Substance abuse counseling has been one of the key services of the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center (MIWRC) since its founding in 1984.

Cindy Smith, a licensed alcohol and drug counselor for the center, has spent her career working exclusively with substance abuse in Native people.

“We see addiction as a symptom of the historical trauma members of the Native American community has faced over generations,” Smith said.

She told the story of one woman who graduated from the center’s chemical dependency program, a crack addict and alcoholic who had some major trauma issues dealing with sexual abuse as a child.

“She had been given a name from one of her abusers that was her legal name, so she decided to change it back to her original Native name that was on her birth certificate,” Smith recalled. “It was like she was given a whole new identity.”