EPISODE SUMMARY
Indrias Kassaye is joined by MFP alumna Dr. Cynthia Greywolf for an intimate exploration of historical trauma. Dr. Greywolf’s scholarly pursuits are influenced by her personal experiences growing up on a Cherokee reservation in Oklahoma, and a deep-rooted desire to understand why substance use and behavioral health disorders are prevalent within Indigenous communities, and how best to address them.
EPISODE NOTES
Season two of “Mental Health Trailblazers, Psychiatric Nurses Speak Up,” continues with an intimate exploration of historical trauma with our host, Indrias Kassaye, and MFP alumna Dr. Cynthia Greywolf, a psychiatric nurse scientist beginning her second year as a postdoctoral researcher at The University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Greywolf’s scholarly pursuits are influenced by her personal experiences growing up on a Cherokee reservation in Oklahoma, and a deep-rooted desire to understand why substance use and behavioral health disorders are prevalent within Indigenous communities, and how best to address them.
Dr. Greywolf opens up about her childhood and journey to becoming a Ph.D. prepared nurse scientist and educator, one of less than 30 in the entire United States. Her story provides a rare glimpse into the unique challenges faced by Indigenous scholars - from their formative years and throughout their academic and career trajectories.
Accelerating the training of Indigenous psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners will be critical to addressing the unmet substance use disorder and mental health needs of Indigenous communities.
Dr. Greywolf’s successful experiences providing culturally appropriate behavioral health interventions to Indigenous communities highlights the urgent need to diversify the behavioral health workforce and scale-up the availability of the kind of appropriate care that she and her fellow Native American researchers have been developing and implementing.
To learn more about Dr. Cynthia Greywolf’s work, visit https://emfp.org/mfp-fellows/doctoral/cynthia-greywolf