Speakers: Shanda Poitra, James DeCoteau, and Angie DeCoteau, Turtle Mountain IMPACT
Turtle Mountain IMPACT is an indigenous women and survivor-led organization located on a tribal reservation in rural North Dakota. Our work integrates practical, culturally relevant safety skills with traditional healing and ceremony. This session will show how a community-led, survivor-led program integrates cultural revitalization with empowerment self-defense to help our community members heal from generational and interpersonal trauma and decolonize our relationships. Turtle Mountain IMPACT revitalized an Ojibwe Coming of Age ceremony – which was lost for decades because our elders were forced to attend Christian boarding schools and give up our culture — and integrated traditional teachings and water ceremony with education on safe and healthy relationships and sexuality.