People in minority groups with mental health disorders and/or substance use disorders (SUDs) often resist reaching out for support. This might be because they feel unsafe and fear they’ll find a lack of meaningful support. Unfortunately, this resistance to seek help leads people in minority groups to experience further hardships in their lives, which can even be fatal. The Native American population is one group that often suffers in this way.
While this reluctance is understandable, it is important for minorities to seek help to recover from mental health problems and SUDs. At Roots Recovery, a caring and compassionate team works to include and treat Native American clients equally. Roots’ staff is specifically trained to tend to the Native American community and treat them as important, valid, and honored. To provide optimal service to this community, Roots Recovery incorporates the wellbriety program into their recovery and mental healthcare plans.
What Is Wellbriety?
Wellbriety is a recovery and mental health program that uses culture-based training, tools, and resources for the Native American community. The word wellbriety means “sober and well.” The program was created by White Bison and is implemented into care plans for American Indian and Alaska Native communities in North America. Wellbriety combines modern therapy and treatment that emphasizes cultural and ethnic strengths.
The program was designed specifically to foster meaningful healing within this cultural group. The aim is to teach that achieving sobriety can help not just the individual but also their families and communities. Wellbriety is designed to inspire individuals to persist beyond recovery and sobriety and commit to a healthy lifestyle and sense of wellness every day. The goal of the program is to promote wellness and sobriety in the next seven generations.
A Place to Find Community
The wellbriety program can be implemented alongside a variety of other programs and treatments, including youth programs and family programs. All of these programs help build a supportive community and teach those involved about the root cause of one’s SUD or mental health disorder.
Through this, people develop a greater understanding, allowing them to recover and heal in a healthy, supportive environment. Meditations and group therapy meetings are also incorporated into wellbriety. In group meetings, Native Americans struggling with SUDs and mental health challenges can find a community among each other.
Wellbriety serves the important purpose of creating a supportive community for Native Americans. This support system is important for any minority group. The opportunity to join this community helps Native Americans feel comfortable and safe in seeking care treatment.
Wellbriety at Roots Recovery
Roots uses the wellbriety program to support healing and recovery from SUDs, mental health disorders, and intergenerational trauma. The Roots staff also encourages members of the Native American community to develop leadership skills and grow a supportive community along the way.
Roots utilizes the three phases of treatment prescribed by the wellbriety model. These include the mending broken hearts program, the medicine wheel and 12-Step programs (which are lumped together), and the warrior down/recovery coach program.
- The mending broken hearts phase of treatment helps individuals heal from grief, loss, and intergenerational trauma.
- The medicine wheel and 12-Step program (which is all one name) incorporates Native American culture into a 12-Step program. This includes teachings of the medicine wheel, the cycle of life, and the four laws of change.
- The warrior down/recovery coach program provides a relapse prevention support system for those in treatment. This program helps clients return to their community with these methods of wellbriety. They can then grow the support system among Native Americans.
How Does Roots Recovery Care for the Native American Community?
Roots Recovery emphasizes the importance of the journey. The focus is not solely on one’s disorder but on helping the client heal as a whole. In taking the whole-person approach to care, therapies and treatments that stray from traditional methods help clients heal their minds, bodies, and spirits. Spiritual exploration, mindfulness, and meditation are incorporated into one’s healing and recovery journey to heal the client’s relationship with themselves. For those of the Native American community, coping with stigma or intergenerational trauma is vital to addressing mental health.
The staff at Roots Recovery understands the history, experiences, and norms of the Native American community. Roots Recovery approaches Native American care through a trauma-informed lens, focusing specifically on culture-specific treatment. Each client’s treatment plan is personalized, incorporating wellbriety into one’s group therapies, individual therapies, psychoeducational, and case management. The team at Roots helps clients build resilience and knowledge. This helps clients heal from the past in order to manifest a prosperous life while also encouraging other members of their community to recover and heal.
A supportive community is emphasized at Roots Recovery. With the Roots integrative care model, the Native American community can find comfort in knowing their culture and norms are understood. They can know they are not forgotten about and find others who share their desire to heal and prosper.
At Roots Recovery, we incorporate wellbriety into our personalized programs for those of the Native American community. Our approach to wellbriety includes the mending broken hearts program, the medicine wheel and 12-Step program, and the warrior down/recovery coach program. We also train our team members in understanding the history, experiences, and norms of the Native American community in order to provide the best care for our clients. The wellbriety program, designed by White Bison, uses cultural-based principles and teachings to help Native Americans on their recovery and healing journeys. Wellbriety also creates a supportive community of Native Americans to encourage members of their community to reach out and seek support. To learn more about wellbriety at Roots, call (562) 473-0827.
