Progress 09/01/09 to 08/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The Native Foods Nutrition Project improved Native American People's health and cultural identity through providing a traditional foods and medicines program at the Northwest Indian Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center (NWITC), tribal community classes, train the trainer programs, culturally-based teaching tools, and conference presentations. The main site of the project was the NWITC - a 45-day inpatient program that serves 220 patients per year. Our project staff provided each patient with 27 hours of traditional foods and medicines training. Weekly 3-hour classes focused on easy and approachable techniques for processing, preparing, and preserving both native foods and healthy foods that are nutritionally similar to native foods. Classes were participatory so that many types of learners could retain information. Teaching gardens provided hands-on learning opportunities on growing and harvesting plants. A 16-page garden booklet was created to educate patients and others. The size of the gardens doubled over the grant cycle and produced enough fruits and vegetables to supplement patients' regular meals. Project staff collaborated with the treatment center director and head cook to change the menu, replacing refined foods with healthy foods. Cooks were trained on how to prepare garden produce, herbs, and native foods. An additional project assistant was employed by the NWITC to further integrate classes and gardens into the overall treatment program. A compost project was initiated and is now fully implemented. Patients learn how to transform paper scraps, food waste, and yard debris into fertile soil that improves garden productivity. Special monthly traditional foods and medicines classes gave patients and their visiting families an opportunity for family members to see the skills that patients developed and to learn about activities that families can do together. Harvesting berries in the garden and preparing native foods recipes were favorite family activities on these days. Another project activity was coordinating bi-monthly speakers including elders and cultural specialists on topics related to native food restoration, harvesting and cooking, cultural traditions around plants, and storytelling. These speakers also offered patients continued support and directed them to cultural resources and healthy mentors that will help promote their sobriety in their home communities. The Native Food Nutrition Project serves as a model for other native wellness programs. Throughout the grant cycle, project staff supported twelve tribes in creating or maintaining community gardens or traditional food and medicine programs. We provided 28 workshops to tribal communities in Western Washington with over 1,000 participants. We also taught 10 train-the-trainers workshops to 131 participants on topics including diabetes prevention, cooking with native foods, making plant medicine, herbal first aid for the canoe journey, and tribal community gardens. Class handouts, resources, and teaching tools were developed and distributed to trainers. We presented on the project at over 20 conferences in the United States and Canada. PARTICIPANTS: The project coordinator for the Native Foods Nutrition Project was Elise Krohn, M.Ed. Elise has over twelve years of experience working in tribal communities managing community gardens, coordinating events, teaching classes, and developing educational tools. She developed several curricula including Making Plant Medicine, Honoring the Gift of Food, and Diabetes Prevention Through Traditional Plants and mentored over 60 educators on teaching in a culturally relevant style. She has also authored several books and articles related to revitalizing plant traditions and regularly presented at conferences. Elizabeth Campbell was the project assistant and has been working as an educator for the Northwest Indian College for over four years. She is a member of the Spokane Tribe and grew up harvesting wild foods and medicines with her family. She has educational background in native studies and sustainable agriculture. In addition to teaching and running the gardens at the treatment center, she also runs an organic farm with her family. Mandy Dillon was hired by the treatment center to help integrate the project into patients' everyday experiences during treatment. She helps to run the gardens, cooks weekly traditional foods meals, works with cooks on harvesting vegetables and fruits, and teaches monthly family classes. Renee Davis completed a four month internship with Elise Krohn at the treatment center. She is a graduate student at Antioch University in Seattle and specializes in community systems. She assisted in interviewing patients to facilitate effective program evaluation, and also created a digital story on the project. One of our main funders and partner organizations was the Nisqually Tribe. Their innovative community garden employs two garden coordinators and six garden workers. Two acres of land are cultivated for fruits and vegetables, which are distributed to tribal programs and tribal members. The tribe has employed several graduates from the treatment center. Workers from the garden, along with the tribal diabetes educator and the cultural coordinator, attended several classes and train-the-trainer workshops. Our staff taught community classes