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Dr. Michelle Kahn-John Navajo (Diné) Nation, Big Water Clan (Tó’tsohnii)
PhD, MS, BS, RN
Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, United States of America

 

Aaniiih and Nakoda Youth Describe Psychosocial Impacts of Settler-Colonialism and Suggest Targeted Solutions. 

Kahn-John, M., Richardson, M., Stiffarm, A., Werk, A., Brockie, T.
15-minute oral presentation
Wednesday 11 December, 11:00am

Purpose: The Fort Belknap Reservation in Northern Montana, USA, experienced a youth suicide cluster in 2019. Tribal leaders declared a state of emergency and prioritized a multilevel strategy to understand, address, and prevent youth suicide.

 

Methods: Johns Hopkins School of Nursing partnered with the Fort Belknap community in conducting a mixed-methods study on understanding youth (ages 14-24) perceptions on risk, protective factors and postvention solutions for youth suicide. Focus groups and individual interviews were conducted and analyzed and resulted in four themes.

 

Results: Overall study themes include (1) Strong for a reason: A holistic Youth Experiences, (2) Honor the Truth: The impact of Settler-Colonialism and Risk, (3) Fractured Trust, Relationality and Kinship, (4) Culturally rooted pathways of living, healing, and collectively rebuilding beyond grief.  Findings from theme two, Honor the Truth are presented and outline youth perceptions of settler colonial impacts on the mental health of Indigenous youth.

 

Conclusions: Indigenous youth describe experiences, perceptions, postvention solutions and suggest targeted intervention strategies to achieve collective healing post impacts of settler colonialism. Despite immense strength, Aaniiih and Nakoda youth remain at risk for suicide and require culturally safe integrated and targeted mental health interventions to mitigate the psychosocial impacts of settler-colonialism.

© 2024 INHRE Summit @ Auckland University of Technology

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