This 2‑hour virtual training explores culture as a primary medicine in Native communities and as a key foundation for effective opioid‑related prevention, treatment, and recovery support. Using the Medicine Wheel as a practical framework, we’ll braid Indigenous ways of knowing with current neuroscience, ACEs/NEAR science, and what we now understand about nervous systems and brain health.
We’ll look at how historical and ongoing trauma have impacted wellness, help‑seeking, and engagement in SUD/OUD services—and how cultural strengths such as kinship, ceremony, story, and connection to land can guide more effective, less stigmatizing care with Native communities across Nevada.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this training, participants will be able to:
- Describe at least three ways historical and intergenerational trauma have impacted wellness, help‑seeking, and engagement in behavioral health and SUD/OUD services in Native communities in Nevada.
- Identify at least three cultural strengths (e.g., kinship, language, ceremony, land connection) that support nervous system regulation, brain health, and readiness to engage in care, including opioid‑related services.
- Explain how a Medicine Wheel framework can be used to organize care around emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual dimensions—while respecting tribal specificity and sovereignty.
- Name at least two practical strategies for: Building therapeutic alliance with Native/tribal clients, and Reducing stigma and barriers to accessing opioid‑related and behavioral health services.
Intended Audience: Behavioral health providers, healthcare providers, peer support specialists, community health workers, and others working with tribal communities in Nevada, with particular relevance for rural and tribal partners.
Presentation Format: This session will take place in a Zoom meeting format. Participants will have access to camera and audio, though neither is required. For more information on the use of Zoom please visit the Getting Started with Zoom Videoconferencing Software section of our website
Presented by: Casandra (Cas) Stouder, ORN Consultant, Tribal Southwest (Region 9), Diné (Navajo) & Seminole
Casandra (Cas) Stouder is Diné (Navajo) and Seminole and has spent more than 24 years working alongside Indigenous communities through trauma, addiction, recovery, and systems change. She is an Indigenous wellness consultant and Trauma & Systems Transformation Facilitator, and serves as a Technical Support Specialist with the Opioid Response Network (Southwest), supporting tribal communities in designing culturally grounded substance use and opioid‑related prevention and healing initiatives.
Cas has delivered over 1,000 professional trainings and supported more than 1,900 community wellness and prevention efforts. Her work braids ACEs/NEAR science, Indigenous trauma science, Medicine Wheel‑based brain frameworks, and somatic practice with traditional knowledge. She has developed multiple Indigenous recovery and wellness programs, including Sacred Path to Recovery and Medicine Wheel Wellness, and serves as an Arizona ACEs Educational Trainer and Indigenous Community Subcommittee Chair for the Arizona ACEs Consortium.
A Native woman in long‑term recovery, Cas brings deep lived experience, ceremony, and careful, prayerful practice to her work. She is recognized as Arizona’s Preeminent Health Innovation Leader (2025) and Best Rural Women’s Health Practitioner (2025).
Continuing Education Units: 2 CEUs
This training is approved for continuing education by the boards listed here.
Funding for this activity was made possible in whole or in part by the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Director’s Office through the Fund for a Resilient Nevada, established in Nevada Revised Statutes 433.712 through 433.744. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in our courses are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Nevada Opioid Center of Excellence or its funders.