at Nisqually throughout the grant cycle. Their garden program provided fresh vegetables for several of our community workshops. Several cultural specialists played key roles throughout the life of the project. Theresa Parker is a weaver and traditional plants specialist from the Makah Tribe. She was a regular speaker at the treatment center and helped to support patients who returned home by helping to connect them with healthy mentors and cultural activities. She attended several train-the-trainer workshops and shares her knowledge with her own tribe and others. Roger Fernandes is a storyteller from the Lower Elwha Tribe who has worked to revive Salish stories related to native foods and medicines. He does regular storytelling classes at the treatment center and also does storytelling for community classes. Roger has contributed Salish art and culturally relevant teaching modalities to several curricula that were developed through the project. TARGET AUDIENCES: The Native Foods Nutrition Project served patients from the Northwest Indian Treatment Center, Western Washington tribal community members, educators, food program coordinators, community gardeners, cooks, and conference participants. Over the course of the 3-year grant cycle, we taught 615 Northwest Indian Treatment Center patients and their families. The treatment center is run by the Squaxin Island Tribe and serves Native Americans who live in Washington and other nearby regions. The program specializes in chronic relapse patterns related to unresolved grief and trauma, including historic trauma from colonization. Based on patient interviews, most patients who enter the treatment program purchase most of their foods at mini-marts and have little or no access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Many referring reservations are considered food deserts. Leisure activities are sedentary and patients have a lack of regular balanced meals. Learning about how to grow, gather, harvest, and prepare plant-based foods and herbal medicines increased patients' access to highly nutritious foods. It also taught them healthy physical activities that can combat obesity and diabetes. Classes were run in a hands-on participatory style so that patients could gain experiential knowledge with all their senses. Rather than having patients take a pre-test and post-test for each class, games including native foods jeopardy, berry bingo and native foods survivor tested participant knowledge retention. Storytelling was integrated into most classes as a teaching tool. The project also served tribal educators through offering train-the-trainer workshops. Examples of participants include healthcare providers, educators from youth, elder, and head start programs, community garden coordinators, counselors, natural resource managers, a nutritionist at a native homeless shelter in Tacoma, and a teacher for the Whatcom County Jail program. These educators serve multitudes of native people throughout Washington State. When our staff tracked trainees from the Diabetes Prevention Trough Traditional Plants Program, all reported that they are applying the knowledge they learned to their programs. The manager of the Seattle Indian Health Board used the curriculum as a tool to educate approximately 950 people at staff in-service trainings and community trainings. She harvested wild foods for the annual residency graduation and taught staff and visitors about berries. She meets individually with patients and lets them know about herbal teas. She also writes about traditional foods and medicines in the employee newsletter. Yearly forums for tribal cooks and tribal community garden coordinators helped participants to share resources and best practices in their fields. Many gardeners have continued networking and visited each other's gardens to learn new strategies for growing plants and involving community members. Through all of these classes, trainings, and forums, a strong network of people who are strengthening the health and cultural identity of native people is growing. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
Through the Native Foods Nutrition Project, NWITC patients often remember their cultural traditions around wild foods and medicines. They see their own wealth and build a sense of cultural pride and resiliency. This supports them throughout their recovery process. Many patients take new skills and knowledge they have learned and teach those around them. They also seek out new knowledge from their elders and cultural specialists. Several patients reported that they have started their own gardens. Others have integrated native foods into their diet and have consumed less unhealthy foods like sugar, refined carbohydrates, and poor quality fats. Based on evaluation interviews, patients can name at least twice as many foods when they graduate compared to when they enter the program. One woman named smoked fish and fry bread on her intake form, and then salmon, halibut, salal, seaweed, urchins, clams, scallops, sweet grass, fiddlehead ferns, blackberries, strawberries, salmonberries, dandelion, nettles, boots, and barnacles on her graduation form. Common patient health goals include getting clean and sober, losing weight, eating more healthily, drinking less soda pop and caffeine, and eating less sugar. All but 5% of patients said that they achieved their health goals during the course of the program. Several