Veterans United Foundation Grant

With great appreciation, we share that Veterans United Foundation based in Columbia Missouri, has granted $6,000 to Lakota LockUp Project. The funds are being used for expenses related to hosting regularly scheduled Talking Circles in Rapid City, SD for family members of Native People who are incarcerated or who themselves have experienced personal and intergenerational traumas. The Talking Circle is a traditional way of bringing Native People together in a quiet, respectful manner for the purposes of listening, sharing and learning in order to bring some degree of therapy or healing to the mind, heart, body, and spirit.

Veterans United Foundation exists to enhance the lives of Veterans and military families, support diverse needs in local communities and across the nation, and is dedicated to finding ways of “giving back”. The Foundation is a non-profit charitable organization created and driven by the employees of Veterans United Home Loans. Launched in 2011, Veterans United Foundation is built on employee contributions that are matched dollar-for-dollar by Veterans United Home Loans.

The first Lakota LockUp Talking Circle was held on March 17 with 26 participants sharing their experiences, their struggles and stresses, their support for each other, and a first step toward healing. Why were they interested in attending? because of current unfair legal systems and racism or historic injustices such as residency in Indian Boarding Schools, loss of language, culture and traditions, livlihoods, homelands, and well-being.

The second Talking Circle met June 15 and featured a counselor (Stephanie Yelloweagle) who spoke about historical trauma and its intergenerational impacts. Sharing a meal together always helps build strong bonds, so the group of 17 participants enjoyed beef stew and tacos also.

Thank YOU Veterans United Employees!

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To learn more about Talking Circles as vehicles for healing:

Traditional “Talking Circle” or “Healing Through Feeling” National American Indian and Alaska Native Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network

To learn more about Historic and Intergenerational Trauma:

Rethinking Historical Trauma, Transcultural Psychiatry 2014, Vol. 51
Laurence J. Kirmayer, Joseph P. Gone, Joshua Moses

The Genetics of Trauma – Epigenetics and Transgenerational Trauma,
Washington State Magazine, Washington State University, Winter 2019