Date

3-22-2024

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Education in Community Care and Counseling (EdD)

Chair

John A. King

Keywords

resilience resources in Native American communities, family connection, community connection, spiritual connection, singing, forgiveness, teachings, prayer, coping mechanisms, trauma, loss of family members, loss of identity, loss of culture, adult responsibilities, broken families, historical trauma, generational trauma, faith

Disciplines

Counseling

Abstract

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand what resilience factors, if any, contribute to the reversal of adverse reactions to intergenerational trauma, in Native Americans. The study will attempt to use the data collected to determine an implementation of support that will build a scaffolding of resilience that can benefit Native American Children. The theory guiding this study is the resiliency theory, which conceptualizes positive variables that guide behaviors in individuals who have been exposed to historical trauma and experienced, Adverse Childhood Effects (ACEs) (Zimmerman, 2013). Using an exploratory qualitative design, this study worked to gather data from the Lower Elwha community, a Native American Tribe along the coast of Washington State. There has been a growing interest in the study of Adverse Childhood Effects (ACEs), and the part that resiliency plays in individual outcomes. However, these studies have not been applied to the Native American population and have not accounted for historical generational trauma. For this study to represent Native American peoples as a larger population, we considered the differences in how the S’Klallam tribal members viewed trauma and the severity of their experience. Data was collected from three S'Klallam tribal bands along the coast of Washington state. These bands consist of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, James Town tribe, and the Port Gamble tribe. The collection process included in-depth interviews using Conceptual Mapping Task (CMT).

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