Canvas Health is proud to recognize Native American Heritage Month and honor the significant contributions the first Americans made to the establishment and growth of the U.S.
One of the ways in which Canvas Health works with federally recognized Tribal Nations is through our Suicide Prevention Program Tribal Liaison, Adam Preuss. Adam is a member of Upper Sioux Community, and acts as the Suicide Prevention Program’s Tribal Liaison for the four Dakota Communities: Upper Sioux, Lower Sioux, Shakopee Mdewakaton Sioux, and Prairie Island.
Adam has been with our suicide prevention program for over five years. In his role, Adam provides research- and evidence-based culturally responsive presentations as well as Question, Persuade and Refer (QPR) suicide prevention trainings.
Adam has done extensive work to increase engagement in the suicide prevention program through teaching mental health skills and activities. Activities include leading foraging events where he will take a group into the woods to work on identifying plants and mushrooms. In the winter, he facilitates painting classes.
“It feels good to be self-sufficient. Taking care of yourself and being mindful of your mental health is really suicide prevention if you think about it,” Adam said.
One of the coalitions he founded, the Upper Minnesota Suicide River Valley Suicide Prevention Coalition, adopted a highway, which helps the group make personal contributions to a cleaner environment. He also is working on a crisis prevention procedure manual in conjunction with and for “Pact for Families” in
Willmar, Minn.
Recently, Adam worked with the Middle School Native Club at the Montevideo School to paint a mural. The mural depicts Traditional, Grass, Fancy, Fancy Shawl, and Jingle Dress dancers.
Contact Tribal Liaison Adam Preuss at apreuss@hsicrisis.org.
Learn more about Canvas Health’s Suicide Prevention Program here.
Canvas Health acknowledges that our clinics are on Indigenous lands, which are the historical, ancestral, and contemporary homelands of eleven federally recognized Dakota and Ojibwe tribal nations throughout Minnesota. Mni Sota (the water that reflects the sky) is centered as the birthplace for the Dakota, with Bdote (where the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers meet) and Bde Wakan (Spirit Lake, now Lake Mille Lacs) highlighted in Dakota creation stories. The Ojibwe (Anishinabe), who are the most populous tribe in the United States, occupy land around the entire Great Lakes, including in Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ontario (Read more: Minnesota Historical Society).
This article was researched and written by Emily Johnson, MSW, LICSW as a part of the Canvas Health Cultural Diversity Committee’s efforts to highlight culturally relevant work within our agency.