Oklahoma Choctaw Works in Suicide Prevention Science with Native Alaskans
Lauren White looked across the room, holding her snack of seaweed mixed with seal oil, watching the Yup’ik and Inupiaq people eat deer jerky made by her Oklahoma family. The people in Nome, Alaska, had no trouble enjoying the deer jerky. It was similar to caribou or salmon they prepare along with most of their food that is provided through subsistence living. In the winter months, even the edges of the ocean freeze over near rural villages.
It is in these isolated places that Lauren’s research in suicide prevention brings her. Suicide is the leading cause of death among Alaskan youth.
“I am assisting on a project called Promoting Community Conversations About Research to End Suicide [PC Cares] with my advisor, Dr. Lisa Wexler,” she says.
This year, Lauren applied for and received the doctorate scholarship through the Chahta Foundation. She is currently at the University of Michigan, studying with Dr. Lisa Wexler, who is a leading expert in community-based suicide interventions with Alaska Native people. The work Lauren does is known as “implementation science.”
“Implementation scientists are explicitly focused on getting evidence, that comes from research, actually into the community and making it accessible for the community to use,” Lauren explains. “My work is about speeding up the process and doing a translation of the information. How can we make it useful and accessible to the community, something that’s going to make an impact for people?”
In October 2019, Lauren made a second trip to Alaska to coordinate training for community leaders of the Yup’ik and Inupiaq people. She spent time in Anchorage where these community leaders flew in for training from the Bering Strait Region, the northwest Alaska region, and the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta.
There were immediate connections for Lauren with elders who experienced the 20th-century boarding school-era. Many of them spent years in Oklahoma and had Choctaw classmates. They were thrilled to meet her.
Growing up in Idabel, Oklahoma, Lauren had a solid foundation to reach out for her goal of becoming a scientist.
“My mother, a teacher to her core, homeschooled all of us children on a few acres with a big garden,” Lauren says. “She taught us about Choctaw history and culture, and about Chickasaw NASA astronaut John Herrington. She implanted in us that Native people are problem solvers and incredible scientists.
“I’m excited to represent Choctaw people and study mental health for Native people at the top-ranked school of social work in the country. My ultimate dream is to gather all that I’ve learned and bring it back to the Choctaw Nation.”
Credit: Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer
