Creating recovery supports for Tribal youth and communities
Official title: Assessing Cultures of Recovery in Tribal Communities
Funded at Healing Lodge of the Seven Nations · NIH-11182702 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project builds a mental-health first response called xaʔtus to help Native American youth in recovery and their tribal communities respond to mental-health and substance-use challenges.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Healing Lodge of the Seven Nations NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Spokane Valley, United States) |
| Project start | September 20, 2022 |
| Project end | July 31, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $1,043,841 |
| NIH project number | 5S06GM146095-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11182702 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal participants are Native American adolescents and young adults from the partner Tribal nations who are in or recently completed residential addiction treatment, along with their families and local service providers.
✕Less likely to help
People who are not from the participating Tribal communities or who do not have substance-use or recovery needs are unlikely to gain direct benefit from this project.
What this research studies
If you or a young person in your family is from one of the partner Tribal nations, this project partners with communities and the Healing Lodge to create a mental-health first response called xaʔtus that fits Indigenous values. Tribal leaders, youth, families, and clinicians co-design the program so it reflects local traditions and needs. Teams collect feedback, stories, and measures from youth in residential recovery and from community services, then adapt and pilot the response across partner tribes. The goal is to strengthen local recovery supports and give families tools to respond to mental-health or substance-use crises.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could provide tribal youth and families culturally rooted tools and community systems to prevent crises and support longer-term recovery.
How similar studies have gone: This work builds on prior CIRCLE NARCH programs that co-created the xaʔtus model with tribal partners, though wider testing across communities is still in progress.
Where this research is happening
-
Healing Lodge of the Seven Nations
Spokane Valley, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Whelshula, Martina — Healing Lodge of the Seven Nations
- Study coordinator: Whelshula, Martina
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.