Dr. Stacy Rasmus
Ph.D., University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Cultural Anthropology
Research
What happens when all the tools in your toolkit have failed to reveal an answer or solve a problem in matters of life and death? The answer for me is – you do anthropology. As a Native anthropologist working with Native peoples, I have had to negotiate complex issues related to ethics, identity and advocacy. My research program is based on addressing the widening gap in mental health disparities among aboriginal peoples worldwide. I investigate Native North American culture with an emphasis on Northern Athabascans, Yup’ik Inuit in Alaska and Coast Salish of the Pacific Northwest. My topical areas of research include; indigenous suicide and suicide prevention; Native North American substance use and abuse; systems of care and tribal mental health service delivery and Native youth cultures. I also investigate the process of doing health research with Native peoples with an emphasis on indigenizing methodologies and community-based participatory action research (CBPR); brief ethnographic assessment and empowerment evaluation.
Undergraduate Courses Taught
- General Anthropology, Anth 101
- Peoples of the World, Anth 203
- Native Peoples of North America, Anth 320
- Contemporary Native Peoples, Anth 321
Projects
The People Awakening Project: Discovering Alaska Native Pathways to Sobriety
Principle Investigator: Gerald V. Mohatt, Ed.D.
University of Alaska Fairbanks
NIH: National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.
I was a research assistant and research associate for this research project that had the goal of determining Alaska Native pathways to sobriety through the development of culturally-based models of recovery and resilience. The research used a mixed methods approach with survey and field-based ethnographic methods and a participatory action research approach to accomplish these goals. I continue to be involved with this project as a consultant and evaluator for the PA/CBPR projects that have followed from this program. http://www.hss.state.ak.us/abada/pdf/peopleawaken_uaf0807.pdf
Publications:
1. Rasmus, S.M., Orr, E. & Atuk, A. (2004) The People Awakening Project Jukebox
FOLLOW THIS LINK TO LISTEN TO THE PA STORIES!
http://canhr.uaf.edu/Research/PeopleAwakening/htm/home.htm
2. Mohatt, G.V. & Rasmus, S.M. (2005). “My May to Myself”: Preserving the Healing Power of Voice in a Community-based Participatory Research Project on Alaska Native Pathways to Sobriety. In R. O. van Everdingen, (Ed.). Proceedings of the 14th Annual Inuit Studies Conference. Calgary, Toronto: The Arctic Institute of North American, University of Calgary.
http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/aina/14thISCProceedings.pdf
3. Mohatt, G.V., Rasmus, S.M., Thomas, L., Allen, J., Hazel, K., Marlatt, G.A., The People Awakening Team. (2008). Risk, Resilience, and Natural Recovery: A Model of Recovery from Alcohol Abuse for Alaska Natives. Addiction, 103(2), 205-215.
Wellness Teams and Children’s Mental Health Research in Alaska
Principal Investigator: Catherine Koverola, Ph.D.
University of Alaska Fairbanks
NIH: National Institute of Mental Health
I was the Project Director and Lead Ethnographer for this research project with the goal of developing a culturally-based model of children’s mental health using Athabascan indicators of health and wellness. This research also had the goal of determining the efficacy of local healing ways including Wellness Teams and establish the wellness team model as a best practice. The research used field-based ethnographic methods and a community-based participatory research approach to address these goals.
Publications:
1. Rasmus, S.M. (2008). Indigenous Emotional Economies in Alaska: Surviving Youth in the Village. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
2. Rasmus, S.M. & Koverola, C. (Forthcoming 9/15/09). Those that got on the Edge: Overcoming Obstacles to Mental Health in Alaska Native Communities. Transcultural Psychiatry.
Elluam Tungiinun (Towards Wellness)
Principle Investigator, James Allen, Ed.D.
University of Alaska Fairbanks
NIH, National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities
I am currently an external evaluator and consultant for the Elluam Tungiinun Project. The Elluam Tungiinun (ET) intervention study represents the fourth phase of the programmatic, CBPR People Awakening project. ET is designed to establish a prevention trial to test the efficacy of the ET intervention in reducing suicide risk and co-morbid underage drinking with 239 Yup’ik Eskimo youth, ages 12-18. It will test the effectiveness of this culturally-based process approach to developing local prevention efforts tailored to the community context and needs of isolated, diverse, culturally distinct, rural Alaskan communities. ET will also monitor the sustainability and durability of the intervention’s impact on the outcome measures in the two communities that participated in the feasibility phase of the long-term project. The purpose of this project is to create evidence-based prevention practices for AN youth to reduce the most significant health disparity experienced by ANs and American Indians.
Lummi System of Care Initiative
Principle Investigator(s), Lummi Nation (Julia Ortiz, MSW), WSU (Stacy M. Rasmus, PhD)
Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Cooperative Agreements for Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and their Families Program, Child Mental Health Initiative (CMHI).
I am currently the Lead Evaluator and PI of the research component for the Lummi System of Care Initiative (LSOC). The LSOC will utilize the concept of lineage as a culturally-based wrap-around for children with serious mental health needs. My research program will establish Lummi healing practices as best practices for Lummi children and their families on the reservation.
Heading using the h3tag
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