diabetic patients noticed an improvement in their blood sugar levels due to dietary changes they made based on what they learned in classes. When asked if they will use new skills at home, almost every patient said yes. Common actions included cooking with native foods, harvesting berries, and gardening. We often see graduates at tribal events and are heartened to hear that they are applying what they learned through the program into their lives. Patient enthusiasm has fueled a growing tribal interest in traditional foods and medicines throughout Indian Country. Our Northwest Indian College Cooperative Extension Office has witnessed this through receiving almost weekly requests for our educators to speak at events or to provide classes. Many patients are inspired to enter or return to college through their learning experience in the Native Food Nutrition Project. Over 15 graduates have entered the Northwest Indian College and have taken classes in plant and food related subjects. One graduate just completed an internship as a botanist for the North Cascades National Park. Another is enjoying working for a local plant nursery and attributes her interest in plants to the project. The Native Foods Nutrition Project is being used as a model in other indigenous communities in the Northwest and around the world. Over 25 people visited the program to learn more about how they can incorporate parts of it in their communities. Educators who completed train-the-trainer workshops are sharing the knowledge they gained through working with their family, clients, community members, and students. Presenting at conferences helped our staff to become a part of an international network that is working to build Native Peoples' health through establishing innovative learning tools and best practices.
Publications
- Krohn, E., V. Segrest. 2012. Chapter on Traditional Foods of Puget Sound, plus native foods recipes, and photos. Our Food, Our Right: Recipes for Food Justice. Community Alliance for Global Justice. Seattle, WA.
- Krohn, E. 2012. Contributed text, audio, and photos for exhibit called Salish Bounty: Traditional Native Foods of Puget Sound. University of Washington Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, January through June, 2012.
- Krohn, E. 2012. Northwest Indian Treatment Center D3WX bi Pa lil Healing Gardens Booklet. Northwest Indian College. 16-pages.
- Krohn, E. 2011. Native Nutrition: Northwest Indian Treatment Center Honors Culture to Heal the Mind. Tribal College Journal. Volume 22, No. 3. Pages 24-29.
- Krohn, E. 2011. Healing Addiction through Traditional Foods and Medicines. Washington Health Foundation Rural Health Blog: March.
- Krohn, E. 2011. Growing Good Dirt. Washington Health Foundation Rural Health Blog: August.
- Krohn, E. and Segrest, V. 2009. Feeding the People, Feeding the Spirit: Revitalizing Northwest Coastal Indian Food Culture. Northwest Indian College. Gorham Printing, Centralia WA.
|
Progress 09/01/10 to 08/31/11
Outputs
The Native Food Nutrition Project is an educational program that is delivered at the Northwest Indian Treatment Center. This year the project served 225 patients and their families. Graduates completed 27 hours of training as part of their 45-day inpatient stay. Through 3-hour weekly classes, patients learned how to make healthy food choices based on a traditional foods diet. Classroom activities focused on easy and approachable techniques for processing, preparing and preserving native foods and healthy foods that are nutritionally similar to native foods. Teaching gardens provided hands-on learning opportunities on how to grow and harvest nutritious foods. This year we expanded our wild foods garden by adding over 50 culturally significant berry plants. Vegetables from the garden now help supplement patients regular meals. A monthly class was offered for patients and their visiting families. This provided an opportunity for family members to see the skills that patients are developing and to learn about food-related activities that families can do together. One example is harvesting berries then making cobbler or fruit leather. In addition to weekly and monthly classes provided by the project coordinator and assistant, elders and cultural specialists provided bi-monthly lectures on topics including native food restoration, harvesting and cooking, cultural traditions around plants and storytelling. These speakers also continued to help patients find cultural resources and healthy mentors that will help promote their sobriety in their home communities. The Native Food Nutrition Project continues serve as a model for other tribal communities and wellness programs. In the last year we have supported the Suquamish, Nisqually, Lummi, Muckleshoot, Jamestown, Puyallup and Nooksack Tribes in creating or maintaining community gardens or traditional foods and medicines programs. We presented on the project at several conferences including the Washington Joint Conference on Health, the Building Community Food Sovereignty Conference, the Society for Applied Anthropology Traditional Foods Summit and the Indian Health Service's Indigenous Food Coalition Conference. In addition the project director and assistant provided 11 workshops and trainings to tribal communities in Western Washington with over 380 participants. We also provided three train the trainers workshops including a Diabetes Prevention through Traditional Plants