Fostering Sustainable Collaboration within Indigenous Communities through Community Based Participatory Research

Fostering Sustainable Collaboration within Indigenous Communities through Community Based Participatory Research It is essential to support Indigenous children’s well-being in culturally responsive ways. One important approach is to collaborate with members of the community who understand the strengths of their culture, values, and language to support their children, particularly in Montana, where the rates of Native American students attempting suicide were nearly double that of their White peers (Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2019). In this paper, we introduce community based participatory research (CBPR) and its importance in Indigenous communities, particularly for research addressing children’s mental health. In CBPR, researchers actively engage with the community, as members provide guidance and knowledge towards a solution (Walters et al., 2008). Within indigenous communities, CBPR plays a fundamental role in cultural resurgence. Tribal nations utilize self-determination to combine Indigenous knowledge and ways of being with Western research (Atalay, 2012). CBPR connects research to community sustainability by focusing on collaboration, and developing partnerships that build sustainable community models for positive change, which can help decolonize research. In CBPR, researchers create meaningful relationships with members of the community, which allow them to build trust in order to foster the relationships important for social change (Tobias, et. al., 2013). Researchers must recognize that the process will be more interactive and prolonged, yet essential to effectively provide culturally responsive programs to support Indigenous youth. In order to partner with communities to address children’s mental health, researchers should: (1) recognize privilege and empathize with the community’s struggles, (2) respect the other view, (3) acknowledge community strengths, (4) allow both parties to share ideas openly, and (5) integrate traditional views (Walters, et. al., 2008). CBPR is beneficial for children’s mental health, as it bridges their culture to the research that affects their future