit on my own from using alcohol. In forming this Firestarters group, lots of barriers came up. People told me starting the program would not work because of lack of Native American involvement. But without trying, I would not know if this program of the "Medicine Wheel and 12 Steps" would work. If I failed to start this program I would never know if it was possible. Now our group is just over one year old. The weekly meetings are still taking place on Wednesday from 9:00am to 10:00am. We have anywhere from 7 to 10 people attending the meetings. We are working hard to keep this program going in Sioux City and invite newcomers to take part. We are also looking for funding for this program so we might attend more training with the White Bison programs and send some the people in the group to training. I really enjoy doing this program and bringing new information to the group about the way our people took pride in our way of life. Please contact me at: terryb@premieronline.net, call (712) , or just come to the Fellowship Club at 1403 Summit Street in Sioux City, Iowa at 9:00 am Wednesdays if you would like to take part. My mailing address is: Terry Begay, 125 West Cedar Street, Hinton, Iowa We look forward to seeing you. Four Directions Prayer Creator, it is I. Thank you for today's sunrise, for the breath and life within me, and for all of your creations. Creator, hear my prayer, and honor my prayer. As the day begins with the rising sun, I ask, Spirit keeper of the East, Brother Eagle, be with me. Fly high as you carry my prayers to the Creator. May I have eyes as sharp as yours, so I am able to see truth and hope on the path I have chosen. Guide my step and give me courage to walk the circle of my life with honesty and dignity. 9 info@whitebison.org phone: (877) web: Wellbriety!

10 Spirit keeper of the South, Wolf, be with me. Help me to remember to love and feel compassion for all mankind. Help me to walk my path with joy and love for myself, for others, for the four legged, the winged ones, the plants and all creation upon Mother Earth. Show me it is right for me to make decisions with my heart, even if at times, my heart becomes hurt. Help me to grow and nurture my self worth in all ways. Spirit keeper of the West, Brown Bear, be with me. Bring healing to the people I love and to myself. Bring into balance the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual, so I am able to know my place on this earth, in life and in death. Heal my body, heal my mind and bring light, joy and awareness to my spirit. Spirit keeper of the North, White Buffalo, be with me. As each day passes, help me to surrender, with grace, the things of my youth. Help me to listen to the quiet, and find serenity and comfort in the silences as they become longer. Give me wisdom so I am able to make wise choices in all things which are put in front of me, And when time for my change of worlds has come, let me go peacefully, without regrets, for the things I neglected to do as I walked along my path. Mother Earth, thank you for your beauty, and for all you have given me. Remind me never to take from you more than I need, and remind me to always give back more than I take info@whitebison.org phone: (877) web: Wellbriety!