TRADITIONAL HEALING

Traditional healing focuses on the health and wellness of the individual in the context of culture and community. It incorporates Native beliefs, practices, and traditional ecological knowledge. This page is a portal to websites, databases, research projects, and narratives covering such topics as the use of local medicinal plants, the role of subsistence foods in preventing disease and restoring health, the vital connections between mind, body, spirit, and environment, and ways to partner traditional healing practices with contemporary medicine.

• Tools and Research

• Sharing and Teaching

• Our Stories

• Organizations and Programs

Click on the for more information about the link.

Tools and Research

AAAS Project on Traditional Ecological Knowledge
In October 2002, a new project was begun to explore "the intersection between traditional knowledge, intellectual property, and human rights."

Alaska Native Science Commission
The mission of the ANSC is to endorse and support scientific research that enhances and perpetuates Alaska Native cultures, and ensures the protection of indigenous cultures and intellectual property.

Alaska Traditional Knowledge and Native Foods Database
The goal of the project is to build capacity among Alaska tribes to take effective action to clearly identify and address their concerns about radionuclides, other types of contamination, and adverse changes in the environment. Sponsored by the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska Anchorage and the Alaska Native Science Commission.

Annotated Bibliography - Traditional Healing
Primarily unpublished literature on "Alaska Native Traditional Healing" which is defined as Alaska Native beliefs and practices on illness, disease prevention, and health promotion.

Circle of Healing
A traditional healing model developed by Robert Morgan, PhD.

Gwich'in: Social and Cultural Institute - Research into Traditional Uses of Plants
The results of this research are now available in a joint publication called Gwich'in Ethnobotany: Plants Used by the Gwich'in for Food, Medicine, Shelter and Tools. The site also includes the Gwich'in Ethnobotany Database.

Herbal Health Products—What You Should Know
American Academy of Family Physicians fact sheet discussing the safety of herbal products and possible conflicts with prescription medications.

HerbMed
This is an interactive, electronic herbal database that provides access to the scientific data underlying the use of herbs for health. It is an evidence-based information resource for professionals, researchers, and the general public. A project of the Alternative Medicine Foundation.

Medicinal Herb Garden
Located on the campus of University of Washington in Seattle, the Medicinal Herb Garden is a resource for herbalists, medics, and botanists of all levels. Access the information you need by using either the botanical or common name of the herb you are researching.

Native American/Alaska Native Traditional Healing - Focus on AIDS
A fact sheet produced by the New Mexico AIDS Education and Training Center with partial funding by the National Library of Medicine.

Native American Ethnobotany Database
A database of almost 45,000 items concerning foods, drugs, dyes and fibers of Native American peoples, derived from plants. Maintained by the University of Michigan - Dearborn.

Native American Herbal Remedies
Developed by the Cherokee Cultural Society of Houston, this is a list of Native American herbal remedies for various ailments.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge Prior Art Database (T.E.K.*P.A.D.)
Public domain documentation concerning indigenous knowledge and plant species uses. This is an American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) project.

Traditional Knowledge Digital Library
Traditional Knowledge Digital Library, from India, is a digital encyclopedia based on Ayurveda, which is one of the oldest systems of medicine (2500 B.C.).

Traditional Use of Medicinal Plants
Ann Garibaldi 's book is a compilation of traditional medicinal plant use by Alaska Natives from across the state. This website gives goals and objectives of the book, resource links, and ordering information for the book.

Sharing and Teaching

Understanding the Healing Hands of the Maniilaq Tribal Doctors: A Training Video
All images in this video are from the 1983 recordings of the Maniilaq Health Services. The original videos are referred to generally as "the Della Keats" collection. [streaming video, 32:40 min]

Alaska Native Knowledge Network
A resource for compiling and exchanging information related to Alaska Native knowledge systems and ways of knowing.

AlaskaTraditional Healing Panel Discussion [Streaming Video]
A panel discussion was held September 27, 2003, facilitated by Dr. Lyn Freeman. Biographical information on the panel members is provided here. Rita Pitka Blumenstein, TH; George Charles, Ph.D.; Kenny Gardner, TH; Jacqueline Jager, TH; Bob Morgan, Ph.D.; Augie Nelson, TH; and Mary Schaeffer. 

LitSite Alaska: Narrative and Healing
Professional Perspectives offers the views of health professionals on theories, techniques, research, and the application of narrative in health care and educational settings. Healing Narratives provides examples that demonstrate the therapeutic properties of writing and telling stories.

Our Stories

Beyond Kin: Social and Cultural Life
Ethnographic portrait of the Inupiat of Arctic Alaska.

Growing Up in an Inupiat Village
Ethnographic portrait of the Inupiat of Arctic Alaska

"Hands, Head, and Health": The Story of Della Keats (Streaming Video)
Produced by the Norton Sound Health Corporation.

Honoring Ceremony for Rita Blumenstein, Wisdom Keeper, February 18, 2006

Keynote Address - R. Dale Wallace, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry
Dr. Walker is the Director of One Sky National Resource Center: Traditional and Contemporary Medicine as Partners in Healing. 15:56 min. (Real Player needed)

Panel Discussion 1: Traditional Healing Practices: What We Know, What We Do, What Barriers We Face in Treating Our Patients
1) To honor Rita's life work and that of others who follow her path of Healing by exploring the origins, strengths, and contributions of their work.
2) To understand their efforts to bring healing to the people, and to explore the clinical, social, and procedural roadblocks that have been placed in their path. 1:06:50 min. (Real Player needed)

Living in Both Worlds: Inupiaq Women and Urban Life
Research among North Slope Inupiaq women living in Anchorage in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Native Voices: Native Peoples' Concepts of Health and Illness
National Library of Medicine exhibition examining concepts of health and medicine among contemporary American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians.

Traditional Healing among the Inupiaq: Importance of Caring for the Body, Mind, and Spirit
Slide presentation by Carl M. Hild, PhD, MS, at the 2nd International Telehealth Symposium on Palliative Care, April 27, 2010, Anchorage, Alaska.

Organizations and Programs

First Nations Health Council
FNHC aims to address First Nations health through a traditional, holistic model that has been recognized as essential in reducing the health disparity gaps between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people of Canada.

One Sky Center
National resource center for American Indians and Alaska Natives that provides resources, training, and programs in substance abuse and mental health.

Southcentral Foundation's Traditional Healing Program
Brings traditional healing practices side-by-side with Western medicine to further incorporate Alaska Native values, beliefs and practices for the ultimate benefit of Native patients, families, and communities.

Traditional Medicine Initiative
The U.S. Indian Health Service's initiative seeks to foster formal relationships between local service units and traditional healers so that cultural values, beliefs, and traditional healing practices are respected and affirmed by the IHS as an integral component of the healing process.

U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)  
Supports rigorous research on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), trains researchers in CAM, and disseminates information to the public and professionals on which CAM modalities work, which do not, and why.