This toolkit is presented in four major sections, prefaced by collective wisdom from elders; it informs about the Sacred Circle, discussing the impact of adversity and trauma, and the healing of historical trauma; Section 2 discusses the implementation of the Sacred Circle, about trauma and the circle of life, traditional views of sex and sexual behavior, typical and problematic sexual behaviors, and how thoughts and words matter, with tribal community examples, and more; Section 3 returns to the Sacred Circle with stories, traditional teachings, podcasts, and a life graph; and Section 4 provides resources for keeping the center sacred, including principles for working with tribal communities and PSB, seven guiding principles from Lakota people, engaging caregiverswhen addressing sexual behaviors, factsheets, practices, and advocacy and support services.
This document updates the 2020 Restoring the Sacred Circle Toolkit; it expands the previous toolkit's scope to include stories about children who have received and benefited from treatment interventions and outcomes. The information provided specifically addresses the treatment of American Indian/Alaska Native youth and their families, and provides resources with culturally relevant services to address problematic sexual behavior among Native families and children. It incorporates potentially helpful lessons from dominant society that could be applicable to Native youth, as well as culturally specific interventions, which can feature ceremony and celebrations from traditional teachings as well as some newly developed or adapted ceremonies. The goals for this toolkit are to promote healthy sexual development and understanding of sexual behavior; to increase understanding about research on problematic sexual behavior (PSB) and inform readers on the risk and protective factors that are associated with it; present barriers and strategies for addressing PSB through tribal knowledge and existing resources; to outline systems and jurisdictional issues related to tracking PSB and referrals; to share local laws and policies about PSB; to clarify misconceptions about PSB; and to provide education for programs, schools, law enforcement, multidisciplinary teams, and two-spirit (queer) and trans youth through the use of factsheets, resources, and protocols.