teacher training, Growing in our Gardens: A Forum for Tribal Community Garden Coordinators and a Tribal Cooks Forum. These conferences and train the trainers workshops are helping to build a strong network of people who are improving the health of Native People through revitalizing native foods systems. Sharing tools, success stories and best practices with other communities has helped us to further develop and strengthen our program. PRODUCTS: New berry gardens that will help to supplement patient meals when at the treatment center. Educational materials related to native plants, healthy local foods, cooking, gardening, composting and building tribal food sovereignty. A new curriculum entitled Honoring the Gift of Food. OUTCOMES: One of the main outcomes of the project is that patients remember the teachings of their elders and then go home to learn more about their family traditions around foods. This helps build a sense of cultural pride and resiliency, which supports patients through their recovery process. Many patients take new skills and knowledge that they have learned through the project and teach those around them. This is helping to fuel a greater movement toward revitalizing native food systems in Western Washington tribal communities. Based on evaluation interviews, patients can name at least twice as many foods when they graduate compared to when they enter the program. One woman named smoked fish and fry bread on her intake form, and then salmon, halibut, salal, ozette potatoes, seaweed, urchins, clams, scallops, sweet grass, fiddlehead ferns, blackberries, strawberries, salmonberries, dandelion, nettles, boots and barnacles on her graduation form. Some common patient health goals include getting clean and sober, losing weight, eating more healthy, drinking less soda pop and caffeine, and eating less sugar. All but 5% of patients said that they achieved their health goals during the coarse of the program. Several diabetic patients noticed an improvement in their blood sugar levels related to dietary changes they made based on things they learned in classes. When asked if patients will use skills from class at home, almost everyone said yes. Some common answers included cooking with native foods, harvesting berries and gardening. In order to provide patients with more fresh fruits and vegetables we expanded our gardens. In the fall of 2010 we added a blueberry and strawberry garden. In the spring of 2011 we planted an additional 50 native berry plants. We also incorporated more healthy foods into regular treatment center meals by working with the kitchen staff to modify the menu. We did a cooks training related to native foods and how to cook vegetables from the garden. We added a food vendor that provides healthier food choices and replaced things like soda pop with herbal teas. We replaced dishes like sloppy Joes and tater tot casserole with dishes like nettle potato soup and whole wheat pasta with garden vegetables. So far, the staff and patients are responding favorably. This year we continued to build outpatient support in many of the communities we serve. We have seen or heard about many graduate success stories. Many of our patients have pursued additional learning related to native foods including attending community classes and cultural events, securing jobs related to gardening or cooking, and enrolling in college. Eight educators from seven tribal communities completed the Diabetes Prevention Through Traditional Foods Teacher Training. All of these participants reported that they are applying the knowledge they learned to their health and education programs. Two community forums that we hosted this year have helped those who are running community gardens or who are tribal cooks to share resources and support each other. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: Weekly patient classes and monthly family classes have been offered throughout the last year. Elders and cultural specialists offered presentations every other week. Conference presentations in the last year included Washington Joint Conference on Health, the Building Community Food Sovereignty Conference, the Society for Applied Anthropology Traditional Foods Summit and the Indian Health Service's Indigenous Food Coalition Conference. In addition, the project director and assistant provided 11 workshops and trainings for tribal communities in Western Washington with over 380 participants. We also provided three train the trainers workshops including the Diabetes Prevention through Traditional Plants teacher training, Growing in our Gardens: A Forum for Tribal Community Garden Coordinators and a Tribal Cooks Forum. FUTURE INITIATIVES: The Native Plant Nutrition Project strives to serve as a model for other treatment center and wellness programs. In the coming year we will continue to build educational resources, curricula and best practices that can be applied to other programs. We are also planning to visit several of the communities we serve so we can learn about existing resources and build partnerships that will support patients when they return home. We are working to build a website that will bring together resources including handouts, videos, services and community events related to traditional foods. This will help to support treatment center graduates, those we serve in train the trainer programs and communities who are interested in building native food systems.
