Located on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, the Mní Wičóni Health Circle will strive to promote community health and holistic wellness for the Lakota/Dakota Nation by reclaiming, revitalizing, and reactivating ancestral knowledge of traditional ceremonial practices, medicines, foods, and all other aspects of Lakota/Dakota lifeways to improve physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. It is founded in the belief that true healing happens when diet and the spiritual and emotional state are all taken into consideration.
With Co-Executive Directors Tasha Peltier and Alayna Eagle Shield, this alternative clinic model is being co-created in consultation with local traditional healers, elders, youth, and other community stakeholders. Designed with MASS Design Group and powered by renewable energy, it will include facilities such as ceremonial spaces for healing, private exam rooms that accommodate families, and a traditional apothecary. A Mobile Clinic will provide access to care in remote areas and for those who don't have transportation.
A regenerative, community-driven farm will provide the clinic and its decolonized food and diet programs with herbal and traditional medicines and foods. There will be a kitchen and communal dining area for food demonstrations and workshops to build education around decolonized diet and nutrition for the patients, schools, and community. The farm and food sovereignty program centers around sharing knowledge about how foods can be integrated into a person's healing process.
