Moccasin Paths

Dakota Tipi, Manitoba

Larry K. Brendtro, PhD

© 2018 The Resilience Academyand Turtle Island Learning Circle

RECLAIMING Youth at Risk

www.reclaimingyouth.org

Reclaiming Youth at RiskMoccasin Paths

Digital copies are available online atReclaimingYouth.org/handouts

© 2018 The Resilience Academyand Turtle Island Learning Circle

26th Annual Reclaiming Youth SeminarsAugustana University, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, July 2019

RECLAIMING Youth at Risk

www.turtleislandlc.comwww.reclaimingyouth.org

Moccasin PathsTurtle Island Learning Circle

Adrienne Brant James Turtle Clan Mohawk

Tammy LundaySisseton-Wahpeton Oyate

Turtle Island

Anna and Noah Brokenleg

Survivors of the boarding school era who kept their culture alive.

The Primary Teacher

Child Rearing as the Primary Cultural Goal

Carriers of the Culture

Community Sharing and Bonding

Interdependent Living

Traditional Native Housing

Urban Planning — Cahokia on the Mississippi River, 1100 AD

Population of 20,000 exceeded London and Paris

Cahokia: North American trade center 800-1200 AD

Good Earth on the Sioux River

Population of 10,000 exceeded Boston and New York

1300-1700 AD

The Great Law of Peace: The Iroquois Confederacy

Oral History of Democratic Principles

The Iroquois ConfederacyFormed around the solar eclipse of 1142 Wampum Mnemonic System

Today: Canada, New York

Founded by the Peacemaker, Hiawatha, and Mother of the nations, Jingosaseh.

The Great Law of Peace calls for decisions to be made with seven generations in mind.

Power Leveling Clan Mothers Chose the Chiefs

of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy

There are two systems for governing human societies—partnership cultures and dominator cultures.

Columbus Brought a Dominator Culture

Columbus Described Natives

Generous, kind, loving, extra-ordinarily timid, ingenious, men of commanding stature, with no weapons of war, and carrying on inter-island commerce in canoes longer and faster than Spanish 18-oared galleys.

He then declared them and their lands owned by Spain, taking hostages to display in Europe.

The Fatal Letter

Papal Bull of 1493

Pope Alexander VI “gave” the land to Christian monarchs of Spain, France, and Portugal because of the “inferior character of native cultures.”

He instructed explorers and military leaders to convert, torture, enslave, or kill in order to seize the lands unless the foe was a “Christian prince” in which case he could keep the land.

Manifest Destiny

The rallying cry for westward expansion: “God intended for superior Europeans to control North America.”

American Progress painting by John Gast, 1872

Many Trails of Tears

The Doctrine of DiscoveryAlthough perhaps 50 million people lived in the Americas, the pope declared the land “unoccupied.” Ownership moved from tribes to private individuals, corporations, and government control because of stolen lands, broken treaties, war, and disease.

“Of 370 treaties ratified, the United States proceeded to violate provisions in every one.”

-- Senator Daniel K. Inouye, Chair, Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs

The Doctrine of Discovery used the fiction of terra nullius (Latin: nobody’s land).

In 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the doctrine of terra nullius does not apply in Canada.

Never Colonized by Europe:Japan, Korea, Thailand, Liberia

For thousands of years, Europeans lived in close contact with domesticated animals. Pollution crossed species evolving germs deadly to humans like smallpox, influenza, and measles. Europeans developed some immunity, but these diseases decimated Indigenous peoples.

small pox, chickenpox, cholera, diphtheria, influenza, measles, scarlet fever, sexually transmitted diseases, typhoid, tuberculosis

More victims of colonization killed by germs than weapons.

Guns, Germs, and SteelJared Diamond

Dakota War of 1862Mass execution the day after Christmas

Dakota 38 + 2 Memorial Healing Ride

Treaty of Fort Laramie

1868 U.S. treaty recognizes Lakota ownership and custody of Black Hills

1876 Battle of Little Bighorn, U.S. stole land, put Lakota on reservations

By 1976, these are the remaining reservations.

1980 U.S. Supreme Court ruled U.S. broke treaty and must compensate the Lakota. This is an ongoing, unresolved controversy.

The village helps to rear all children. Leaders act as servants of the people.

Indigenous Wisdom

Show respect for children and elders. Share resources to meet needs of all.

