We at the National Native Children’s Trauma Center are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague and friend, Alan Ray Rabideau, of the Sault St. Marie Tribe of Ojibwe, age 53. He passed on May 14, 2024, in his home community after battling cancer for several years. Alan was born on March 3rd, 1971, in Escanaba, Michigan, to James Stephen and Arlene Ramona (Souliere) Rabideau.
When we think about Alan, these are some of the words that come to our minds: kind and gentle-hearted, caring, compassionate, genuine, helpful, passionate, committed, knowledgeable, generous, humble, engaging, fun loving, gracious, playful, a teacher, a friend, and a deep lover of life. He made friends wherever he went and made sure people knew they were appreciated and valued.
Our colleague, Shannon CrossBear, wrote the following tribute about Alan.
Alan Rabideau, Jawanodee inini, gentle hearted man, was a voice for what was, for many years, the voiceless; families that had children with social and/ or emotional needs. Alan and I began our friendship over twenty-five years ago. Alan cared for some boys in the community and became involved with the Systems of Care, a children’s mental health initiative. Early on it was clear that Alan would be a voice for families and their children interacting with systems: mental health, social service, justice, and educational systems. He made his life work about family driven, youth guided services in all communities across the country. While he was inclusive of all children and their families, he had a special focus on his tribal relatives.
We worked together on a field team with the National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health providing Technical Assistance to communities on how to be a family driven community-based service provider and how best to engage and retain family voice to define, direct and evaluate services. After the funding of systems of care had run its course in his home community of Sault St. Marie Tribe of Ojibwe, he continued his work as an independent contractor. Alans dedication to the work was often times a feast or famine endeavor. Despite those challenges he continued to provide a haven for those in need along the way whether it was a wayward youth, a home less young adult or a disabled neighbor. Alan spoke often of his mother and would often attribute this generous spirit to her teachings. He was grounded in the traditional teaching of the Ojibwe peoples.
This love and belief in the inherent wisdom of those traditional teachings led Alan to develop a training incorporating some of those teachings. The Four Directions teachings on discipline have had application in school, residential treatment, juvenile detention, and other settings. Through this and other work he found himself working with a number of Federal, State and Tribal initiatives as well as major universities. Alan was humble about his accomplishments and, as is often the case, an unsung hero in his own backyard. He was an educator and a skilled facilitator of change. Alan was quick to share his lived experience and through his storytelling could bring to life the practical application of the concepts he was teaching. Within recent years he found a home for his life work at the University of Montana when he joined the staff at the National Native Children’s Trauma Center. It was here that he entrusted the curriculum of the Four Directions with the hope that over time it would be part of an evidence-based array of services that could support families and their children. While he was serious about his work, he also had a remarkable sense of play. Whether it was a trip to the casino, sharing his love of sushi or an adventurous road trip, Alan could always be counted on to create a relevant story. He loved life deeply and stayed as long as he could. He left his legacy through the stories he created and shared with his friends and relatives. We are grateful and will remember. Through that remembering we will honor the time he shared with us on this earth walk.”
All of us have learned so much from Alan and we will keep his lessons close to our hearts. We are committed to carrying on his valuable life’s work, something we know he has always wanted. We have great love for Alan, we will miss him, and always remember him!
Below, you will find a few resources that highlight some of Alan’s work at the National Native Children’s Trauma Center.
Family Engagement in Schools
Alan took part in work for the National Center for Youth, Opportunity and Justice. In this short video, Alan talks about the importance of understanding background and culture when connecting with the families of students.
Trauma-Informed Practice Strategies to Support Youth Transitions
In this webinar recording for the Capacity Building Center for Tribes, Alan Rabideau and NNCTC colleagues Laura Guay and Lisa Stark present on, “Trauma-informed Practice Strategies for Youth Transition”.
Personal Balance Wheel Self-Assessment
One of Alan’s legacies was his, “Walking the Four Directions,” curriculum. In the development of this, he created a Personal Balance Wheel tool that helps participants self-assess the balance in their lives among four domains (spiritual, emotional, physical, mental) using an Indigenous Framework commonly known as a “Medicine Wheel”. After some work with Alan and his colleague, Shannon CrossBear, the Fresno American Indian Health Project adapted his self-assessment to create another version, the Youth Personal Balance Tool.
To learn more about the development process of this resource, take a look at this article, “Indigenous Youth-Developed Self-Assessment: The Personal Balance Tool.”
Culture Protects Us
This NNCTC Blogpost highlights part of Alan’s Legacy, the, “Walking the Four Directions,” curricula. It includes a short video of Alan’s colleague, Shannon CrossBear sharing some foundational teachings that are at the heart of “Walking the Four Directions”.