Centering Community, Indigenous Relationships, and Ceremony through an Alaska Native Collaborative Hub to Prevent Suicide and Promote Youth Wellbeing

Abstract

The Alaska Native Collaborative Hub for Research on Resilience (ANCHRR) engages Indigenous leadership at all levels in a strength-based study to deepen our understanding of community level protective factors in Indigenous communities, which are the collective influences shaping individual wellbeing across time. Overall, ANCHRR aims to position Alaska Native Tribes, Tribal organizations, and community members as the guides for culturally responsive research that is aligned with community priorities of increasing resilience and wellbeing among Alaska Native youth and reducing their suicide risk. Our approach brings together Indigenous knowledge and research methods that humbly draw attention to the solutions that already exist within communities. An Indigenous paradigm shifts the approach from a singular focus on individuals and their risks and deficits to appreciation for the cultural, community, and systemic ways in which community members support, care for, and guide their young people into adulthood. We describe the lessons learned about this unique approach to Indigenous leadership and community engagement and discuss the research processes that keep the relational heart-work at the center of every project activity. This capacity-building, mutually beneficial and relational approach offers new insights to knowledge development endeavors.