National Post, Library and Archives Canada, 1897

The moment theyentered residential schools, they were assigned European names and stripped of their culture.

“Kill the Indian and save the man.”Captain Richard Pratt, Carlisle Indian School

Too Many Did Not Survive the Experience

Students in Residential Schools “Ready to Learn”

No Jails or Mental Hospitals. Instead, Social Justice,

Consensus, Women’s Suffrage, and Healthy Democracies

Food and Wellness

Traditional Uses of the Buffalo

Sky Walkers&

Code Talkers

Need or Greed?

A Contrast of Cultures

First Nations Non-status seekingHarmony with nature Women have equal powerConsensus decision making Leisure involves total family

Dominant CultureStatus seekingSubdue the earthWomen have less powerAuthoritarian decision makingLeisure often away from family

Canadian Architect, Douglas Cardinal, Cree

The Land Has Memory:National Museum of the American Indian

ColonizedTraditional

Decolonized

Native Housing

Vine Deloria, Jr. Standing Rock Dakota

Western science believed man could force nature to reveal its secrets; the Sioux simply petitioned nature for friendship.

Western science has no moral base and is entirely incapable of resolving human problems…making humans act more and more like machines.

Vine Deloria, Jr.

An entire realm of human experience in the world is marginalized, declared unknowable, and, consequently left out of serious consideration.

Daniel Wildcat

yah de gah reehun nyen’ ne

[ he is well taught ]

The Mohawk language of Canadian First Nations people would not describe youth asbad or good, but rather aswhether they were well taught.

Photos Edward Curtis

Cultural Pride

Celebrating Culture

Preserving Culture

The Spirit of Community

Mni Wiconi ~ Water is Life

Honoring Heroes

Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung met Taos elder Ochwiay Biano and became aware of his own “imprisonment in the cultural consciousness of the white man.”

Blackfoot, CalgaryAbraham Maslow

1938

Sioux, Pine RidgeErik Erikson

1938

Indigenous Cultures Shape Child Development Theories

Basic Needsare probably common to all mankind and are therefore shared values.

Abraham Maslow

Across all cultures, children have the same needs. Martin Brokenleg

A consilience of Indigenous and Western Science

Larry Brendtro (Psychology) ~ Martin Brokenleg (Native Studies) ~ Steve Van Bockern (Education)

Belonging

Mastery

Independence

Generosity

Circle of CourageMaori, New ZealandBELONGING

Whanaungatanga

GENEROSITYAtawhai

MASTERYTohungatanga

INDEPENDENCEMana Motuhake

A First Nations carver expresses the Circle of Courage in this totem.

Youth Art

Belonging

Mastery

Independence

Generosity

If you can’t explain your theory to a six year old, you probably don’t understand it yourself.Albert Einstein

Kees Kool The Netherlands

To George Blue Bird from Kees Kool, age 8

The Reclaiming SchoolBelonging Mastery Independence Generosity

Judith DeJong & Stanley HolderOffice of Indian Education Programs

Hazards Facing Youth Destructive RelationshipsFutility and FailureLearned IrresponsibilityLoss of Purpose

Culture Matters

Families Matter

Peers Matter

Inge BolinVancouver Island

University

Children in Highland PeruFrom the moment I entered their village, I was captivated by their respectful behavior, self-confident demeanor, and astonishing creativity.

BelongingLoneliness is seen as the saddest experience

so all are included in circles of respect.

MasteryChildren are eager to learn and master but never flaunt their superiority.

IndependenceYouth are given important responsibilities and are never harshly punished.

GenerosityYouth care for younger children and contribute to the community.

Generosity

Responsibility

Mastery

Belonging

Creating Circles of Courage

Healing Historic Trauma

Overcoming Historic Distrust

Mastery

Generosity

Responsibility Belonging

Universal Circle of Courage Values

It is a mistake to presume that all values are relative; absolute values are grounded in absolute needs.

Mortimer Adler, Ten Philosophical Mistakes

BelongingOpportunities to develop trusting relationships: I am loveable and loved.

Mastery Opportunities to learn and cope with challenge: I am able to succeed.

GenerosityOpportunities to develop empathy and compassion: I have a purpose for my life.

ResponsibilityOpportunities to develop self-control and will power: I am in charge of my life.

Universal Circle of Courage Values

Belonging

Creating Circles of Courage

Indigenous cultures deeply revere children.

