Kennedy Krieger Institute clinical staff and community members attended a workshop, “Native American Perspectives on Health and Healing,” on January 30 led by Tami Jollie-Trottier, PhD, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and a North Dakota-based clinical psychologist specializing in indigenous behavioral health and healing. Dr. Jollie-Trottier has developed “Turtle Medicine” (Mickinock Mishkiikii), an innovative approach to post-traumatic healing in which spiritual and cultural symbolism and Anishinaabe animal teachings are used to explore healing through art, writing and storytelling.
Westernized medical intervention alone, Dr. Jollie-Trottier believes, cannot produce the level of wellness required, after a personal trauma, to return to the healthy state of mind needed to function in today’s world. Her search for a complement to Western medicine led her to the Mickinock, or “Turtle,” teachings of the Anishinaabe people, who believe healing powers can be found within an individual’s own spiritual, cultural and creative energies.
