Funding Area: Health
Founded in 1974, Three Rivers Indian Lodge administers and extends alcoholism treatment services for the individual needing a point of new beginnings.
Native Directions, Inc., provides services through sensitivity and diversity for positive life changes, by healing, educating and empowering, we strive to promote pride, balance and independence for the Native American People.
Our involvement: The Marty Tomberg Charitable Fund has financially supported this organization.
Projects We Support
Three Rivers Program Evaluation
American Indian models of care are seldom recognized as evidence-based programming by practitioners and researchers immersed in “western” medicine or thought. This intrinsic bias restricts and limits funding resources available to grassroots programs, particular if grantmakers, seeking to maximize their resources, fund only evidence-based programs.
Three Rivers Indian Lodge was founded in 1972 by a small group of Native men seeking a place to gain a sober way of living. From its beginnings, Three Rivers focused on a traditional and holistic approach to healing and recovery by integrating indigenous healing practices into treatment modalities to address specifically the historical, environmental and societal wounds impacting American Indians and Alaska Natives. Their model includes a blend of treatment curricula from proven programs and a strong cultural component that includes drumming, beading, storytelling, and sweat lodges. The program has helped more than 4100 people and successfully graduated 3800; however, this model is not an evidence-based modality based on western medicine’s definitions, e.g., it has not been rigorously tested and scientifically evaluated to prove efficacy.
Three Rivers has established an unfunded relationship with researchers at the University of Arizona, experienced in assessing and evaluating alcohol abuse. These researchers have volunteered time and worked with Three Rivers to develop an action plan to study their program and advance their efforts to be recognized as an evidence-based program. The next phase in the plan is to ensure all baseline and follow-up data is accessible as a dataset. With funding from Tomberg Family Philanthropies, Three Rivers will be able to fund additional staffs to complete all baseline and follow-up data entry.
Support Dates: March, 2020 – March, 2021