Martin Brokenleg

Trauma reactions are pain-based behaviors.

What is this girl trying to tell us about her pain?

Pain-Based Behavior

These are other examples of pain-based behavior

The Prime Need

Every child needs at least one adult who is irrationally crazy about him or her.

Urie Bronfenbrenner

OXYTOCIN tames aggression and fear. Females have more oxytocin for use in nurturing.

VASOPRESSIN can enhance aggression. Males have more vasopressin for protecting.

Humans have two chemicals for bonding

Oxytocin Trust and Bonding

EROS AGAPEPHILIA

Oxytocin and Vasopressin: Social Bonding Hormones

Bids to Connect

Bids to Connect include behavior, emotions, physical appearance, and verbal conversation.

What are some bids young people make?

EXCLUSION triggers SHAME

BELONGING triggers PRIDE

Gangs are a way to meet needs.

1. Safety and Belonging2. Economic Achievement 3. Power and Thrills4. Loyalty to Friends

Gregory Acevedo (2017)

1. We must get in the child’s space in order to have influence. We look for opportunities for friendly and fun engagement.

2. We give evidence of warmth, including physical expressions as appropriate. We “touch” showing “delight in his very being.”

3. Proper dependence builds independence. Premature independence leaves youth adrift without adult support and influence.

4. While not controlling, we are a compass and guide even as they become young adults. We all need sources of wisdom.

Gordon Neufeld & Gabor Maté

Rapid Trust

Both the right and left brain evaluate whether to connect.

Trust? Interest?

Mastery

Creating Circles of Courage

All children have an inborn drive to learn and master.

Myelin insulates Neurons making them 100 times faster.

Adding 40 layers of myelin builds expertise.

Learning builds neuron connections

SCHOOL FAILURE damages self esteem and predicts poor life outcomes.

Defending Self-Respect

Hostility to authority is a rebellious performance of kids whose self-respect has been degraded by rejection and school failure.

School Successhas a lasting effect on life adjustment in spite of other problems.

Egoistic MotivationDon’t Look Dumb

Task MotivationLearning Lots

Cooperative LearningThe brain achieves optimum efficiency

by using peers and mentors.

Lev Vygotsky

Growth or Fixed MindsetsCarol Dweck

I can make myself smart..

I just wasn’t born smart.

One million Texas public school students were followed for six years in a study by the Council of State Governments.

Nearly 60 percent of students were suspended or expelled during middle and high school years.

Grading Schools

15% of students studied were suspended or expelled 11 times or more. Nearly half entered the juvenile justice system.

Only 3% of disciplinary actions were for conduct where state law mandated suspensions and expulsions.97% were at the discretion of school officials, mainly in response to violations of local schools’ conduct codes.

Defiance but not

Violence

School ClimateSchools with similar racial and economic composition

varied greatly in suspension and expulsion.

Engaging Students

Teachers who connect with students who distrust teachers.

Teachers who help struggling students achieve success.

IntelligenceEquals Resilience

intelligence (noun)

A person’s ability to respond successfully to challenges and to learn from such experience.

Robert Sylwester

Finland is a world leader in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) given to 15-year-olds.

Finnish students learn most in 45-minute classes with 15-minute breaks.

Schools of joy both meet growth needs and achieve academic excellence.

Responsibility

Creating Circles of Courage

Self-Regulation is central to social and emotional adaptation and maturation.

(Dishion & Kavanagh, 2003, p. 108)

Walter Mischel’sMarshmallow Test

How do children learn emotional regulation?

They borrow their caregiver’s calm brain.

MEET NEED

DISTRESS

NEED

CALM

Calming Cycles: Teaching Self-RegulationVera Fahlberg

Self-EfficacyThe belief in one’s power to cope with challenges.

Albert Bandura

Persistence and Gritwere assets that enabled youth with serious behavior problems in childhood to have resilient outcomes.

Emmy Werner & Ruth SmithKauai’s Children Come of Age

Powerlessness The most robust trigger of stress and cortisol release

Dacher Keltner

Power corrupts by high-jacking the brain.

Brainstem dominance programs stifle empathy.A dopamine high fuels impulsive pleasure seeking.

Arrogance Sees others as inferior

DisrespectRude to less powerful

ImpulsivityAddicted to pleasure

SelfishnessEgo overrides empathy

Humility Sees others as equals

RespectTreats all with dignity

ResponsibilityPractices self-restraint

Generosity Meets needs of others.

