Don Coyhis facts for kids

Don Lawrence Coyhis (born August 16, 1943) is an alcohol and addiction recovery counselor known for designing treatment programs primarily for Native Americans. He is the founder and president of White Bison, Inc., a non-profit charitable organization devoted to assisting Native Americans who are affected by substance use disorders. In 1994 Coyhis started the Wellbriety Movement which aims to reduce ... among Native Americans.

Biography

Coyhis is a Mohican Indian born and raised on the Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation in Wisconsin. Both of his parents were survivors of American Indian boarding schools, an experience that left them so traumatized that they had difficulty showing affection. Coyhis grew up "a troubled child to troubled parents...Drinking was the way of life."

As an adult, Coyhis left the reservation and in 1978 went to work for the Digital Equipment Corporation in Colorado Springs, eventually becoming senior manager. He designed and taught programs on leadership and diversity. His clients included AT&T, Lucent Technologies, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management. ..... He joined Alcoholics Anonymous where he sponsored several "difficult cases," finding satisfaction in the challenge they presented, but wondering if he could do more.

Coyhis felt out of touch with his recovery group and suspected that other Native Americans felt the same. In 1988 he was invited by another Indian to go on a five-day fast in the Rampart Range mountains. There he had a vision of a white bison, which inspired him to help other Native Americans quit drinking. In 1990 he began doing sobriety workshops in the Idaho prison system, then quit his job in 1992 to devote his life to helping others recover from ..., founding White Bison, Inc., a nonprofit charitable organization.

Wellbriety Movement

In 1994 he obtained a small grant to work with Native Americans in Maine. He began meeting with Elders and other people in Passamaquoddy community. As part of their work they began working with the metaphor of the Sacred Hoop. Elders explained that the Sacred Hoop has the power to confer four gifts: forgiveness, unity, healing and hope. Coyhis then decided to take the Hoop to other Native American communities, making the first Hoop journey to 35 Native American colleges in 1999. He made ten journeys with the Hoop, logging hundreds of thousands of miles each year in an effort to bring the "Wellbriety Movement" to 100 Native communities by the year 2010. Before receiving a sustained commitment for support from White Bison, Native communities have to demonstrate a commitment to recovery by declaring a collective desire to break entrenched patterns of passivity, helplessness, and hopelessness. Once significant progress has been achieved, a community is awarded a handmade "big drum" as a sign of respect.

The role of community and culture in recovery

The term "wellbriety" is derived from a Passamaquoddy word that means to be both sober and well. According to Coyhis, "It means going beyond survival to thrive in one’s own life and in the life of the community. It means living by the laws and values of traditional Native American culture."

Coyhis also feels that historical and intergenerational trauma are responsible for much of the substance use seen among Native Americans. He argues that restoring cultural identity by returning to the principles, laws, and values of traditional Native culture promotes healing mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. ..... He frames this concept in terms of the "healing forest," wherein a sick tree can only recover if the rest of the forest is healthy. This holistic approach represents a conceptual breakthrough by emphasizing the role of the community in recovery.

Expanded mission

..... Coyhis’ model, known as the "Medicine Wheel 12-Step," uses a twelve-step program similar to that used by Alcoholics Anonymous, but it also incorporates cultural elements, including a medicine wheel, group drum circles, songs, healing ceremonies, the teachings of elders, and it does not use the AA model of anonymity. In 2005 Coyhis launched Warrior Down, a program that supports re-entry for Native Americans using a multi-faceted and traditional approach. Through a supportive team of peer support specialists, the program provides resources, programming, recovery support, recidivism prevention, and community referrals for those re-entering the community from treatment or from various forms of incarceration.

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In 2009 Coyhis received the Purpose Prize from the John Templeton Foundation with a monetary award of $100,000. The award allowed Coyhis to establish a Wellbriety Training Institute with the aim of bringing Wellbriety programs to all of the 574 federally recognized tribes in the United States.

Coyhis is on the faculty of the Alberta Family Wellness Initiative. .....

See also

• Alcohol and Native Americans
• The red road
• Native American temperance activists
• William L. White