Wellbriety Feast and Gathering Returns
Attendees, including children, were invited to get creative and share what Wellbriety means to them and comment about living gratefully in their new path on a Wellbriety Wall Banner.
By MAAJIITAAZIIBIIKWE, MARY SAM
On October 14, 2022, over one hundred community members attended the Mille Lacs Band Wellbriety Feast hosted by Behavioral Health and the SUDS Department and held at the old District I Community Center. Attendees participated in a dish being set, a potluck food competition and singing and dancing. Due to COVID-19, this event has not been held since March of 2020. A few of the project staff stated the turnout was fantastic for the first gathering, and it was very encouraging to see and hear so many community members want to take part. Rich Hill, one of the project leaders said, “The community is ready for this to happen again.”
Asiniikwe, Carrie Sam said, “It was a very important event to everyone; a new beginning for our community.”
Theresa Sam said she “really enjoyed seeing the community come together and feeling more connected.”
Chandell Boyd, one of the project leaders said, “The SUD Department's work, vision, and events like these are about our shared journey of creating hope and healing. This event was a great start to pulling community back together.”
Rich added, “The community needs Wellbriety. We are all healing from something, not just drugs and alcohol. We all have personal work to do on so many levels.”
According to White Bison, the Wellbriety Movement “provides culturally based healing for the next generation of Indigenous people.” It is about going beyond. They go on to say the “Well” in Wellbriety is the inspiration to go beyond sobriety and recovery, committing to a life of wellness and healing everybody. Like White Bison's mission, Chandell shared the ”Mille Lacs Band’s Behavioral Health Department and SUD division are striving to energize all of the Band’s districts by providing culturally based activities, education materials, and teachings to support a healthy community, providing servant leadership opportunities and supports in healing from addiction, mental health issues, and generational trauma.”
Committing to a life of healing and health takes time, effort, and relationships with others. Our interconnectedness helps us heal; the more of us that are walking this path together, the healthier our communities will be. When our community embraces being clean and sober, the leaders and the children will follow. It takes all of us to heal our communities. White Bison refers to this work as creating a “healing forest” within our communities.
Rich hopes the other entities within Band government programs and even other community agencies take advantage of this opportunity and join at some point. "It takes all of us to create the forest,” he said.
Chandell serves on the Mille Lacs County Drug Court and was grateful to welcome Judge Kulick and staff to the feast.
Commissioner of Health and Human Services Nicole Anderson said, “It was super awesome for the community to meet the SUD staff in a setting where people got to know each other and came together as a community. Seeing our community come back together face-to-face in our center laughing, singing, and dancing was needed and a great evening. My staff look forward to hosting this and other events in each district.” Commissioner Anderson encourages anyone wanting more information on upcoming events to contact Chandell Boyd at 320-362-4238 and anyone needing behavioral health services can call 320-532-4163.
Bobby Eagle and Chandell Boyd, one of the event coordinators.
