E - News
E quity, E vidence & E ngagement
MENTAL HEALTH, COVID-19 AND CULTURAL INTERCONNECTEDNESS
Submitted By: Lisa Cacari-Stone, TREE Center PI/Director
The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may be stressful for people.Fear and anxiety about a disease can be overwhelming and cause strong emotions in adults and children. Communities of color are especially hit with social distancing measures which may escalate loneliness and isolation from family and friends. COVID-19 is also fueling hate crimes and and acts of structural violence are igniting large-scale fear and outrage to America’s long-standing pandemic of racism. 
 
Recognizing that there is no silver bullet and that we are dealing with a broken system, long-term sustained vision for social change and racial justice is needed. Yet, how can we cope today and tend to a daily practice of health and healing? In response to COVID-19, the TREE Center Community Engagement and Dissemination Core (Directors, Dr. Lorenda Belone & Dr. Magdalena Avila) along with Lisa Cacari Stone (Director/PI) have been reaching out to ask our community partners “How are you doing? How are you coping?” Community partners shared many ways they are coping with the devastating impact of the pandemic. A common thread was the reliance on cultural traditions, values, and beliefs that keep us interconnected. 

This month’s TREE Center Newsletter (Equity, Evidence & Engagement) focuses on staying well by rooting ourselves in culture and resilience.  

Resources:  

NAMI COVID-19 Resource Guide

Make sure to take a look at the COVID-19 Resource Guide that NAMI has created both in English and Spanish!



 Physically Distant but Socially Close: Indigenous Resilience and COVID-19: https://www.uihi.org/resources/physically-distant-but-socially-close-indigenous-resilience-and-covid-19/

COMMUNITY VOICE
Nuestras Emociones- Bridging Culture with Mental Health Needs of Promotores de Salud
Submitted by: Anabel Canchola & Lisa Cacari-Stone

Promotores de salud (community health workers) play a key role in proving care to community members in the US-Mexico border region. They often operate as a bridge between community members and resources and buffer the “mal tratos” (poor treatment and discrimination) that Latino, border and immigrant communities experience in the health care system and in society at-large.

From 2010 to 2015, Nuestras Emociones led by Doña Ana County Health & Human Services, trained over 200 promotores in order to improve awareness and reduce stigma against mental illness in the border region. The 21-hour curriculum focuses on border-region attitudes toward mental illness and dispels common misperceptions and stigma about mental illness. Topics in the program include self-awareness and self-care, general community health worker skills (including de-escalating crises), community mental health resource, prevention and promotion, and stigma awareness and reduction.
EVENTS
Dr. Francis Collins: Home Edition Episode 9 with Dr. Eliseo Pérez-Stable speaking on COVID-19 Health Disparities

NIH Director Dr. Francis S. Collins and NIMHD Director Dr. Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable discuss which groups of people are being disproportionately affected by COVID-19, the factors that are contributing to these disparities, and what NIH is doing in this area of research. Watch Francis Collins: Home Edition Episode 9!
Institute for American Indian Research (IFAIR)

Tuesday June 2, 2020 at 6:00pm

We are pleased to invite you to attend, The Gift Each Day: An Indigenous Poetry Event!

IFAIR will stream this indigenous poetry event live on Facebook. As part of this virtual storytelling evening, poets from the Oak Lake Writers' Society, Saad Bee Hózhó: Diné Writers’ Collective, and the Emerging Diné Writers' Institute will share their stories and provide inspiration during this challenging and difficult time.
Please see the attached poster for more information about our speakers. You may join us for this virtual storytelling evening by logging on to any of the following Facebook pages:

A special thank you to our sponsors: the Native American Studies Department at the University of New Mexico and the Red Nation. Thank you for your generous support!

Click on the Image for More Information
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine
Two-Part Webinar: Caring for People with Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders in Primary Care Settings

Part I: Wednesday June 3, 2020
Part II: Wednesday July 29, 2020

This free public workshop will examine approaches to facilitate the delivery of essential components of care for people with mental health and substance use disorders in primary care settings, using depression, alcohol use disorders, and substance use disorders as illustrative conditions.

Due to COVID-19, the first two sessions of the workshop will be held virtually via webinars on June 3, 2020 and July 29, 2020. We are monitoring the evolving situation and will determine shortly whether the remaining workshop sessions will be held as an in-person meeting in the fall of 2020 or as additional webinars.

Evidence and Engagement for Advancing Equity and Policy

Friday June 5, 2020

Please join our Zoom meeting to hear from our TREE Center Researchers Lisa Cacari-Stone, PhD and Gabriel Sanchez, PhD about translating your research policy!

Click Flyer Below to Find Out More
RESOURCES
Resilience Is In Our Blood
An herbal guide to collective protection and healing during COVID-19

Now is the time for mutual aid, love for your community, and care for your whole self. May you all be safe, loved, protected, and divinely held"

This herbal resilience guide was prepared for the Sitting Bull College community by SBC community members, herbalists and herbalism teachers & students.

Click the Image to Access the Guide
Con Alma Health Foundation COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Project

Con Alma Health Foundation will be distributing funds to New Mexico nonprofits that are providing basic needs, including health care, food distribution, emergency housing and financial aid, to people most impacted by COVID-19. We will award grants on an expedited, rolling basis starting Tuesday, June 2nd to help vulnerable populations receive the care and support they need.

Access to applications will OPEN on June 2, 2020
Native American Relief Fund

The Native American Relief Fund Provides $575,000 to Pueblos, Tribes and Nations
in New Mexico for COVID-19 Response

The next distribution of funds from the Native American Relief Fund will be conducted through an open application process. Any federally-recognized tribe wholly or partly located in New Mexico as well as non-profit organizations that provide the majority of their services to Native Americans residing on the lands of one or more of these tribes or residing off-reservation in New Mexico will be eligible to apply for these funds.
Donate to Navajo & Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief

Help the Navajo Nation and Hopi Reservation during these challenging times. Funds will help with necessary items that they are lacking (toilet paper, baby items, food, etc.) as well as helping our their elders.
NAMI COVID-19 Resource Guide

Make sure to take a look at the COVID-19 Resource Guide that NAMI has created both in English and Spanish!


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