How CAM™ Heals Historical Trauma and Communcal Grief

Grief is complex. Communal grieving, loss, and healing is not done over a few days, it takes continued practice, purpose, and process. It can take time to cope with the intergenerational heartache, confusion, shock, and disbelief that an individual, family, and people experience. Historical grief can look like perpetual communal unwellness and loss(es) through suicide, homicide, overdose, distrust, and family dysfunction. Grief lives amongst our communities as a silent wounding. Traditional mental health practices often fall short of addressing the systemic losses felt from colonial and historical traumas, leaving few ways to define this collective experience.

In this presentation we will discuss reclaiming our Indigenous healing ways for radical communal grief work through practice, pedagogy, data sovereignty, and data storytelling. Participants will be invited to consider the possibilities of community-led wellness through the Community Activated Medicine (CAM™) Framework™, a Practice-Based Generating Evidence data gathering approach, and agency-led community-based research practices that inform to activate wellness. This will amplify our collective Indigenous voices, post traumatic wisdoms, and reduce re-traumatization and communal grief.