Carving as Medicine, Grief and Loss,
Substance Challenges

In 2023, Tahoma Indian Center launched Camp Rosey, a culturally responsive trauma informed grief and loss healing program. 

 

Camp Rosey is named after a relative of the Tahoma Indian Center Executive Director, who saw a need to support Native youth in a community environment to heal and grieve. Rosey died in 2012, leaving behind a young child. 

Rosey was sunshine in the human form. When she entered a room the warmth from her presence was felt by all. It was rare that she didn’t have a smile on her face. She was the type of person who actually smiled while she talked. She had a sparkle in her eyes. It’s as if they too had a smile in them. She loved being amongst family and friends. She was a wonderful sister, cousin, auntie, mother, daughter and friend. Rosey had so much life in her. She was the type of person you just enjoyed being around. Her laugh was both feminine and extremely infectious. The kind that makes you stop and find out what was so funny that you missed. She was beyond helpful. She’d rarely have to be asked, she would just offer. If she could help make your day better, it in turn made hers better. Often folks never really live up to their name, but Rosey really did. Rosy means happiness and youth. She was all of that and then some. To have a Rosey day would mean that you aspired to make others happy and loved. So, when you enter Camp Rosey, we hope you feel love from the time you come in and have enough to take home with you.

 

Camp Rosey has two key components; a weekend healing camp during the summer for youth who are grieving the death or loss of a significant person in their lives and on-going support groups for youth and their families offered throughout the calendar year. Through the support of grants, Camp Rosey is offered at no cost. 

 

Camp Rosey uses culture, traditional medicine, and land-based activities to help children and families who are experiencing grief heal by sharing their story, learning they are not alone, memorializing their loved one(s). Activities are designed to help provide healing from trauma for those experiencing deep loss. In addition to these cultural traditions during camp, referrals to mental health professionals are also provided, giving access to ongoing support. The program ensures that youth have continuing opportunities to engage with their culture in their local community by providing warm handoffs to youths’ school Indian Education, the closest cultural center of individual Tribal Nations, and local youth non-profit groups.   

 

Theyou first Camp Rosey was held in June 2023 and included camp activities that combined grief education, information on essential coping skills, opportunities for relationship building between youth with shared experiences of grief, and emotional support—all blended with fun, traditional camp activities. The first camp included 26 campers supported by 24 staff and volunteers. The youth were BIPOC ages 7-17. Tahoma Indian Center had support from Native Wellness Institute’s LoVina Louie, Robert Upham, Melissa Meyer, James (Jim) Cubbage, Krysten Bailey, Rick Williams, and Dr. Margaret Johnston-Kitizawa .