Maine Perspective Front Page
School of Social Work to Collaborate with Passamaquoddy to Improve Children's Mental Health Services
A new collaboration between the Passamaquoddy Tribe of Indian Township and the University of Maine School of Social Work is using Native customs and traditions to improve the lives of tribal families.
The five-year project, funded with a $6.9 million grant from the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Mental Health Services, is designed to address critical needs among the Passamaquoddy by creating a community-based system of care for children's mental health.
The School of Social Work will play an integral role by evaluating the system in terms of child and family well-being, family satisfaction with services, and cost effectiveness. The School also will provide educational opportunities for tribal staff, with the goal of increasing the number of professionally-educated bilingual service providers at Indian Township. The School, which helped write the grant proposal, will receive $97,000 a year.
Tribal leaders have named the project Kmihqitahasultipon - "We Remember" - in the belief that it will reflect a return to values and beliefs inherent to Passamaquoddy culture.
"Historically, the service providers on the reservation have been non-tribal members without an intimate knowledge of Passamaquoddy culture, language and values," says Gail Werrbach, director of the School of Social Work. "The Passamaquoddy tradition is one that is rich in cultural values; tribal members have described the Kmihqitahasultipon Project as a 'bringing back of what once was here.' "
Need for the project is great. Many Indian Township families face high unemployment, substance abuse and other health concerns. The average life expectancy for adults is just 46 years. Many Passamaquoddy children confront higher-than-average rates of behavioral disorders, reading difficulties and serious mental health problems.
Although tribal leaders recognize the urgent need to address these problems, long-standing cultural barriers have produced an inadequate system of care, say Werrbach and Elizabeth Martin, health director of the Indian Township Health Center, which is overseeing the project.
In recent years, youths with substance-abuse problems were placed in programs off reservation that did not reflect deep-seated tribal values. When they returned, they found few community-based programs. Many felt that, in their time away, they had learned only to think of their tribal community as dysfunctional, and not as a source of strength, Werrbach and Martin say.
Previous state and federal efforts to address community problems have failed largely because they have involved providers from the outside with little knowledge of the tribe or its language, they say. Providers often have made things worse by labeling the Indian Township community as "resistant" and withdrawing services.
The "We Remember" Project is working to revive the strong cultural and community ties that once bound the tribe. Those ties date back nearly 12,000 years, from the time the Passamaquoddy first settled the region. Slowly, however, 400 years of acculturation by non-natives have eroded cultural traditions.
Martin, for instance, says her mother was forbidden to use her native language in school. Teachers, most hired from outside the reservation, punished children who spoke Passamaquoddy in class. "A lot of people have scars on their hands to prove it," she says.
Fluency in Passamaquoddy dropped. Today, just half of tribal members older than 30 can speak the language.
"We Remember" seeks to increase fluency in Passamaquoddy and to strengthen the sense of community in the belief that this approach will reduce family problems, raise life expectancy and improve the overall quality of life at Indian Township.
"Our grandparents would visit homes in times of crisis, lending support and providing a stabilizing presence until the crisis had passed. We're trying to build on that concept and bring it back to strengthen the family," Martin says.
"We - the Passamaquoddy people - are going into the home to provide child behavioral services, parental education with young mothers, respite care, and individualized services for families."
Already, a full-time staff of nine at the tribal health center are involved with the project. An additional 25 community members have been trained to provide services to children part time, as families need them.
The goal is to develop a complete system of tribal services for children and their families, with coordination among the tribal leaders, social services agencies, police and the courts within the Passamaquoddy community.
The community-based approach is working, Martin says. Introducing cultural activities to young people has proved to be a vital component of the project, raising self-esteem and reducing behavioral problems among Passamaquoddy children.
"What we've found is when students are engaged in those types of activities, behavioral problems are minimal, virtually non-existent," Martin says. "The children feel more comfortable. Hopefully by fostering that concept, they will see they can do just about anything they want if they put their minds to it."
"We Remember" is an outgrowth of a program originally initiated by Wings For Children and Families, a Bangor mental health agency.
In early 1996, the agency's executive director visited Indian Township to assess the need for services in the community. Based on that visit, the tribe applied for and received a $375,000 grant from the agency to initiate a system of community mental health services for parents and children.
In October, the tribe used that initial seed money to win the $6.9 million federal Health and Human Services grant, which runs through 2002.
The money provides for the vital link with the UMaine School of Social Work, which Martin and Werrbach hope will lead to further collaboration between the Passamaquoddy and the University through education and outreach services.
The School will help to ensure the success of "We Remember" through ongoing evaluation of programs and services. Organizers hope such feedback will strengthen the project, enabling the tribe to leverage the additional funds needed to sustain it beyond the five-year life of the current grant.
"The School of Social Work provides a mechanism for working closely with the tribe to increase the number of professionals who can work closely with residents," Werrbach says. "A lot of what we're trying to do is to build a sense of trust between the tribal community and the School - a place where Native students can come and feel comfortable."