JourneyPure Emerald Coast
Addiction Treatment at the JourneyPure Center for Native Americans
The JourneyPure Center for Native Americans is an addiction and mental health treatment program for indigeonous peoples developed with the guidance of the Wellbriety Movement. The Wellbriety Movement is a program and fellowship dedicated to providing healing and recovery from addiction for Native Americns based upon their own cultural principles. Simply put, Wellbriety means to be both sober and well. The focus is on whole person wellness by working on emotional, mental, physical and spiritual balance.
Like all JourneyPure treatment initiatives, this unique program goes beyond just sobriety and focuses on attaining wellness and wholeness. Achieving sobriety isn’t simple of course, but recovery is about more than abstaining from mind and mood-altering substances for a period of time. It is also about repairing the damage done by addiction and learning new ways of looking at the world and interacting with it.
What Is
Recovery from Addiction for the Indigenous Community
The mission of the JourneyPure Center for Native Americans is to instill hope and assist people in maintaining their sobriety and mental health by utilizing evidence-based practices and psychosocial education. Our goal is to provide person-centered planning services to Native Americans that emphasize trust, respect, confidentiality, compassion, cultural enrichment, support, and healing. We strive to provide a calming treatment environment that promotes abstinence, recovery, and personal growth.
The American indigenous community has suffered from centuries of intergenerational trauma and the addictions which often follow when people seek relief from it. The Wellbriety Movement’s teachings and curriculum are all designed to facilitate and nurture recovery by utilizing traditions and principles which come directly from Native American cultures. This serves several purposes. It relies upon the spiritual richness of indigenous culture to introduce the concept of the spiritual solution to addiction. We believe it also helps strengthen a sense of belonging and mutual identity, which is so important to Native Americans in recovery from addiction.
Wellbriety Program Features at JourneyPure Emerald Coast
Community Court:
We will assist members who are in community court to come up with solutions that the judge can agree with, to possibly shorten probation and maintain follow through with court order treatment.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT):
DBT aims to identify and change negative thinking patterns and pushes for positive behavioral change. Its main goals are to teach people how to live in the current moment, develop healthy ways to cope with stress, regulate their emotions, and improve their relationships with others.
Mending Broken Hearts:
Provides culturally based healing from grief, loss, and intergenerational trauma. Available for men and women.
Warrior Down:
This program links and refers individuals to community resources. This program also aims to prevent recidivism among individuals who have recently been incarcerated and are returning to society.
Mothers of Traditions & Fathers of Traditions:
This is designed for both men and women; this program helps parents realize their full potential. The emphasis is on getting to know the creator and developing habits that contribute to the growth and well-being of the entire family.
Medicine Wheel Teachings – 12 Steps for Men and Women:
A culturally appropriate 12 step program based on Native American teachings, for men and women.
Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP):
WRAP is designed to help individuals identify advocates and learn how to advocate for themselves. WRAP is a strategy for tracking health, periods of poor health, and negative and traumatic experiences. It also provides information on how the individual would like to be supported through difficult times.
Overcoming Domestic Violence:
This course is designed to teach the necessary skills and assist abusers in understanding and overcoming their violent behavior. The objective is to reduce and eliminate this unacceptable behavior to create a safe and secure family environment. The course is available for self-improvement or to fulfill court requirements.
Talking Circle:
The Talking Circle is a Native American ancestral way of teaching and learning. The Talking Circle gives individuals a safe place to share their emotion and feelings, without judgment. The Talking Circle helps individuals develop positive characteristics which helps maintain sobriety.
About Florida’s Indigenous Peoples
The JourneyPure Center for Native Americans is open to all indigenous peoples. Florida, where JourneyPure Emerald Coast is located, has a rich and varied history of indigenous cultures going back thousands of years. The Miccosukee and the Seminole are the two largest tribes in Florida and the only two who currently have federal reservation lands.
Historically Florida has been home to many other tribes. They include:
- Tequesta
- Apalachee
- Apalachicola
- Calusa
- Hitchitee
- Timucua
- Ais
- Pensacola
In addition to these tribes, which have mostly become extinct or were partially absorbed by other tribes, there are bands of native peoples who identify themselves as distinct factions within other tribes. Bands are most often defined by geography, for example the Oklevueha Band of Yamassee Seminoles. It is estimated that the indigenous population of Florida was greater than 100,000 people when Juan Ponce de León landed there in 1513.
The current Native American population of Florida is about 55,655 (as of 2020) but this is out of a total of 21.22 million Floridians. This all the more reason why efforts to preserve and promote America’s indigenous cultures are so important. There are currently 574 Federally Recognized Tribes in the United States, as of January 28, 2022. But there are a number of other tribes which have not yet received federal recognition or are in the process of petitioning the federal government for this recognition.
The entire JourneyPure family has deep reverence and respect for America’s indigenous cultures. We hope that making the Wellbriety Movement curriculum available at JourneyPure Center for Native Americans will help play a part in broadening access to recovery and clinical services for addiction for Native Americans seeking help.
