Fort Belknap Native Connections 2022 G.O.N.A. Was A Huge Success
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The three day 'Family Gona' event held at the Chief Nosey Gym on Fort Belknap was well attended averaging 38-40 people per day. Group activities were a big part of the schedule including one. that featured Team Superheroes!
School is out, the temperature is warming up and there are plenty of activities, events and gatherings happening all over Blaine County. This past Wednesday, Thursday and Friday a Gathering of Native Americans (GONA) Family event took place at the Chief Nosey Gym in Lodge Pole. The Family GONA was organized by Fort Belknap Native Connections/Zero Suicide/Tribal Programs and was planned through a series of Zoom Calls. Fort Belknap Tribal Health was also involved, and a Swimming Pool was to be awarded as the Grand Prize of the gathering. Fort Belknap Native Connections mission statement states that it is a 'SAMHSA funded project. aims to plan and implement culturally competent substance abuse and suicide prevention, trauma reduction and mental health promotion services for Aaniih and Nakoda youth.'
Event organizer Hannah Has the Eagle was pleased with the turnout, "We had a total of 91 participates throughout the three days. The Fort Belknap bus ran from the agency area to Hays picking up families along the road to Lodge Pole. The gym filling up with people making for a great turn out." "The event was open to all people to participate", added Has the Eagle. The gathering featured traditional storytelling, group activities and raffles among other things. Has the Eagle stated the main objective of the gathering, "GONA is culturally based planning process where community members gather to address community identified issues."
What is GONA? GONA is made up of four primary categories: Belonging, Mastery, Independence and Generosity. The first, Belonging, is designed to make everyone feel safe, welcome, and included in an open and inclusive environment. Mastery provides participants with the ability to take stock of how historical trauma impacts their communities and what fosters their resilience and holds them together. Independence is the beginning of the planning process to assess resources and relationships, and to experience and strengthen interconnectedness. Generosity teaches participants to experience the joy of creating gifts for other participants as well as to show the significance each participant bigger gift to their families and communities while also helping to address and prevent mental and substance use disorders, prevent suicide, and promote mental health.
The GONA was created to be to be adaptable to each individual community to better equip that group with the ability take on a variety of important issues. GONA was designed as a four-day event, but it has been shown to be highly effective in two or three day settings as well. It is essentially a four-part process versus a four-day event. The overall goal is to maximum participation across multiple segments of the community.
The three day event began with prayers from many local families and was followed by fun activities in which attendees broke up into smaller groups to take part in different activities. Has the Eagle added that there were about 38-40 individuals each day, with a number coming for one, two or all three days. The success of the gathering required a huge commitment from the community and after the conclusion of the gathering, Has the Eagle was proud of the communities' involvement, "Even 1 person makes a great success so with all said and done I'm super pumped on how the youth and elders stepped up for the community by coming back each day and making this event a huge success." The success has left organizers wanting to do more, "We would like to bring this event to the other communities in a timely matter, start planning and setting dates for the future."
The three day 'Family Gona' event held at the Chief Nosey Gym on Fort Belknap was well attended averaging 38-40 people per day. Group activities were a big part of the schedule including one. that featured Team Superheroes!
Each day organizers focused on the individuals in attendance and highlighted each of them by designing a wall display that allowed attendees to leave positive messages about each other and making each individual feel valued and needed. The smaller groups focused on a variety of topics that were centered on improving the mental state of everyone in attendance. They discussed the of belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity. To add to the excitement, a number of raffles were given out each day.
Bringing the community together and allowing them to spend three days working together, reinforcing each other's belief in one another and learning to work together will certainly help the community grow, "To see our elders and youth working together was a awesome thing to witness. It motivates us to begin planning the next get together and see what we want to do with it."
Has the Eagle said it wouldn't have been such a success without the joint efforts of the Fort Belknap Tribal Council, Tawahe, Taniff, Fort Belknap Casino and Short Term Loan coming together to provide the recourses needed to make it work so well. Having the Tribal Bus run to each of the communities and the Agency was a huge boost to its success.
Throughout the summer there will be plenty of activities going on be sure to check out their Facebook page each week for upcoming events.
