QME Interview
Danialle Rose

Ms. Danialle Rose (Cheyenne River Sioux) is a Social Worker, presently with the Indian Health Service
(IHS), whom I met at the 2008 Red Road Gathering in Vermillion, South Dakota.  Red Road is a
gathering that celebrates, among other things, using Traditional paths to sobriety and self-healing.  
Ms. Rose was honored in 2008 for her exemplary counseling and treatment work within the Native
Community.  I had a chance to chat briefly with her at that time, and I remember her solidly
assuring me that, “Creator knows what you need,” in response to a difficulty that I was working
through.  

Recently, I called her to talk a little about the particular issues of Historical Trauma and Substance
Abuse.

INTERVIEW

QME:  What is Historical Trauma?

D.R.:  It’s like the trauma of the Jewish Holocaust or the Great Depression…and gets passed
down to generations.  According to the 1948 Geneva Convention, Native American history
meets the definition of genocide.  

Technically speaking, Historical Trauma is the collective emotional and psychological injury experienced
over a lifetime and across generations.  Ms. Rose said it’s like when your parents, who went through The
Depression, save things.  And now, you save things, too, but have no idea why.  It’s passed like that.
  Definition Links:
Dr. Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart
American Indian Literature – Historical Trauma course

QME:  When did it become known and named?

D.R.:  It [Historical Trauma] was common knowledge among clinicians working in Indian
Country who knew what had been passed down among generations.

These inter-generational experiences would include, but are not limited to, fears stemming from:
- Seeing family members slaughtered; insufficient time to appropriately grieve;
- Government removals onto reservations; loss of Way of Life;
- Forcing of children into boarding schools;
- Relocation of adults into urban areas; loss of Community.

QME:  What kind of treatment is used for Historical Trauma?

D.R.:  Experiential and Psychodrama work really well.  It’s getting the feelings that are
stored in the limbic system out.  It takes 3 generations to get it out.  And then the 4th
generation is born with the feelings and is finally able to express them.  Different families
are in different generations.  

Treatment can be traditional ceremonies, or mental health therapy, or even religious
retreats.  Getting out the stored feelings is what’s important.  Memories of what happened
to ancestors gets passed down.  If these memories aren’t dealt with, they can be passed
down in dreams, until someone deals with it. I’ve worked with people who experienced
pain where they’ve never been hurt, and then found out that an ancestor was hurt in that
same place.  

There might be Hysteria, Psychic Numbing…and, yes, Depression.  But many people may
live in areas of extreme poverty, so they can also be depressed because of other reasons.

QME:  Since Substance Abuse can be a manifestation of Historical Trauma, let’s speak about that.

D.R.:  It only takes 6 months of regular drinking, more than two drinks a week, for the
brain to become addicted.  If alcohol causes a problem, then alcohol is a problem.  If it’s
causing a problem with your job, in your family, with your health, or you’re using excuses
to drink - like arranging social life around drinking - then it’s a problem.

QME:  Tobacco, alcohol, and other substances were used in ceremony by American Indians.  But we
didn’t have the habit of abusing these substances – correct?

D.R.:  Correct.  Anglos used distilled spirits…Anglo people had a long history with alcohol,
but Native people have only had 200 years to get used to it.  

Due to problems with sanitation and safe drinking water, Europeans often drank alcoholic beverages
instead of water.

QME:  I’ve read that women may be more susceptible to becoming addicted to alcohol, or may become
addicted faster.

D.R.:  Women may process it [alcohol] at a different rate.

QME:  We hear a lot about the Warrior Society, but women’s lives, too, were affected by European
contact.  Women’s roles were affected…

D.R.:  Everybody had roles before Anglo people came to this continent.  Once forced onto
reservations, women still had the role of taking care of children.  But then training
programs introduced in the 1930s, were mainly for women – for teaching, or to become
secretaries, etc…  Some women became secretaries in the B.I.A [Bureau of Indian Affairs], and
learned to act like White administrators.  They internalized being aggressive; learned and
perpetuated a punitive environment.

For example, instead of being understanding and using guidance to shape the behavior of others, these
women learned and internalized a strictly punitive approach to dealing with others.

QME:  What, in your opinion, is the best treatment for Substance Abuse? Is it necessary for a Native
person to seek Traditional treatment, or should the Traditional be married with an academic approach?

D.R.:  It was believed that one kind of treatment is good for everyone…  The new trend is to
have, available at treatment centers, an array of treatments.  So that what the individual
needs will be drawn from a whole array; that’s the direction it is moving in.  If a Traditional
approach is what a person needs or is interested in using, then a Traditional approach
should be made available.  Different people need different things.

QME:  Is treatment different for women?

D.R.:  Women may face different issues.  If she has children…body chemistry, [patriarchal]
oppression from a male-dominated society…maybe some sexual abuse issues.  Of course,
those would have to be dealt with.  More and more, we’re seeing it’s not just alcohol – not so
much Meth anymore…but Cannabis.

QME:  What drew you to the work that you do?

D.R.:  When I was young, one of the elders said to me, “Danialle, you’re going to help
people.”

QME:  Did you keep that in mind?

D.R.:  …If you keep in mind that you’re going to be a counselor, the Spirits will choose you
to be one, but then you will have to work out the problems through experience…  Once you
get through, you can reach back and help someone.

I know that when I’m working with someone who’s going to go deep into their feelings, I
can feel myself bracing – Oh, I don’t know if I can do that – then I try to be a help, by walking
with the person [through their pain].

There’s so much pain [going deep into feelings]…someone who’s been through it has to give
them hope. You can’t take people’s pain away from them, but you can walk beside them…

QME:  What advice do you have for someone who thinks she may be suffering from Depression,
Substance Abuse, or is being Abused?

D.R.:  Shop around and find someone they trust, and ask those deep questions…  Not every
clergy person, or spiritual leader, matches…

QME:  You mean, you have to find the person that you are meant to talk to?

D.R.:  Yes.  You have to shop around…  The Creator puts people in your path that you are
supposed to meet!

QME: Thank you, Danialle!

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