A house for healing: treating addiction through tradition on Tsuut'ina Nation
CBC
In December 2019, Stephanie Crowchild hit rock bottom. She had been trapped in a cycle of addiction and was in jail when a member of Child and Family Services (CFS) served her apprehension papers for her four children.
Two weeks ago, Crowchild and the same CFS employee sat in ceremony and prayed together at Eagletail House Society, a new centre on Tsuu T'ina Nation, which focuses on intergenerational healing through spiritual and traditional practices.
"For me, it was like this 360 moment," said Crowchild.
"It was powerful. I have a lot of forgiveness in my heart, because I had to forgive myself."
Crowchild, who identifies as Dene Cree, began Eagletail House Society as a non-profit in 2020 in her late grandparents' house, after becoming sober through traditional forms of healing — like ceremony, sweat lodge and sundances — in the same space herself.
Now, she hopes to help other women who are going through similar journeys.
"The home, it was grounding my spirit. I want to let [other women] know that this home is here. It's not going anywhere. We're an outlet for anybody to come [to] when they're going through a challenge."
People can come to Eagletail House to take part in traditional healing practices, but also to access resources on how to navigate the court system and CFS.
One day, Crowchild hopes the space will become a live-in transitional home for Indigenous women.
"Most First Nations, we lack a lot of resources for parents who have had their children apprehended or taken into the system [and] parents facing addictions," said Crowchild.
"It all stems from poverty and [the] social inequities that we face."
Intergenerational trauma is an area of focus for Eagletail House.
In her journey with addiction, Crowchild realized that much of what she struggled with stemmed from what happened to her father and grandparents, who are residential school survivors.
The acknowledgement of that pain, but also the wisdom of her ancestors is encapsulated at Eagletail House, the place where her grandparents — known in the community as healers — carried out their own practices.