Countering the Pitfalls of PowerDacher Keltner

Bath & Seita, 2018

CoercionGoal: stop bad behaviorTone: harsh, aggressive Discipline: punishingAdult: react to own feelings

Transforming Discipline

Martin Hoffman

Power Assertion Problem Solving

Love Withdrawal

Positive Alliances Trust. Youth believes the adult cares, understands, and can help.

Cooperation. Youth and adult work together to solve a problem.

Attachment. Mutual attraction develops from working together.

Adversarial Encounters Distrust. Youth believes adult won’t care, understand, or help.

Antagonism. Youth and adult are in conflict and power struggles.

Alienation. Rancor leads to aggression or avoidance.

Social EqualityHelpers have the same

needs as those they serve.

Egalitarian Leadership

Their hearts should be full of peace and good will, and their minds filled with a yearning for the welfare of the people . . .

Neither anger nor fury shall find lodgement in their minds and all their words and actions shall be marked by calm deliberation.

Iroquois Great Law of Peace

Power AssertionPunishment and Reward

Brain Pathwaysfor “Discipline”

EmpathyProsocial Values

Generosity

Creating Circles of Courage

The Transformative Power of Compassion

Altruism and Empathy are Inborn

Max Planck Institute

Germany

Children are biologically hardwired, not only for close connections to others but also for “deep connections to moral and spiritual meaning.”

Commission on Children at Risk

In all primates but humans, a few dominate the many.

But egalitarian generosity has insured human survival.

Humans lived in harmony as hunter gatherers for 99% of history.

Peter Gray

The Genetics of Generosity

Survival of the Fittest Most Compassionate

We developed egalitarian social brains and cultural values.

GenerosityChildren are born with a generous disposition. The need to give is just as vital as the need to receive.

Children who sense that their gifts are being rejected feel bad and unlovable.

Ian Suttie The Origins of Love and Hate

1935

Naelyn Pike, 16, opposes mining on her Apache reservation.

A Cause Beyond Self

Only a positive prosocial purpose can provide the lasting inspiration, motivation, and resilience that is characteristic of a truly purposeful life.

William DamonStanford Center for Adolescence

Service Learning

Helping gives proof of one’s worth – being of value to others.

Does aggression in small children predict antisocial behavior as teens?

Research on compassion in small children.

Being Mean is Not in GenesBoth identical and fraternal twins are similar in

showing compassion or disregard to a person in distress.

Helping, sharing, and consoling in third grade is the best predictor of achieving in eighth grade.

We believe that no onehas the right to hurtanother person eitherphysically or verbally,and everyone has theresponsibility to help.

Positive school cultures celebrate the core value of respect.

Friedreich’s AtaxiaSioux Falls theatre students were inspired by their friend Raena Brendtro who was diagnosed at age 13 with FA.

This is a rare progressive neuromuscular disorder that currently has no cure.

Curtain Call for a Cure

Belonging

Mastery

Responsibility

Generosity

Creating Circles of Courage

We must look at children in need not as problems but as individuals with potential to share if given the opportunity.

Desmond TutuReclaiming Youth at Risk

Problems as opportunities “Please coach me, don’t scold me.”

Provide fail-safe relationships. “A kid like me really needs a fan club.”

Increase dosages of nurturance.“I need to know you really care.”

Don’t crowd.“If you get too close, I will back away.”

Decode the meaning of behavior.“I try to hide what I really think.”

Model respect to the disrespectful.

“Your respect helps build mine.”

Enlist youth as colleagues.“I am the only real expert on me.”

Touch in small ways.“I am watching you very carefully.”

Give seeds time to grow.“I am still learning.”

Strengthen spiritual roots.“I need to find a purpose for my life.”

Grandfather, what is the purpose of life?

Eddie BelleroseCree Elder

Reclaiming Youth at RiskMoccasin Paths

Digital copies are available online atReclaimingYouth.org/handouts

© 2018 The Resilience Academyand Turtle Island Learning Circle

Moccasin Paths

Dakota Tipi, Manitoba

Larry K. Brendtro, PhD

© 2018 The Resilience Academyand Turtle Island Learning Circle

RECLAIMING Youth at Risk

www.reclaimingyouth.org