Lisa Nelson (Tlingit/Eyak) is the Resilience Circles Director at Spruce Root, Home Planet Fund’s partner in Southeast Alaska.
Spruce Root’s vision is to “amplify our Haida, Tlingit, and Tsimshian ancestral imperative to ensure Southeast Alaska thrives for future generations.”
As a Community Development Financial Institution, their mission is to be “a driver of a regenerative economy across Southeast Alaska so communities can forge futures grounded in this uniquely Indigenous place.”
Resilience Circles is an entrepreneurial program designed for and by Indigenous people that focuses on cultural, ecological and economic prosperity with purpose.
Spruce Root’s Resilience Circles erase any separation from personal well-being, healing, economics, and community; treating each of them as vitally important.
“Our goal is to strengthen the capacities of Indigenous enterprises for ecosystem guardianship, long-term economic resilience, comprehensive wellbeing, and community mental health,” Lisa explained while speaking with us from her home city of Áakʼw Ḵwáan (Juneau).
Driven by her passion for creating positive change within communities, Lisa continues to hone her expertise in addressing trauma in Native communities, where she strives to promote healing and growth. She works to empower individuals to overcome adversity and build resilience.
“A core tenant of my work is learning and evolving,” she explained, given that during the time of our conversation Lisa was piloting the first Resilience Circles cohort.
An example of this is her having organized a “Heal the Healers” retreat, alongside continuing intergenerational healing work.
“During that retreat the group really bonded from their shared experience.”
Regular cohort calls with groups she works with focus on topics ranging from personal finance planning, to mind-body wellness, to language and ceremony to medicinal plants, among many others.
“For cultural wellness, relationship building is key. We’ve spent a lot of time on this as a team, looking at what is hurt, what causes it, and how do you heal?”
There is an opening ceremony at every retreat, cultural wellness activities with language and storytelling, a group song (You Are a Precious Child of the Earth), and a closing ceremony.
“Folks can call out to spirits to be present, share who you called in and why, men often cry. Trust building is critical for cementing the group.”
The retreats also include storytelling and cold-water dipping, which help people “shed what no longer serves. We call on water spirits for clarity, as we move through four dips in the water, which is also traditional strength training for the Tlingit.”
Silent meditation is a regular part of the retreats, which attendees use for thanking everyone who helped them on their journey. Drumming is also used throughout the retreat.
Lisa explained that one of the main challenges was the speed with which this work needed to be instituted. From her perspective, it can’t happen quickly enough.
Nevertheless, she is amazed at how invested most of the retreat participants are.
“Every session ran over, even after a long day. The participants are so interested, they are so hungry to learn and are very committed to one another.”
During the retreats, subsistence food from participants’ villages is brought in to cook, share, and eat together.
A reflexologist and massage therapist are present to assist.
“We work to bring our best selves into everything we do,” she explained. “This infuses the underlying belief in this program.”
“It only makes sense to offer healing for the community. This has a positive spill-over effect, not only within our people but also in our rural economies. Healed people heal people.”
