12
Smoke Signals
Stone Cold Joe Stone
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By Chris Mercier
BEHAVIORAL
HEALTH
PROGRAM.
The words don't exactly roll off
the tongue. But if you can find
a better name, a more traditional In
dian name, then by all means let Dr.
Joe Stone know about it. The doctor
is in the house, and quite open to sug
gestions. Licensed Psychologist, Certified
Addiction Counselor and new Direc
tor of the Confederated Tribes of
Grand Ronde Behavioral Health pro
gram, Stone brings with him an ap
proach that can be best explained as
eclectic spiritual, informed and
perhaps unique.
The Behavioral Health program is
part of the Health and Wellness
Center's Family Services, and Stone
will be treating families who have hit
rough times and stumbled into such
problems as depression, anxiety, al
coholism and drug addiction, almost
all of them related.
Stone is originally from Montana,
born on the Blackfeet Reservation 44
years ago. He found his way into
the field through an alternate route.
Formerly an engineering student at
Montana State University, Stone
said he was struggling through some
personal problems himself, and
sought help. His treatment made
him rethink career options, and not
too late thereafter he switched over
to psychology. Utah State Univer
sity in Logan boasted a rare Ameri
can Indian Support program in psy
chology, and Stone enrolled for
graduate studies there, ultimately
leaving with a Ph.D.
Following the end of his college
career, Stone moved eastward to
South Dakota where he worked as a
clinical psychologist for 10 years with
the Oglalla Tribe in Rapid City. He
now lives in Port Angeles, Washing
ton with his wife of 10 years, Deanna.
He came to the Tribe recently, some
five months ago.
Working with alcoholic families
and children who've grown up un
der adverse conditions, one would
think such a job could take a toll on
a person's soul. Yet Stone seems al
most unfazed by any of it.
"We're very resilient people," he
said. "We've survived ongoing op
pression." Perhaps Stone remains so level
headed about it because as a psy
chologist he is able to look at the prob
lems alcoholism, depression, abuse
and see their roots with remark
able clarity.
"We've gotten away from our cul
ture," he said. "We need to recon
nect, recapture our ceremony, our
beliefs, our love for Mother Earth."
Natives have become disconnected
Stone said, for a number of reasons.
But the most common problem he
has seen, and quite possibly the big
gest cause of most Native social ills,
is compounded into one four-word
phrase: Post-Colonial Stress Disor
der (PCSD).
The disorder is actually not unique
to aboriginal cultures. In fact it has
also been noted in the Aborigines of
Australia, the Maoris of New
Zealand, and even in Post-Victorian
Hong Kong. PCSD is, to use Stone's
words "the intergenerational cumu
lative losses of culture, language,
land-based spiritual practices, and
dignity combined with racism and
oppression."
Stone said Natives are passing the
. ... .1
i
HEALER Dr. Joe Stone, the Tribe's new Behavioral Services Director, wants
to see a return to Tribal roots and culture in Grand Ronde. "We've gotten
away from our culture," said Stone. "We need to reconnect, recapture our
ceremony, our beliefs, our love for Mother Earth."
symptoms of PCSD on.
"You have seven generations un
der tremendous depression," he said.
"And children being raised with very
negative feelings."
Basic history of the United States
shows that Natives and European in
vaders engaged in almost innumer
able conflicts, yet what is forgotten
and unrealized beneath it all is the
long-term psychological effects the
wars and subsequent assimilation
invoked.
After watching thousands of their
people die by assorted smallpox epi
demics, many Natives had to confront
the lesser known "boarding school
era," a time that Stone believes to
be critical in cultivating PCSD.
t Boarding schools sprung -up
throughout the country during the
early parts of the 20th century, and
many Natives were forced into them.
The objective of this was assimilation,
and not surprisingly any sort of ac
tivity that was interpreted as "In
dian," such as speaking a Native
tongue, was quickly banned. In
short, Natives were increasingly de
prived of their culture and thus iden
tity. And to top it all off, they were
basically given a confidence-crushing
final blow with the Indian Ter
mination Act in the 1950s, all but
assuring them that the United States
government considered Native cul
ture not worth preserving.
