Look Back to Move Forward

how historic institutional policies and systems impact People we serve.

Karen M. LaneDisability Rights Wisconsin&C.J. DoxtaterEnd Domestic Abuse Wisconsin

February 24-25, 2014

What is Historical Trauma? Trauma and trauma responses

experienced by groups & individuals to repeated oppression upon the cultural & personal values.

◦Oppression: an act, state or feeling of being oppressed.

◦Cumulative psychological wounding over the lifespan and generations.

◦Resulting in Historical Unresolved Grief.

Historical Trauma ResponseHistorical Trauma Response is the

response to massive group trauma.

Observed among Native American populations, African Americans and Holocaust survivors and descendants.

Proposition: ◦Historical Trauma Response also

exists among people with psychiatric disabilities and other disability groups.

What relevance does understanding HT have for New Horizons?

Training goals:◦to provide a framework for

understanding “Sanctuary Trauma”, and

◦to recognize that understanding Historical Trauma will help us realize that Sanctuary Trauma does not happen in a vacuum.

My Grandpa Bonnin – who started me on the journey of understanding historical trauma

Grandpa told me horrific stories of his experiences while in boarding school.

Historical Trauma and People with DisabilitiesMany years later, I was diagnosed with

schizoaffective disorder while experiencing domestic violence.

I was removed from my home. I was forcibly medicated. I was forced to live in a group home that was in

another town on the other side of the county.Everything I did and said was written down as if

everything I did and said was not normal. I was very frightened in this unfamiliar situation

and place. I became skeptical of the mental health system

and domestic violence services and their ability to provide assistance to me.

Things that make you go hmmm…

A challenge was voiced:◦How has historical trauma impacted

people with disabilities?◦How is that impact manifested today? ◦How is historical trauma promulgated

currently and passed down intergenerationally?

Asylum and Boarding School: A Comparison

Appleton County Asylum for the Insane

Indian School- Sherman Institute Riverside, CA

From Wikipedia

From www.calie.org

Waverly Hills SanatoriumLouisville, KY

Boy’s dormitory Santa Fe Indian School, 1906

Photos from Wikipedia

A Comparison continued…

Mass Murder

Hadamar Hospital, GermanyThird Reich “Useless Eaters”

Wounded Knee Massacre

Hadamar Hospital photo courtesy of the Holocaust Museum. Massacre at Wounded Knee courtesy of Wikipedia.

Mass DeathCentral State Hospital Cemetery

Photos courtesy of Wikipedia.

Haskell Boarding School Cemetery

Uncollected Cremains

Disrespect for the dead.

Native American Burial Ground -- park with picnic & playground in Rice Lake, WI

Disrespect for the dead

What are cultures of disabilities, i.e., Disability Culture?

People with all different kinds of disabilities sharing a lot of things in common.

Most people with disabilities do not have parents with disabilities.

Historical trauma is transmitted by laws, policies, and social mores more than by ethnic or familial transmission.

ACE studies: can be transmitted via familial intergenerational transmission and epigenetics.

It is learned by individual and collective experiences.

Historical Trauma: A Broad Comparison

First Contact/Invasion/War Period

Subjugation/Reservation/ Boarding School Period

Forced Relocation/ Termination Period-- Yellow Horse Brave Heart (2000)

Neglect/Killing Period Poor House/Work

House/ Asylum/Institutionalization Period

Deinstitutionalization/ Community Treatment

Native American People with Disabilities

Oppressor/Parens Patriae

Oppressed

Subjugation

Physical/Psychological

Violence

EconomicDestructio

n

Cultural Disposition

Segregation/Displacement

1st Group

2nd Group

Acute & ChronicForced Treatment

Loss of resources Loss of legal rights

Loss of cultural roles, language, religion, etc.

Boarding SchoolAsylumCongregate settings

FIRST OR PRIMARY GENERATION

1st contact

MA

SS

TR

AU

MA

Healing

Resilience

Spirituality

Values

Recovery

First or Primary Generation

Secon

dary

or S

ub

seq

uen

t g

en

era

tion

s

Physical Psychological Social

Trauma Response

Horizontal oppressionVertical Oppression

Past -----------------------Present

Population

Individual

--------------------------------

Life Course

Life Stage---

------

------

--

--

ChronicEvent -----------------------

Sanctuary Trauma

Socia

l Discrim

inatio

n

Historical Policies

Impact of disability/ableism/racism

Crazy-making4

Modes of TransmissionPsychologicalGeneticEnvironmentalPsycho-socialSocial/Economic/Political SystemsLegal & Social DiscriminationMicro-aggression

Historical Trauma Today: Why It Matters

•How might the experience of Crazy-making4 impact people you work with today?

•Lack of trust in government and government-funded public services, including domestic violence programs and human service programs.

•Domestic violence and disability service agencies can be experienced or perceived as just another agency to transmit betrayal/historical trauma.

Some Questions for New Horizons to Consider How might historic and current institutionalization

policy and practice impact individuals you serve?

Are your staff aware of HT and its impact?

Consider how forced treatment and compliance impact people with disabilities and their approach to helping relationships…how might they perceive your help?

Does your organization consider, assess, and prepare staff regarding HT and HT response in the people you serve?

Who defines what is abusive and violent towards the individuals seeking your services? Have you considered sanctuary or betrayal trauma is a form of violence?

Confronting & Transcending Historical Trauma

Embrace and encourage self-determination and self-actualization through:

◦Tribal/Group ritual, language, and traditions;

◦Self-determination;

◦Discovering your own stories and inventing new ones; and

◦Practicing one’s own religion/spirituality.

Examples of a Group Activity to Transcend Historical Trauma

Mad Pride Reclaiming Dignity and Culture Intentional Peer Support

United Nations officially recognized the use of institutionalization, forced treatments, and use of restraints and seclusion on people with disabilities as torture.◦ -- March 4, 2013.

Examples of a Group Activity to Transcend Historical Trauma continued…

White Bison Society◦- Minnesota Initiative

Critical Thinking Centers◦- Canadian Tribal Initiative

In Closing…Historical Trauma is not only about what

happened in the past.It’s part of a person’s overall framework

that impacts:◦how they may interact with us, ◦how we – together -- navigate the use of

power in our relationships, and consequently ◦how accessible our services are to achieve the

individual’s identified outcomes.By being trauma-informed, you will

reduce re-traumatizing individuals who seek your services and increase safety.

Thank you!