Impacts
After graduating from the program, a majority of patients return home and share their knowledge with family and friends. Some have started their own gardens. Others have integrated native foods into their diet and have consumed less unhealthy foods like sugar and poor quality fats. Yet others have incorporated their knowledge into training youth, elders and other community members. Patient enthusiasm has fueled a growing interest in traditional foods and medicines throughout Indian Country. Our Northwest Indian College Cooperative Extension Office has witnessed this through receiving almost weekly requests for our educators to speak at events or to provide classes. Many patients are inspired to enter or return to college through their learning experience in the Native Food Nutrition Project. Over nine of our patients this year have entered college after graduating and have taken classes in plant and food related subjects. The train the trainers workshops have helped to build a network of community educators, Health care workers, tribal gardeners and cooks who can support each other. The project is being used as a model in other indigenous communities in the Northwest and around the world. Participating in conferences also helped us to become a part of an international network that is working to build Native Peoples health through establishing innovative learning tools and best practices.
Publications
- Tribal College Journal. Journal Publication: Volume 22 No. 3. Spring 2011. Food Sovereignty. Title: Native Nutrition: Northwest Indian Treatment Center Honors Culture to Heal the Mind. Page 24. Washington Health Foundation Rural Health Blog: Healing Addiction through Traditional Foods and Medicines. March, 2011. Washington Health Foundation Rural Health Blog: Growing Good Dirt. August, 2011.
|
Progress 09/01/09 to 08/31/10
Outputs
In the last year the Native Food Nutrition Project has served 165 patients at the Northwest Indian Treatment Center. The project coordinator and project assistant offered weekly classes focusing on the nutritional and cultural benefits of native foods and healthy local foods. Patients learned about how to identify, grow, harvest, prepare and preserve many foods including berries, wild greens, vegetables and nuts. On-site teaching gardens provided hands-on learning opportunities. A new berry garden was planted that will help supplement patients daily meals. A monthly class was offered for patients and their visiting families. Family members learned about the program and participated in native foods activities that they can do at home like harvesting and preparing wild berries. Elders and cultural specialists were identified and contracted to speak at the treatment center every other week. These speakers are from the patients home communities including the Makah, Muckleshoot, Squaxin, Lummi and Skokomish Reservations. Speakers taught about subjects including native food restoration, harvesting and cooking with native foods, traditional cultural practices around plants and storytelling related to foods and medicines. In addition, these speakers are helping to support patients when they return to their community by connecting them with resources, potential jobs and healthy role models. Over the course of the year the project coordinator and assistant have identified outpatient support systems including cultural programs in many of the communities that patients are from. These are shared with patients when they graduate. In the spring two workshops were offered through the program for the Squaxin Island community. After doing a field trip to harvest spring native foods participants engaged in a cooking demonstration. Six graduates in the Squaxin outpatient program attended each of these workshops along with over 20 tribal youth, elders and other community members. Along with educating people about the nutritional importance of these native foods, these workshops helped to build community support for patients. In spring of 2009 the project coordinator planned and hosted a train the trainer workshop entitled Creating Tribal Community Gardens. Eleven garden coordinators from seven tribal communities attended this training. Participants spent the first day learning at the treatment center and the second day visiting local community gardens to learn about different models and designs. All participants went on to develop or maintain community gardens through the garden season and reported that the training supported their efforts to engage community members. The group continues to communicate via email to share resources and ideas. The Diabetes Prevention through Traditional Plants Curriculum that is used for the Native Food Nutrition