Seven Directions is hosting the 2023 Our Nations, Our Journeys (ONOJ) conference June 27-29 in Minnesota, a biannual, in-person gathering of 300 tribal and urban Indian public and behavioral health practitioners, leaders, researchers, and Indigenous students focusing on healing from the opioid epidemic. This webinar will outline Seven Directions’ core visions and framework against a backdrop of ONOJ, discuss ways to appropriately engage with Indigenous communities, and spotlight (1) the development and implementation of an Indigenous Evaluation Toolkit for tribal public health programs, and (2) other opioid overdose prevention resources and communities of practice for tribal public health practitioners as facilitated by Seven Directions.

In August 2016, Seven Directions emerged as the first national public health institute in the United States to focus solely on Indigenous health and wellness. Seven Directions is committed to engaging tribal and urban Indian communities in equitable partnerships to support the well-being of current and future generations.

A few learning objectives:

• Understand the need for culturally informed programming and evaluation approaches for, by and with Indigenous communities working to address the opioid epidemic and other prevention challenges
• Understand core Indigenous evaluation (IE) principles and ways in which IE can be used to complement or supplement standard, Western evaluation practices
• Learn about Indigenous community engagement approaches in behavioral health research and evaluation
• Learn about available resources and gatherings hosted by Seven Directions for continued community sharing and learning

About the presenters:

Maya Magarati, PhD, is an Acting Assistant Professor in the UW Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and serves as a core faculty in Seven Directions, A Center for Indigenous Public Health, a part of the Center for the Study of Health and Risk Behaviors in the Department. She serves as the Project Lead on the Tribal Opioid Overdose Prevention project. Maya investigates sexual health, community engagement (CBPR), global Indigenous environmental and behavioral health specifically tied to place-based healing and traditional ecological knowledge, and immigrant and refugee cancer and wellbeing.

Angela Gaffney, MPA, is a Senior Research Coordinator at Seven Directions, A Center for Indigenous Public Health. She co-developed Seven Directions’ Indigenous Evaluation Toolkit: An Actionable Guide for Organizations Serving American Indian / Alaska Native Communities through Opioid Prevention Programming and leads trainings with tribal health programs to implement Indigenous evaluation approaches. Angela also leads Seven Directions’ technical assistance portfolio, working directly with several tribal public health programs addressing opioid and other prevention issues in their communities through novel, staff-led approaches.