Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart, PhD, Oglala and Hunkpapa Lakota
Dr. Brave Heart brings to the film decades of research, experience and professional recognition in the areas of historical trauma and intergenerational grief theory. In 1992, she founded the Takini Network, a Native non-profit organization devoted to community healing from intergenerational massive group trauma among Native Peoples. Her award-winning program helps free parents, children and individuals caught in the grip of historical traumatic stress and its legacy.
Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart received her Master’s degree from Columbia University School of Social Work in 1976 and her Ph.D. in Clinical Social Work from Smith College in 1995. She is currently Associate Professor of Social Work at Columbia University. Dr. Brave Heart’s historical trauma and unresolved grief intervention was recognized as an exemplary model in a special minority Center for Mental Health Services grant award for Lakota Regional Community Action Grant Historical Trauma in 2001. She directed the Models for Indigenous Survivors of Historical Trauma: A Multicultural Dialogue Among Allies Conference from 2001-2004 and has been a member and repeat conference presenter for the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. Dr. Brave Heart has also served on the Board of Directors for the Council on Social Work Education and as a consultant to the National Indian Country Child Trauma Center.
Ann Bullock, MD, Minnesota Chippewa
Diabetes is at epidemic levels in Native American communities and research shows a direct connection to stress and trauma. Dr. Ann Bullock speaks to the crisis of diabetes and its’ related complications and manifestations and the ways in which it is being successfully addressed, and also ways even greater improvement could be realized.
She will share with us Cherokee Choices, the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indian’s program that works with 4th, 5th and 6th grader students in the Cherokee Elementary School. Cherokee Choices is a community-based participatory approach that has prompted strong community involvement and earned respect from community members. As a result, community members have expressed interest in using the same techniques to deal with other local health issues.
Now that community members have seen positive changes in their children and their co-workers, they are learning that a diabetes diagnosis is not inevitable. The philosophy that underlies the Cherokee Choices program is that conducting multiple activities at the same time can bring about community and system changes.
Dr. Ann Bullock, medical director of the health and medical division of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, has been a member of the Cherokee Indian Hospital medical staff since 1990. She oversees the medical components of the Health and Medical Division and has direct responsibility for a number of medical programs, including the Cherokee Diabetes Program, Cherokee Choices, the Wound Care Treatment and Prevention Program, the Cherokee Women’s Wellness Center, and the Qualla Youth Health Center. Dr. Bullock was educated at Brown University, received her Medical Degree at the University of Washington, and did her Family Medicine Residency at the University of Minnesota.
Leonard Little Finger, Lakota
A respected elder, Leonard Little Finger is well known for his Lakota expertise and promotion of Native American rights. He is the Founder/Director of a private Lakota language school, Sacred Hoop School-Cangleska Wakan Owayawa, teaching in total immersion utilizing Montesorri Education. The school is dedicated to his grandfather, a survivor of the Wounded Knee Creek Massacre of 1890.
He served as a Cultural Resource Specialist at Loneman School in Oglala, for 11 years. Under his leadership, the Lakota Studies program developed into one the most progressive Indian Studies program in Indian country. Prior to this position, Little Finger was the CEO of the Pine Ridge Indian Health Service Hospital, retiring after 28 years of service for the people of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
He founded a multi-year organic gardening student exchange program between Oglala Lakota College and University of Bonn, Germany. He was selected as Teacher of the Year 2000 by the South Dakota Bilingual Education Association, and has served as President of the Red Cloud Indian School Board of Directors.
Little Finger is a recognized public speaker. He has been twice a representative and presenter to the United Nations Draft Declaration for the rights of Indigenous Peoples in Geneva, Switzerland. He also spoken at Bundestag (German Parliament) in Bonn, Germany, and at the World Parks Conference in Durbin, South Africa.
His work today is to elevate through speaking and writings of an understanding of the culture, history, spiritual beliefs, language and inherent rights of the Lakota, The People of the Seven Council Fires, Oceti Sakowin Oyate. In May,2011, Leonard will be conferred with an honorary Doctorate in Humanities, in recognition for his lifelong work to preserve his culture and language. This event will be in conjunction with his delivering the commencement address at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati, Ohio.
