# Building Cultures of Recovery in Tribal Communities

> **NIH NIH S06** · HEALING LODGE OF THE SEVEN NATIONS · 2021 · $638,066

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY 
  The  Healing  Lodge  of  the  Seven  Nations  (HL)  is  a  Native  American  youth  residential  chemical dependency  treatment  center.  Youth  come  to  the  Healing  Lodge  from  tribal  communities  including  the  Coeur d’Alene Tribe, the Kootenai Tribe, the Nez Perce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, the Kalispel Tribe of Indians, the Spokane Tribe of Indians, and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation. We refer to these communities as the seven HL tribal affiliates. Recognizing the lack of programmatic research regarding best practices for supporting adolescents’ recovery within tribal nations, HL has developed a research partnership  with  the  Division  on  Addiction,  Cambridge  Health  Alliance,  a  Harvard  Medical  School  teaching hospital  (the  Division).  This  partnership  is  the  Center  for  Indigenous  Research,  Collaboration,  Learning,  and Excellence  (CIRCLE).  As  part  of  CIRCLE’s  NARCH  VIII  program,  Promoting  Cultures  of  Recovery  in  Tribal Communities, we worked with and learned from these seven tribal nations. We conducted strengths and needs assessments to learn how communities seek to support their youth in recovery from substance use disorders. The  proposed  NARCH  X  program  is  a  logical  extension  of  this  work.  The  proposed  program  will  use  a  Tribal Participatory  Program  Development  approach  to  build  a  mental  health  first  response  system  grounded  in indigenous  values,  strengths,  and  needs.  We  anticipate  that  our  system  of  care,  tentatively  titled,  x̌aʔtus (pronounced  hah-­toos;;  i.e.,  First  Face),  will  equip  community  members  to  serve  as  a  bridge  between  youth  in need  and  professional  healthcare.  Anyone  in  the  tribal  community  will  be  able  to  use  First  Face  to  support  a young person struggling with mental health problems or crises. This system will be particularly helpful for youth in  recovery  from  substance  use  disorders  (SUDs).  Moreover,  it  will  help  prevent  the  development  of  SUDs  by supporting young people who are especially at risk for SUDs due to mental health concerns. After developing this system of care, we will conduct a multi-­site randomized controlled trial to test its effectiveness and revise it based on feedback from trial participants. Subsequently, we will train hundreds of tribal community members to use this innovative, culturally-­appropriate, community-­based mental health support system. We will secure long-­term sustainability by building research and training capacity within the HL and intervention capacity within seven tribal communities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10226050
- **Project number:** 5S06GM128015-04
- **Recipient organization:** HEALING LODGE OF THE SEVEN NATIONS
- **Principal Investigator:** Heather M Gray
- **Activity code:** S06 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $638,066
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-01 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10226050

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10226050, Building Cultures of Recovery in Tribal Communities (5S06GM128015-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10226050. Licensed CC0.

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