Organization: Native Strength Network
Background/Context:
Native Strength Network (NSN) partners with local church leaders to provide faith-based wellness and peer support, helping congregations address trauma, addiction, and family stress with Christ at the center.
NSN will launch a pilot project in Whiteriver, AZ, to elevate Apache community voices through heart-language digital storytelling. Heart-language storytelling allows people to express themselves in the language of their soul, making space for deeper authenticity, cultural resonance, and connection. A specific theme for story collection (e.g., youth mental wellness or recovery supports) will be identified during an initial Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) phase. This open approach will ensure alignment with what the community feels is most urgent and meaningful, allowing for authentic engagement rather than prescriptive direction.
Heart-language storytelling involves the collection of short video or still-photo stories where individuals share their lived experience related to the identified theme. Participants will reflect on the influence of faith and spiritual practices in their journeys. By centering Apache voices and traditions, this project expects to use storytelling not only as healing but as a powerful form of actionable insight to guide programming.
Research Question:
- What community strengths, structural barriers, and spiritual factors emerge across stories, and how can they inform practical next steps for congregations to provide healing and support?
- Two additional questions will guide reflective learning throughout the project, offering insight into how storytelling can serve as both data that can inform future programs and an intervention to support healing among community members and develop competent community leaders.
- How does heart-language storytelling impact peer support and reduce stigma around mental health and healing?
- Does the process of collecting stories build confidence and capacity in local leaders to engage in community-driven research?
Study Aims:
- Train 6–8 emerging leaders in PLA facilitation, ethical story collection, and basic thematic analysis.
- Collect 12–15 de-identified video or photo stories with culturally respectful consent.
- Create a simple, secure story-and-theme database and a 2–3 page insights brief.
- Host a community “share-back” circle to validate findings and co-design next steps.
Impact:
Short-Term: This pilot will collect lived-experience data to inform peer support, outreach, and NSN programming. It will highlight how spiritual practices and faith-based communities shape wellness and resilience, giving pastors and ministry leaders practical insights to strengthen future programming. By building leadership and facilitating honest dialogue, the project will also position churches as trusted places of hope, restoration, and belonging in their communities.
Long-Term: Over time, this approach offers a replicable, culturally grounded model for Apache communities to use their own data – rooted in story, tradition, and faith, to shape policies, partnerships, and resource strategies that promote mental wellness and equity.
Open Positions:
No Open Positions
Timeline: Subject to funding, 9-18 months