Strengths and Protective Factors in Native American Families and Communities

Community, context, culture, healing, journey, path, ceremony, traditions: these words fall short of describing what has been the core of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) survival since the beginning. Even so, these words and the language convey something of the wisdom and endurance of the Native American. It can be a challenge to providers with another worldview and unfamiliar with AI/AN culture to distinguish between mental health needs that are signals for intervention and the AI/AN cultural distinctiveness that has long provided Native Americans with strategies for prevention and survival.²

A strong identification with their culture

Health services must include content and activities that are congruent with and promote the values, beliefs, and practices of the aboriginal people of the Americas. Services that show respect for the culture of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities are more likely to be accepted in those communities. Indian youth who have higher levels of identification with their native culture may demonstrate lower drug and alcohol use and other unhealthful behaviors.

Family

Family is of paramount importance among and within all AI/AN groups. While the central role of the family in the development of children and adolescents is recognized by most cultures, the traditional kinship and extended family structure of Indian communities add importance to this socialization source. In the AI/AN community, a family will often identify someone who has problems with alcohol and other drugs and whom they feel has the potential to benefit from a ceremony (healing). The same family will also involve others who might be involved with alcohol and other drugs, but, as yet, do not experience problems. As a result, an individual who might otherwise be lost in a system may become the focus of the communal ceremony that involves both healing and prevention. The Native American family may take precedence over the peer group as the most powerful contributor to use or non-use among youth.³

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