This Wellness Program was designed to give children the life skills needed for the prevention of suicide and to break the cycle of alcohol/drug addictions, as well as to give children a strong positive Native American identity, and the knowledge to make healthy choices. Oceti Wakan has developed a series of workbooks that are designed for use by children from 2nd grade to 8th grade, although the series is valuable for other ages. This culturally-based curriculum has a medicine wheel/whole body approach. Students are asked to see themselves as having four bodies: a physical one, and emotional, spiritual and mental bodies as well, each as important as the other. Our goal is to guide our beloved young people to learn the life skill tools needed to make healthy choices to ensure they live their best and healthiest life. Our curriculum’s focus is to help them understand they are each a sacred and noble being, a gift from the Creator, deserving of love and respect – and that their culture is a gift as well.
Examples of some of the things we cover:
Oceti Wakan is a non profit organization on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.