Join Tlingit traditional healer, certified massage therapist, Historical Trauma and Healing trainer and ethnoherbalist Meda DeWitt for a virtual discussion of traditional healing practices and the importance of coming-of-age ceremonies, menstruation hut and women's rituals within Tlingit culture, past and present. This week, Tlingit ethnoherbalists come together to talk about traditional plant uses and community wellness.

Trixie Bennett📷yoo xát duwasáakw; Yéil naax xát site; Kaach.ádi áyá xát; Shtax’héen Kwáan áyá xát; Tahltan dachxán áyá xát; Nanyaa.aayi.yadi; Member of the Tlingit Nation originating from Kaalch’al aan.

Trixie (Kalkins) Bennett was born and raised in Wrangell, before moving to Ketchikan in 1990. Since 2018, Trixie has served as a tribal leader with the Ketchikan Indian Community Tribal Council and the Southeast Indigenous Transboundary Commission to advocate for clean water and responsible development. She also continues to advocate for improved health care and wellness for our people, for tribal hire and staff development, and Trixie is enjoying her time spent developing her knowledge and love of plant medicine and traditional healing. Ever since she was young, Trixie has felt rooted in nature and it is her desire to share the magic of plants as food and medicine to all people, especially the indigenous people of Haa Aani.

Lingít x’éináx Yéilk’ yóo xat duwasáakw. Dleit káa x’éináx Vivian Mork yóo xat duwasáakw. Yéil naax xat sitee. T’akdeintaan áyá xat. Tax’ hít dax.  Teikweidí yadí áyá xat. Hawaiian ka Norwegian yadí áyá xat. Kaagwaantaan dachxán áyá xat. Sámi ka Irish ka Finnish áyá xat. Kachxana.aakw kuxdzitee ku.aa Xunaa kaawu dax.

My Tlingit name is Yéilk’, or Cute Little Raven. My English name is Vivian Mork. I am of the Raven moiety. I am a member of the T’akdeintaan clan (black-legged kittiwake). I am from the Snail house. I am a child of the Teikweidí (brown bear). I am a grandchild of the Kaagwaantaan (wolf). I am Sámi, Irish and Finnish. I am a child of the Hawaiian and Norwegian. I was born and raised in Wrangell, Alaska but my kwáan comes from Hoonah. I live in Juneau, Alaska

Vivian Mork is an ethnobotanist and a traditional foods & medicine educator living in Juneau. She has been working with traditional foods and medicines for most of her life. She is co-owner of Planet Alaska Gallery which is a business with the purpose of perpetuating culture and a portion of the proceeds are used to create local classes for Alaskans. Vivian is a columnist for the Juneau Empire/Capital City Weekly and shares the column with her mother Vivian Faith Prescott. Her work has appeared in Edible Alaska, Capital City Weekly, Juneau Empire, Yellow Medicine Review, and First Alaskans Magazine.

A lifelong Alaskan, Naomi Michalsen, Kaasei (Tlingit) is Wooshkeetaan of the Shark House from Berners Bay, Alaska. Naomi and her husband live in Ketchikan and have 5 children and 9 grandchildren.

Naomi is the owner of Kaasei Training & Consulting, kaasei.com, a business she started to help inspire people to learn more about traditional foods, plants and Alaskan Native cultures.  She weaves her work in prevention and education efforts through storytelling, sharing Indigenous knowledge and value systems that are driven by cultural and relationship-based practices.  She has her certification in Ethnobotany from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and is a safe food and home preservation instructor and Indigenous foods chef. Naomi has served as the executive director of Women in Safe Homes, a shelter for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, director of Marketing and Economic Development for the Ketchikan Indian Community and as a Cultural Specialist for the University of Alaska Southeast Drumbeats Program.  Most recently, Naomi has helped to organize traditional plant and food symposiums, summits and zoom gatherings in southeast Alaska.

Naomi has presented statewide and nationally on the issues of FASD, Traditional Plants and Healing, Food Justice/Sovereignty, Intergenerational Trauma, Domestic Violence and Substance Abuse Prevention, Racial Equity and Healing through Honoring Our Stories, Women and Indigenous Cultures.   She has instructed at Culture Camps for Tribal Youth and Families and has facilitated community groups, classes, demonstrations and discussions on respectful harvesting, traditional knowledge and healing, talking circles, plant walks and numerous Women’s Groups over the years.

Naomi says, “True progress is made when we realize our connectedness, collectively work together, share our innate gifts, and recognize and celebrate our unique differences in order to be of service to the world.  Each of us can play an important part in making positive strides towards building a more tolerant and loving society for our children and future generations.

Daaskawaa Schleifman's Lingit name is Daaskawaa. Her clan is Naanyaa.aayi, she is a child of the Ishkitaan, and her family comes from Shtuxeen kwaan, Yakutat, Taku Kwaan, and the Teslin Yukon Territories. She currently lives in Southcentral Alaska with her family. She will be celebrating her 8th birthday.

Seclusion Hut: Traditional Plant Uses and Community Wellness