Title: Executive director, Native Ways Federation
Education: B.A., history and American Indian studies, University of Minnesota; J.D., University of Minnesota Law School
Native Ways Federation Executive Director Carly Bad Heart Bull is working to encourage greater and more effective philanthropic support for American Indian communities.
While American Indians account for 2% of U.S. population, less than half a percent of philanthropic dollars go to Native communities. Many of the larger grants intended for Indian Country “overwhelmingly go to non-Native organizations and institutions,” Bad Heart Bull said.
The St. Paul-based Native Ways Federation, composed of seven national Native nonprofit organizations, seeks to activate and expand informed giving to Native nonprofits in Indian Country through donor education and advocacy, Bad Heart Bull said.
If you haven’t felt it yourself, evidence shows that the coronavirus pandemic is making the state of mental health around the world more treacherous than ever before. In Japan, suicides sharply rose in the second half of 2020. Nearly 10% of America’s youth have severe major depression. In the UK, nearly one in five working women suffer from mental health problems.
As a result, in the U.S. and UK, mental health help books like “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F ck” and “The Body Keeps the Score” have sold millions of copies in recent times.
Similar mental health self-help books are no less widespread in Japan. Artist and suicide hotline operator Kyohei Sakaguchi’s “Make Your Own Medicine” and recently-published “Depression University” have captivated Japanese audiences with a practical, lifestyle based approach to bettering one’s mental health. Japan’s roster of superb literary fiction also offers a fruitful and nuanced place to engage with complicated iss
People react differently to traumatic events.
This is true in the realm of emotions, cognition and behaviors. Emotionally, some may experience sadness while others feel anger or anxiety. Cognitively, there may be those who wonder how or why the incident occurred, others that attribute blame (to themselves or others), while yet others derive a deep meaning from the experience.
From a behavioral perspective, some people may choose to isolate, while others seek to enhance connection. Some may sleep more, while others find it difficult to rest. There are those who experience a decrease in appetite, whereas others find it difficult to limit their food intake. It is not uncommon to experience difficulty with concentration, nor to find oneself hyper-focused on specific tasks.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, observed at this time each year since 1949, when it was established by Mental Health America. The pandemic has had a profound impact on the mental health of people of all ages. It’s so important to reduce the sti