PHASE III SUMMARY (March 2013 – Jan 2017)
The focus of the third phase of the Healing of the Canoe project was to disseminate the previously developed and evaluated curricula to other tribal communities and organizations. The process was guided by theory-grounded dissemination and implementation approaches and models of diffusion of innovations. The following is a summary of the work that the Healing of the Canoe Project completed during Phase III of the project, which was a collaborative project between the Suquamish Tribe and the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe and ADAI:
- Implemented the curricula again in Suquamish and Port Gamble S’Klallam, however in different agencies from those in which they were developed. The Holding Up Our Youth curriculum, originally developed within the Wellness Program, was implemented in the Suquamish Sports and Recreation Program which includes all cultural activities in the community. The curriculum was also taught as a regular class at Chief Kitsap Academy, the Suquamish Tribal high school (it continues to be offered as an ongoing class). The Navigating Life the S’Klallam Way curriculum, originally developed in the Youth Program, was implemented in the Port Gamble S’Klallam Wellness Program as part of a behavioral health intervention.
- Assisted a new partnering community, the Makah Tribe, in adapting and implementing the curriculum as a component of their Canoe Family Program. The curriculum provided community members with building blocks they can use as they build a healthier and happier future for their youth. The Tribe has dedicated grant funding through 2021 to specifically use the HOC building blocks as part of a larger project to build a comprehensive, community-driven Makah tribal-centric approach to behavioral health prevention, treatment and recovery that uses both lessons from the past, as well as information and resources of the present, to guide the community into the future.
- Made a broad dissemination effort beyond these three targeted Tribes to make other communities aware of the curricula. These included the use of social media and other methods (e.g., Facebook, listservs of tribes and tribal organizations, digital stories, presentations at meetings of American Indian/Alaska Native professional organizations, article in tribal newspapers and blogs).
- Offered workshops for 291 people from 42 AIAN Tribes and 12 tribal organizations to train them to identify the key concerns and strengths in their community, adapt the HOC curriculum for their specific cultural strengths and teachings, and implement the curriculum in their own communities. Three HOC hosted training workshops were held in 2014, three were held in 2015, and two in 2016. We also provided six additional training workshops in tribal communities, by invitation (including trainings for the three targeted Tribes). A number of Tribes (including Makah, Cowlitz and Puyallup) have since received grant funding to implement the curriculum in their communities.
- Created two new curriculum chapters in collaboration with the THRIVE project, housed at the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board in Oregon state. These chapters focus on suicide prevention and intervention. THRIVE has a small grant to support three Tribes in implementing the curriculum with the two new chapters, allowing us to gather input/feedback and further refine and revise content.
- Provided three booster workshops for previous trainees, to let them know about updates to the materials and generally refresh them on the curriculum implementation and adaptation process.
- Training workshops were all held in tribal-owned/operated facilities.
- Provided ongoing technical assistance and consultation to tribal communities and organizations that were trained in the adaptation, implementation, and use of the curricula.
- Developed and facilitated peer support networks so that trained individuals could provide assistance to peers in other communities and agencies, a means by which the process could become self-sustaining.
- Evaluated the effectiveness of our outreach and dissemination efforts, as well as the success of the training workshops.