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LIVE BEYOND: Two Feathers Family Services Connects Native Youth to Their Communities

PART 2 of 3 Part series of Lost Coast Communication’s partnership with the CA DHHS, the Office of the Surgeon General, and the “Live Beyond” ACEs & Toxic Stress campaign.

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Our past experiences don’t define us, but they can have a lasting impact. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are stressful or potentially traumatic experiences that happen before the age of 18, like having a caregiver who struggled with mental health or substance use, witnessing domestic violence, or experiencing abuse or neglect. When we experience persistent and ongoing stressful or traumatic events, or ACEs, they can cause a toxic stress response.

This can affect our bodies’ and brains’ development as children, and our physical and mental health well into adulthood. While ACEs and toxic stress may not always have a huge impact on our lives, for some of us they can influence our self-esteem, our ability to do well in school or at work, and our relationships, for example. The impacts may also show up in unexpected ways and situations affecting how we feel and act.

But most importantly, ACEs might be a part of our story, but they don’t define who we are or what happens next. We can learn how to heal and live beyond what happened to us.

Watch this video to learn more about ACEs and toxic stress, and how we can heal from their effects.

Local Resource Highlight

Two Feathers Family Services

Two Feathers’ mission is to “empower Native American youth and their families to achieve their full potential by offering culturally affirming mental health and wellness programs in Humboldt County.” Dr. Virgil Moorehead, Two Feathers’ Executive Director states, “Our team members serve as ‘aunties’ and ‘uncles’ to youth who are disconnected. Our North Star is helping youth give and receive love and care, to have agency over their lives. Ultimately, this requires staff who excel at relationship-building and are comfortable being vulnerable themselves…. Many of our team members, 60 percent of whom are Native American, have experienced the same challenges as the youth they serve…”

Two Feathers began in 1998 when several local tribes and rancherias joined together to provide direct social services to Native families and children. In 2002, under the chartership of the Big Lagoon Rancheria, Two Feathers became a tribal nonprofit organization. Today, Two Feathers has a team of over 40, which includes mental health clinicians, youth development specialists, youth outreach specialists, administrators, and administrative assistants.

Two Feathers takes a holistic approach, believing that outcomes are better for youth who have access to mental health services along with connection to culture and community. Building and maintaining healthy relationships is of utmost importance, and even after a therapeutic relationship might naturally end, Two Feathers youth and their families continue to be brought in and included in the Youth Leadership Development Program, cultural programs, and community events.

Two Feathers understands how difficult access to services can be for Native and rural communities and is working to broaden their reach to better serve these communities. A community center, offices, and transitional housing for TAY-age youth are in the works in Hoopa and there are plans for more offices and transitional-age housing in Eureka. Two Feathers believes in meeting youth where they’re at, and staff regularly travel to Hoopa, Orleans, McKinleyville, Arcata, Eureka, Fortuna, and Loleta to meet with clients at their schools, homes, and in the field.

Waitlists are long everywhere, but with LCSWs, LMFTs, ACSWs, and AMFTs, mental health clinicians currently make up around half of the Two Feathers team. The Chekws Counseling and Family Services program serves self-identified Native youth ages 10 to 24 - youth do not need to be registered members of a federally recognized tribe to receive services - and gives them the opportunity to participate in no-cost ongoing individual psychotherapy, equine therapy, crisis counseling, and family therapy. Decolonization is important to the Chekws counseling program, and clinicians are trained to acknowledge and respect Native culture while encouraging clients to participate in cultural programming, understand systemic inequities and their impact on mental health, consider and challenge their own privilege, breakdown barriers, and collaborate with the community. Additionally, Two Feathers staff work closely with fourteen local Humboldt County schools, offering a variety of school based mental health services.

Two Feathers Cultural Programming works hand in hand with the Chekws Counseling program and offers many different cultural activities throughout the year. The A.C.O.R.N program, which stands for (A)ppreciation of our whole selves; (C)onnecting language, community, and culture; (O)pportunity and access; (R)elationships with others, and (N)urturing nature and spirit, provides youth with year-long programming to help them learn about cultural values and how they apply physically, mentally, spiritually, and culturally throughout our everyday lives. Some of the activities that A.C.O.R.N offers are Summer day camps, inter-tribal drumming, song, dance, storytelling, art, basket-weaving, dress-making, regalia-making, and trips to local cultural events (with transportation provided). Additionally, the Young Bucks program provides boys and young men with positive male role models while teaching them cultural traditions including stick game, fishing, eeling, and the making of eel hooks, drums, and sticks.

Older youth can join the Youth Ambassador leadership development program, which is offered to juniors and seniors in high school in Eastern, Northern, and Southern Humboldt. The Youth Ambassador program focuses on job preparedness, but also offers training in team building, public speaking, conflict resolution, and certificates like food safety and first aid. In 2023, more than 50 teens participated in the Youth Ambassador program.

In 2024, Two Feathers Youth Ambassadors and staff created a powerful documentary short titled Chími nu’aráriihkanheesh: The Healing Journey. The documentary explores the youths’ personal struggles with substance abuse and the ways that their connection with Two Feathers’ counselors and programming helped them on their healing journey. More than 150 local community members attended the film premiere in June, which included a panel discussed by the Youth Ambassadors who were featured in the documentary. Chími nu’aráriihkanheesh: The Healing Journey is now available to watch on YouTube at this link.

If you know a Native youth who could benefit from Two Feathers services, referrals can be made on the website at this link.

Services like the Two Feathers can be the first step toward healing. Whether you spend a few minutes each day journaling or dedicate longer periods of time to reflection, eating well, mindfulness, or building supportive relationships, know that every moment you invest in your healing is a step forward. Healing is possible, and you are not alone. You CAN live beyond the things that happened to you.  

www.livebeyondca.org