Mobridge, SD — Tasha Peltier (Hunkpapa Lakota, Standing Rock Nation) is on a mission to help Indigenous communities reclaim their health and wellness. She wants to start with her homelands, the Standing Rock Nation. She seeks to find ways to center healing and wellbeing around D/Lakota values and ways of thinking, and to utilize the valuable knowledge that exists within communities to improve overall health. As co-executive director of the Mni Wichoni Health Circle, she has centered health and wellness around traditional ceremonies and teachings, helping create a new vision for her community. With the belief that Indigenous people need to create their own systems, not adapt to non-Native systems, she seeks to bridge the worlds of Western medicine and Indigenous culture. She understands this vision will require discussions that she must be prepared to lead. During her Fellowship, she will build her skills to facilitate complex conversations and to draw out new ideas and solutions from her community. She also will travel to and study other Indigenous communities that have built successful, culturally responsive systems of care.
What has informed your approach to leading change in your community?
My approach has been centered on the understanding that I have a responsibility to do things for the greater good of my community. I learned this early in my life because of our Lakota values that emphasize the Seven Generations philosophy. The idea that seven generations ago someone was thinking about my wellbeing and I have a responsibility to create a better life for the next seven generations. My parents also modeled these values and committed themselves to helping me and my siblings have a better life than they had.
My approach is also informed by a desire to look at the strengths within our communities. Throughout my higher education journey, I saw a lot of emphasis on the poor health conditions of Indigenous people, but I really want to change that narrative and look at why we are still here today. How do we focus on the things that have sustained us? Culture, language, and strength in identity are all examples of things that are important to help us maintain overall health and wellness.
Your life is being made into a movie, what actor do you want to play you and why?
First of all, there aren’t a lot of Native actresses out there. I want to be represented as who I am, a strong-willed Native mom and auntie! The one who will speak up when something is wrong, who will be an advocate and a safe space. I would want to be portrayed with that energy.
What is your favorite quote or expression?
Live a good life, be a good person, do things with a good heart and good things will happen. This is something that my dad always told us and it is something that I try to remember every day. I always trust that even when things get hard, there is something good that will come out of that.