McClellan Hall, MA, Cherokee
McClellan Hall is the founder and Executive Director of the National Indian Youth Leadership Project. Mr. Hall has nearly 35 years experience in youth development, as a teacher, principal of two tribal schools and has been the driving force behind NIYLP for over 25 years.
Mr. Hall is a graduate of the Native American Teacher Education Program at the University of Washington and later completed his Masters degree at Arizona State University. He has written extensively on youth development, leadership, service learning and peacemaking and co-authored a book entitled Wisdom Teachings: Lessons Learned from Gatherings of Elders, published in 2005. His articles have been published in Kappan, Journal of Experiential Education, Journal of Navajo Studies, and New Designs for Youth and Reclaiming Youth. is the developer of the Project Venture program. Mr. Hall is the recipient of the Kurt Hahn Award, named for the founder of Outward Bound, the Spirit of Crazy Horse Award, the E-Town Achievement Award from National Public Radio and NIYLP’s Project Venture has been recognized with the Exemplary, Effective, Promising and Model Program Awards.
In 2007, Mac was recognized with the Trailblazer Award, for his work in building the Service Learning movement in the United States. In 2008, the National Youth Leadership Council and the National Service Learning Conference with one of the Founder’s Awards recognized him. Mac is a member of the Expert Panel on Prevention for the newly established Native American Center for Excellence.
Birgil Kills Straight, Oglala Lakota
Birgil Kills Straight shares his experiences with revitalizing the Oglala culture and traditions. He is a traditional leader who works closely with Dr. Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart in dealing with historical trauma and intergenerational grief, the root causes of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual problems among Indian people. Mr. Kills Straight speaks to Native people’s connection to spirit, specifically, to his own tradition, the Lakota Medicine Wheel.
Mr. Kills Straight is a traditional leader from Pine Ridge, South Dakota. A former educator who has long been involved in spiritual work, including the 1986-1990 horseback journeys to Wounded Knee known as the Big Foot Ride. He is the co-founder of the Indigenous Law Institute and has presented at the Human Rights hearing at the United Nations. Mr. Kills Straight has long served as a representative of the traditional government.
Donald Warne, MD, MPH, Oglala Lakota
Dr. Warne, raised on the Pine Ridge reservation and educated at Stanford and Harvard, brings to the film his extensive experience and perspective as a healer in both traditional and western medicine. He speaks to the ways in which each of these approaches to healing can be illuminated by the Medicine Wheel and its emphasis on wholeness as the greatest indication of healing. Dr. Warne will also address the United States governments trust responsibility to the American Indians and how they are the only minority promised free and adequate healthcare as stated in the constitution. Sadly, this responsibility is far from being met—resulting in unparalleled and unnecessary suffering amongst the original inhabitants of this land.
Watch Donald Warne on the recent PBS series Unnatural Causes discuss health disparities among the Tohono O'odham people of Arizona.
Dr. Warne is an adjunct clinical professor at the Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law where he teaches American Indian Health Policy and is assisting in the creation of an American Indian Policy Center. He received his MD from Stanford University in 1995 and his Master of Public Health from Harvard University with a focus on health policy in 2002. He is a Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE), and a Diplomat of both the American Board of Family Practice and the American Board of Medical Acupuncture. He has completed fellowships in Alternative Medicine from the Arizona Center for Health and Medicine and in Minority Health Policy from Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Warne is also the Medical Director of the Aberdeen Area Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board in Aberdeen, South Dakota, as well former President of the Board of the Native American Community Health Center, Inc, and President and CEO of the American Indian Health Management & Policy, Inc.
He is a former member of the Advisory Council on Indian Health Care in the State of Arizona and former Chair of the Traditional Cultural Advocacy Committee at the Phoenix Indian Medical Center. He was awarded the 1997 Walter Brazie, MD Award as Arizona’s Outstanding Family Practice Resident from Arizona Academy of Family Physicians; the Dr. Fang Ching Sun Memorial Award for Commitment to Underserved Communities from Harvard School of Public Health; and the Phoenix Area Impact Award from the National Indian Health Board.