Program was revised this year in preparation for a train the trainer workshop in the second year of the grant cycle. The changes have made the curriculum more user-friendly and adaptable for health educators in northwest tribal communities. PRODUCTS: New berry gardens that will help to supplement patient meals when at the treatment center. Educational materials related to native plants, healthy local foods and gardening. Revised curriculum entitled Traditional Plants for Diabetes Prevention. OUTCOMES: In the last year 165 patients have received 27 hours of training on the nutritional and cultural importance of native foods. They also learned about healthy foods that are nutritionally similar to a native foods diet. Many of the patients learned new skills on how to grow, harvest, process, cook and preserve healthy foods. They also learned about the cultural importance of traditional foods through listening to local elders and cultural specialists. Visiting families were able to see the gardens at the treatment center and partake in activities related to native plants and foods that they can continue at home. Seven elders or cultural specialists shared their knowledge with patients and will continue to support them when they return to their home community. Eleven garden coordinators from seven communities received training and resources related to running successful tribal community gardens. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: Weekly patient classes and monthly family classes have been offered throughout the last year. Elders and cultural specialists offered presentations every other week. Elise Krohn, the project coordinator, presented on the project at the Transforming Mental Health in Tribal Communities Conference on September 9th, 2009. Over 40 people who serve or are members of tribal communities in Washington State and beyond attended. On April 15-16 the program offered a train the trainers workshop entitled Creating Tribal Community Gardens at the treatment center. Eleven garden coordinators from seven tribal communities attended. Elise Krohn presented on the project at the International Network of Indigenous Health Knowledge and Development conference in May of 2010. The workshop was attended by over 40 people from around the world who work with indigenous health. FUTURE INITIATIVES: We are working to build our capacity to support others who would like to create community gardens, native foods training programs and other related services. We are also hoping to integrate more native foods and healthy local foods into patients daily meals at the treatment center. To support patients after they graduate, we are working to build a website with resources including handouts, videos, services and community events related to traditional plants.
Impacts
In reviewing patient interviews and pre/post tests, we have seen that patients significantly increase their knowledge about their native foods over the course of their training. Many patients remember the teachings of their elders and go home to learn more about their family food traditions. This helps build a sense of cultural pride and resiliency, which supports patients through their recovery process. We have witnessed dozens of patients change their diets by reducing sugar and refined foods and increasing native foods. Four of our graduated patients have gone on to get jobs in tribal community gardens. Over 12 of our patients have entered the Northwest Indian College after graduating and have taken classes in plant and food related subjects. Patient enthusiasm has helped fuel tribes including Shoalwater Bay, Quinault, Muckleshoot, Lummi, Puyallup and Nisqually to start new community gardens. The train the trainers workshop on community gardens has helped to build a network of tribal gardeners who can support each other with problem solving and resources. The project is being used as a model in other indigenous communities. Over 20 people visited the program to learn more about how they can incorporate it as a model in their communities. Presentations at two conferences this year also helped us to become a part of an international network that is working to build Native Peoples health through establishing innovative learning tools and best practices.
Publications
- Book entitled Feeding the People, Feeding the Spirit: Revitalizing Northwest Coastal Indian Food Culture by Elise Krohn and Valerie Segrest. Published March, 2011. Copyright Elise Krohn, Valerie Segrest and the Northwest Indian College. Printed by Gorham Printing. Paper entitled The Traditional Foods of Puget Sound Project. Final Report USDA RIDGE Program, 2008-2010. Northwest Indian College Cooperative Extension Office.
|