Kayla Burns (Spoopi Akii), Amskapi Pikuni, recently joined NNCTC as a Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Specialist. Located in her home community in the Blackfeet Nation of Northwestern Montana, Kayla has extensive experience in integrating Indigenous and Western practices across school and community settings to address the effects of historical trauma and prevent ongoing exposures to trauma. We invited Kayla to say a few words about how her experiences and interests relate to her new role with us.
I always like to tell people that my Western name is Kayla Burns, but my Indian name is Spoopi Akii, which means Turtle Woman. Our Indian names are very important and prideful for us. I’ve had the privilege to grow up in a culturally grounded family, where I learned about the culture of Amskapi Pikuni or Blackfeet people. Who I am is grounded, first and foremost, in my culture.
When I was younger, I was attuned to the mental health field because of situations going on in my life, as is true of a lot of people who decide to go into this field. My father struggled to use positive coping skills. Mental health wasn’t talked about a lot back then. We unfortunately lost him when I was a freshman in high school. That set me on the path to pursuing a career in mental health. I looked at my people and the things that we were struggling with and quickly learned that it wasn’t just my people but Native people across the board dealing with the same struggles. That’s when I first heard of the term historical trauma.
I started at the University of Montana looking to learn about historical trauma and to find a career that would lessen the impact of historical trauma. I graduated in 2018 with my Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, and that same year I started working for Blackfeet Community College (BCC) as the Behavioral Health Aid Coordinator. I was working with people one-on-one, advising them, making warm handoffs to other providers, and continually learning about and providing trauma-informed care. I also coordinated the behavioral health aid endorsement for students who were already pursuing degrees at BCC, offering an extra credential they got by attending trainings in behavioral health support and trauma-informed care. We trained teachers, nurses, and people across other professional fields. We also brought in a trainer from SAMHSA to train on developing a trauma-informed community. I felt like I was making a difference by providing trainings and being someone that people could come to for support getting through the educational obstacles of college.
After that, I joined my family on a project. My mother and stepfather, Lona and Tyson Running Wolf, were developing their nonprofit organization called Blackfeet ECO Knowledge. The goal of this nonprofit is to lessen the impacts of historical trauma by implementing projects that will teach our people the culture of Amskapi Pikuni or Blackfeet. We created learning modules that centered our cultural ecological knowledge, in order to bridge the gap created by historical trauma. For example, our relatives in prior generations were not allowed to practice their culture at boarding schools and were fearful of what would happen to them if they did engage in cultural practices and ways. A lot of people today know that the culture is out there and they want to learn about it, but they don’t know how to access it. We wanted to provide access to our culture for the people who wanted to learn about it, and then, once they had learned the foundational knowledge and kind of eased those fears they may have associated with it, they could decide if and how they wanted to be a part of traditional culture.
We ended up creating about 15 modules that we were able to implement as a pilot project for participants in the Healing to Wellness Court, using feedback from focus groups and advisory circles to inform the content. After they got through the first round of the modules with those participants, they gathered data that showed that participants significantly increased their cultural knowledge and then they produced digital stories of participants sharing the impact it had on them. It had great results, and the trainings continue to this day. I’m proud of that work because it really aligned with my goals and values.
I think that culture is pretty much the answer to healing for a lot of Natives. It’s not the only answer, but it’s a big part of the answer. I see it as an undoing of what historical trauma did to us. It brings these teachings back into people’s lives so that they are able to know their place in the world, and to know their history as Native Americans, as Amskapi Pikuni, or whatever Tribe you’re from. It has been proven that connecting to your identity and culture is a protective factor, helps build resiliency, and improves overall well-being. So we can use culture to heal by supporting people in relearning traditional healthy coping skills, like through humor, storytelling, beading, and song.
But there’s also deep culture, which depends on your own Tribe and involves connecting to your People’s philosophy through ceremony. My Tribe traditionally had different ways and practices to help create the sense of a “whole person.” For example, the societies taught you your role within your tribe, and the teachings from your elders taught you how to have a give-and-take reciprocal relationship, not just with your own family but with everything around you, while also instilling life skills rooted in your culture. When we were developing the modules for Blackfeet ECO Knowledge, we used the story of Scarface, which is an origin story for the Blackfeet people on what our journey in life is all about, and in turn, how we got our ceremony and our traditions. We tailored that to the modules so that the participant is like Scarface in their own way, and they learn the story of Scarface over the course of the modules.
From there I went to work for Browning Public Schools as a wellness teacher for 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. I provided Social-Emotional Learning and psychoeducation as well as drug and alcohol prevention education. We were given a curriculum that wasn’t culturally relevant, so I made it my mission to ground the lessons in culture so they would be more meaningful for the students. So, for example, when we’re talking about self-regulation, we may talk with them about Sweetgrass and smudging, of course noting that whatever their family’s teachings were on that topic was what was right for them. I also worked to incorporate identity-building skills within that curriculum, to connect students with a sense of pride in being Native American.
A lot of the struggles the students were experiencing reminded me of myself when I was their age. In my role, I could be an advocate for them and somebody they could turn to. I was an unconditional, positive adult who didn’t judge them. So a big part of the work was developing those relationships with the kids, connecting them to resources, and helping them problem-solve.
At around that time, I attended a conference and got to hear Maegan Rides at the Door present. I was excited to learn about what the NNCTC does, and when a position opened up here, I applied. I’ve already met so many people that I hold in high esteem. I’m kind of amazed that I’m in the same circles as some of my coworkers and the partners we work with. I’m excited to continue to meet people and learn from them and continue to develop my knowledge in teaching and learning about trauma and historical trauma and ultimately how to help people more broadly and not just within my own community.
On a personal note, it’s important to me to share about my kids, because they are the reason for everything. I have two children. My firstborn is Layla Rose. She was born during Covid and she’ll be four next month. Some of these things I’m trying to instill in her that will help give her these healthy experiences, I’m really seeing. She is so proud to get painted at ceremony, and she loves to remind me to deep-breathe when I am stressed. It makes me so proud. My second daughter is Charlo Reign. She is the namesake of her grandmas Charlene and Lorraine. Charlo just turned a year old in August, and she is everything that they say a second child is, wild and a little spitfire. It’s been a lot of fun watching her curiosity bloom and watching her personality develop.
When you go into the world, and you learn about our history, the impacts, and realize what you’re up against as a Native person, you start to see how things like intergenerational trauma play out in your life. I’ve worked hard to make conscious decisions in my life. Once I met the right person and we decided to have kids, I wanted to break these cycles for them. I’ve been focused on learning healthy parenting tools to provide them with healthy experiences and doing my best to give them any opportunity to connect with their identity as Amskapi Pikuni and Indigenous children. This is an essential way of fighting the impact of historical trauma.
