Terry A. Greendeer Behavioral Health Wing Dedication Scholarship

I plan to use my education to help my community by raising awareness. I think it is extremely important to raise awareness because mental health is highly stigmatized on reservations. I want to raise awareness so people can know about the negative effects mental health can have in a community. Many people don't want to talk about mental health, suicide, and depression because they think that talking about it will make it happen. I have previously talked about how suicide and depression can affect a reservation. I try my best to raise awareness when I can because I have depression. I have been told that it isn't real, I don't have it, I'm too young to have depression and more. I was told all of this by my own family even though they knew people who have lost their life to suicide. I want people to know that they aren't alone when it comes to having depression. I know that different programs in Winnebago help the community but by raising awareness, we may also be able to help surrounding reservations and create safer environments. I know that it would be extremely helpful because, to be honest, my mom and I had a hard time finding me a therapist at IHS. One of the biggest reasons is that no one would be able to answer the phone. When I did go to therapy there, I didn't feel comfortable with my therapist because she didn't want to talk about what I wanted to, she never made me feel like it was a safe environment. That is one of the reasons I want to become a child therapist. I want to be a child therapist because I want to help people with their mental health and how to overcome it. I know that I could become a child therapist and get away from the reservation like many people want to do, but I don't want to do that. I want to give back to my community and help those around me. I want to help people because it makes me feel good and I don't want anyone to feel like I did. They deserve a chance just as much as anyone else. Many people don't take indigenous people and their mental health seriously because of statistics and the stigma. My mom told me to help break the stigma and raise awareness and that's what I want to do. Indigenous people deserve the same chance that other people do. We, as a community need to talk about and stop treating it like it isn't something we should talk about. I understand that it may be a sensitive topic, but more people would feel comfortable reaching out and asking for help when they know that it is completely normal to feel the way they do. It isn't something that can be easily controlled. I understand what they go through and I want to help and show people that they aren't alone. I'll do that by starting with my community and hope to make a change.

Being Native American in today’s world can come with many struggles. From the many statistics placed on us, generational trauma, and living in two different worlds, there is a lot for younger generations to overcome. I am from the Te’Moak Western Shoshone tribe and was raised in a very traditional home while living in the city and traveling to the reservation for everything cultural. I played rez ball for eight years, am a part of the Nevada Native American Youth Council, where I have been able to advocate for many things, such as MMIW and cultural appropriation, and am also a jingle dancer. Seeing life on the reservation versus life in the city throughout my life allowed me to understand the struggles of both. My mom was brought up as a ward of Te’Moak, per ICWA, which allowed me to understand the importance of being raised within our culture among our youth and the mental health struggles that come from being in the system. Mental health has always been significant to me. I am currently double majoring in psychology and social work with the goal of intertwining my cultural traditions and beliefs with my degrees. I want to become a licensed clinical social worker, working with my people to make a difference for our youth. I want to be able to make a difference by helping Native youth be able to receive the mental health help they need while also being able to tie in our culture. Seeing a non-indigenous social worker can be challenging as they do not understand us on the same level. I want to be able to advocate for our youth and make a difference. In the future, I would like to be able to start a program for Native youth to provide them with a place to receive mental health help, resources and necessities, and also knowledge of our culture. Teach about our medicines, language, stories, traditions, and history. I would like to tie all of this in with mental health, with the most significant focus being our youth having a safe place to express their emotions and receive guidance. Overall I want to be able to make a difference for our people as a whole. It is very important to be understood and have someone to relate to and talk to that understands where you are coming from. No one truly understands us and our situations more than we do with each other. With not many Native Americans in the line of work to be social workers and psychologists I want to be able to use my culture with my career to make a difference for our youth and be an advocate for our people. By receiving my education and going into the career that I have chosen I am going to be able to make a difference for others and reach all of my dreams as well as be a role model for our youth.