That era, Stone said, introduced a
few social aberrations that were vir
tually unknown to Natives, like
physical and sexual abuse, racism,
and the monstrosity known as alco
holism, all of which have sadly been
passed on through the generations
since then.
"Alcohol was introduced into Na
tive culture as a form of self-medica-tion,"
Stone said. "It gave them in
flated egos, which they needed be
cause they were so often put down,
through racism and being unable to
accept themselves."
Natives, he said, are "very suscep
tible to addictive behavior."
It is the same addictive behavior
that brings Stone to Grand Ronde,
and likewise forms the crux of his
mission in the Behavioral Health
program to build a program that
helps people.
Health Care Professionals Tag-Team to Build Program, Heal People
By Chris Mercier
It would be unlike the humble Dr.
Joe Stone to say he is alone on this
mission of establishing a model Be
havioral Health program. No, he has
the help of the resourceful Sidney
Brown, also a Blackfeet Tribal mem
ber, to help him.
Brown was hired one year ago as
a consultant to implement a new pro
gram for chemical dependency for
Grand Ronde Social Services. She
also worked in Rapid City, and came
to Portland in 1966 to work for the
Native American Rehabilitation As
sociation. As a fellow Certified Addiction Coun
selor, she runs her own private prac
tice in Beaverton, and on Tuesdays
works at Chemawa. Together she and
Joe Stone hope to have the newly
relicensed Behavioral Health program
fully staffed as soon as possible.
"Native people deserve the best,"
Brown said.
Brown is personally responsible
over the last year for instituting a
new DUII (Driving Under the Influ
ence of Intoxicants) program, a new
Intensive Outpatient Chemical De
pendency program and an Intensive
Adolescent program. She personally
Our task is to build the
next generation of providers.
We want to build a program
that truly helps people.
We're right at the forefront
of this healing process.9
Joe Stone
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Sidney Brown
believes that this program could be
among the best in Oregon.
"We have some of the best policies
and procedures in the state," she said
energetically. "This is emerging as a
model program."
Stone and Brown both embrace the
notion that inserting a component of
Tribalism into the treatment program
will likely produce favorable results.
Similar programs have been used
with other Tribes, in Klamath Falls
for example, with notable success.
"People respond very well to Na
tive methods," Brown said.
An example Brown uses is that of
the Cree of Canada, titled "The Five
Little Devils." People use their hands
to remind themselves of how not to
be. Fold the thumb, stop caring. Fold
the finger, feel inferior. Fold the
middle, envy. Fold the index, resent
ment. Pinky: jealousy.
"After you've folded all your fin
gers, what do you have?" Brown
says, holding her fist up.
"We're not only looking to provide
Tribal members with the opportunity
to seek treatment," Stone piped in.
"But we also want them to
reconnect. . .to look into their culture."
One way in which Natives have
been led astray, Brown said, is that
they have adopted the notion that
success and self-actualization is
achieved "pyramid style." That is,
they are taught to rise above others.
Yet most Native beliefs, Brown claims,
are grounded in unity, with everyone
part of a circle, a community where
neither success nor failure removes
them, and every person contributes.
Stone and Brown are hopeful that
more people in Grand Ronde will be
come increasingly receptive to their
approach. For that reason, Brown
has recently started a 'Talking Circle"
for women. Also of Cree origins, the
Talking Circle is a form of group com
munication where all the participants
sit in a circle, smudge themselves with
sweetgrass, cedar or sage, share their
experiences, and most importantly,
listen. The Talking Circle is held ev
ery Wednesday at the Health and
Wellness Center from 4-6 p.m.
Needless to say, both Stone and
Brown bring a unique approach to
their positions, and are eager to get
the ball rolling.
"Our task is to build the next gen
eration of providers," Stone said. "We
want to build a program that truly
helps people."
"We're right at the forefront of this
healing process."
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