In more traditional societies—and I’ll use the Lakota as an example of that—where we acknowledge that there has been a wrongdoing, there’s a ceremony to take care of that, to ameliorate that, to sort of wipe the slate clean as it were.
[Lindberg:]
So does a modern, Western-educated doctor say, “Good, let’s have that ceremony?”
[Henderson:]
Many are not aware of the existence of those ceremonies, or the existence of those beliefs. That’s one advantage that I have as a tribal member—in understanding these things. I will and have made referrals of my patients to traditional healers. Some of my colleagues have learned from me, and have seen that that has been helpful, and so perhaps they’re not tribal members themselves, so they may have learned to do that. Most providers, though, who care for Native patients, I’ll say are not aware of that, do not make those referrals, do not think to make that connection.