A rock formation about three and a half miles out of town on a beach on Zimovia Highway is illuminated by the sunny evening skies.
A weeklong workshop, put on by The Healing Heart Council of Wrangell, in collaboration with the Ashlar Center for the Narrative Arts, will be held at the SNO Building, Tues., March 27-Fri., March 30 from 7-9 p.m. in an effort to create a community self-care program for Wrangell. Ashlar’s programs are designed and grounded in the belief that intelligent “ordinary” people can function as educators in healing roles in their own communities.
Attendees will learn the neuroscience on how trauma affects the brain and the Traumatic Incident Reduction (TIR) technique used to help those who are interested in how to deal with life stressors. Any community member who is interested in the areas of community trauma; learning about the effects of trauma on the brain is welcome to attend. It will also touch on how areas of life are affected (i.e. social problems, violence toward self or others, drugs, alcohol, high risk behavior, and early pregnancy).
Executive Director of Ashlar, Andrea Steffens, selected Wrangell to fulfill her project requirements to receive a certificate in the Harvard Global Mental Health: “Trauma and Recovery Program.” Amineh Ayyad, a Palestinian filmmaker has been chosen to film the class and the storytelling portion, which will be held at the Nolan Center Lobby from10 am-5pm Saturday, March 3, 10 am-3pm and from 7 to 9pm on Sunday, April 1amongst the Killer Whale Flotilla Robe, the Frog Robe, and the carved poles and house posts.
The Healing Heart Council was founded in 2003 specifically to facilitate community healing after the traumatic loss of three members of Betty and Kjell Nore’s family and the untimely death of Ethel Lund’s daughter. Ethel is originally from here and the former President of Southeast Alaska Health Consortium (SEARHC).
Stan Marsden, carver of the Healing Heart Totem in Craig, gave permission to use the name of “Healing Heart” for our organization. It was appropriate since he had carved the totem and held a huge pole raising ceremony to help deal with the loss of his young son to a drug overdose. Wrangell suffered a huge loss on February 24, 2003 when Adrienne Nore, Shandelle and Sheryl Nelson were murdered, and Leah Comer Beck died a month earlier. The four women were from the Wrangell Tlingit Kiks.adi Clan.
Last year the Healing Heart became active, after the tragic loss of a young tribal member to suicide. A Fourth of July fresh venison dinner was held that was prepared at the American Legion Hall. This is an annual event, held in the spirit of the potlatch used by tribes to commemorate their deceased tribal members.
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