There are a lot of important solutions to the problem of methamphetamine in Native American communities. Some of these include alert and committed law enforcement, elimination of meth houses, removal of raw materials for making meth, such as the cold medication pseudoephedrine, more treatment centers, and the many other topics being talked about today. But there is also a Native-inspired Circle process that can tap community resources for healing from meth in an amazing way. The Wellbriety Conference on meth held in Denver in April, 2006 offered an afternoon of Discovery Circles and presentations to draw on innate community knowledge.

The idea behind the Discovery Circle process is this: the grassroots community itself has the wisdom and knowledge to know what to do to solve its many problems, especially its meth problem. That innate or inherent knowledge resides in grassroots community members, but somehow it must be drawn out of them so that it becomes known by all, allowing the community to pick and choose the best ideas that might work to solve its problems. If you take a look in the dictionary, the root meaning of the word educate means to draw out. The Discovery Circles are an exciting and effective educational process to help find solutions to the meth crisis in our communities.

To see more information about the process go to: http://www.whitebison.org/magazine/2006/volume7/no5.htm

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Go to Discovery Circles: Strategies for Taking Our Communities Back