Promise West

AIS 301W-002
Grant Draft
November 17, 2019

1. Problem Statement
Mental Health is an issue that impacts every community in the United States. As of 2018, data
illustrates that, “19% of U.S. adults experienced mental illness” which is an approximate 47.6
million peope. Suicide is also he second leading cause of death for people in the United States
age group of 10-34.( NAMI ). Although mental health is an issue that the population as a whole
is impacted by. American Indian and Alaskan Natives show a disproportionately higher rate of
mental health issues than any other group in the United States. 21% of American Indian/Alaskan
Natives eighteen and up reported mental illness in 2013, compared to 17.9% of the general
population experiencing mental health related issues. Alarmingly, suicide was the leading cause
of death for American Indian/Alaskan Native girls between the ages of and 10 and 14. Futher for
girls ages 15 and 19, suicide rates were occuring at four times the rate of other groups. (MHD:
AI/AN).

2. Background Literature
Background Information
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK44242/
For Native American/Alaskan Native communities, mental health is rooted in the colonization
and “discovery” of their Native homelands. Colonization did not just migrate people to the
United States, but it migrated alcohol, genocide, boarding schools, war, sexual violence and
much more. For hundreds of years, these communities have suffered generational trauma and
continuous impacts from this history.

https://store.samhsa.gov/system/files/pep16-ntbh-agenda.pdf
The Tribal Behavioral Health Agenda explains many of the factors that lead to mental health
issues in Native American communities, as well as addressing how to challenge the existing
systems of handling mental health. Some personal opinion quotes that stood out were the fact
that there are, “long waiting lists to see a provider” and that there are “providers who have little
understanding of historical and traditional practices.” Both of these personal statements
emphasive the need for trained, availible help for the community that understand who the people
are.

https://www.integration.samhsa.gov/workforce/mental_health_disparities_american_indian_and
_alaskan_natives.pdf
This article provides many statistics that back up the claim of disproportionate rates of mental
illness in Native American communities, in comparison to their counterparts. Further, the study
highlights the factors that influence mental health. One section goes into detail about traditional
healing and the difference between traditional and the standard way of “addressing” mental
health.

Traditional healing
https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/humanitiesinstitute/news/the-native-american-post-colonization-hea
lth-crisis-indigenous-healing-and-the-research-of-joseph-gone
The community being served must have adequate resources based off of individual beliefs both
spiritually and culturally. There are nearly 600 federally recognized nations in the United States
and they all have different cultures, languages, and traditions. Simply grouping all of the nations
into one and using methods catered to non-Indigenous ways of living is not an appropriate way
to approach the mental health issues in these communities. According to a needs evaluation, “90
percent of Detroit-located ative Americans were interested in receiving traditional healing.” With
our nations fighting for sovereignty and self-governance, this control is wanted and needed
nation-wide. Implementing programs designed to specifically address the community will not
only give this power back to the people, but can help with the decline of the high rates of mental
illness.

http://www.mdac.org/en/books/6a-traditional-healing-and-mental-health
This article addresses a study conducted in Africa in regards to traditional healing and mental
health. It is important to analyze existing methods of traditional healing and their impacts on
their communities. Many cultural, religious and traditional factors are discussed, which relate to
the American Indian values.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3150106/
This study analyzes the outomes of traditional healing practices for mentally ill patients in Jinja
and Iganga, Africa. The results suppport that traditional healing methods are often requested over
the mainstream, as well as positive success rate. It was noted that out of the twelve patients that
were seen in one study, ten claimed to have been healed.

Program Aims/Goals:
Goal: The goal of the program is to implement traditional healing methods within Native
American communities, in order to reduce mental health rates and risk.

Objectives: By the end of two years, the program will be evaluated and expected to support the
claim that traditional healing methods are more effective than the current system of treating
mental health. This will be analyzed comparing the National statistics of past years mental health
rates with the future rates collected.

There will also be research conducted for individual communities to address individual needs
and statistics.

3. Budget and Budget Statement

Personnel Program Manager $40,000

Assitant Manager $35,000

Traditional Healers $30,000

(x3)

Traditional Methods Ex: drums, plants, $2,000

eagle feathers

Location Sweet Lodge (other $0

traditional places of
heaing)

Transportation Punch Pass $750

Office Supplies Pens, paper, files, $3,397.50

computer,

Office Location Rent by Month $21,600

Total $132,747.50

Personnel
*all personnel hired will be members of the nation with the proper background and/or education
The program manager will be paid the upper end of $40,000 for the year.
The Assitant Manager will be paid around $35,000, as their work-load and responisibilities are
less than the managers.
Traditional Healers will be in charge of the actual healing process. They are not required to have
a dgree because there are no degrees for the kowledge and methods they will use. Healers are
expected to make $30,000 for the year.
Traditional Methods
An accurate price for this section is difficult to provide, as the tools necessary for traditional
healing are generally passed down by the generations. This area leaves room to access items that
are not able to be provided by tribal members.
Location
The location will be at no cost to the program through partnership with the nation.
Transportation
Each member that needs help with transportation will be given a 20 ride punch card (@ $25 per
card). This will help keep track of sessions each member attends, while not wasting money on
those who choose not to particiate.
Office Supplies
There will need to be a laptop (Apple Surface Laptop 3 @ $1,999), pens (BIC 36 ct. @ $8.49),
paper (Staples @ $6.29), 4 case files (Staples Vertical Case Files @ $15.99), phone (AT&T
2-Line @ $61.99), phone/internet service (AT&T 1 year @ 109.98).
Office Location
A 900 sq ft office space for the program (12 months @ $2 dollars per sq ft).

(There was no specific number for how much the funder will give but the funder has offered up
to 400,000 for a single grant.)