If you would like to be involved:
Awakening Spiritual Unity

3705 Arctic Boulevard, #483

Anchorage, Alaska 99503

alaskaasu@yahoo.com

Elizabeth Keating

Elizabeth Keating is an Athabascan Indian from Holikachuk, Alaska (now Grayling).  She was raised by her grandparents, Chief and Lizzie Alexie.  Elizabeth grew up speaking primarily Athabascan language because her grandparents did not speak English.  Her grandparents were leaders and healers in the village so Elizabeth learned firsthand the cultural beliefs and practices from them.

As a teenager, Elizabeth was sent outside to attend school. She attended and was graduated from Western Washington University.  She also attended graduate school at UAF Fairbanks and received a master’s degree in Community Psychology. Elizabeth felt that psychology could be complementary to Native Spirituality.

Elizabeth chose to work in various social service delivery agencies in Seattle and Alaska.  She has been an activist for social justice in the Native communities in Washington and Alaska for all of her adult life.  For the past sixteen years she has worked for the Disability Law Center of Alaska as a legal rights advocate.

She is currently involved in projects to revive healthy cultural ways to restore Native health and social  balance.

Sonia Vent

Sonia was born and raised in Huslia, Alaska.  Huslia is an Alaskan village located on the Koyukuk River, a tributary of the Yukon.  It is approximately 240 air miles Northwest of Fairbanks.  The main access to Huslia is by air.  Sonia was delivered in the village by traditional midwives who happened to have been her paternal grandmother and aunt.  For the first 6 years of her life she lived a traditional lifestyle with her parents and younger siblings.  In the winter she lived in a winter camp with her parents where her father trapped for a living.  During those earlier years before the snow machine the only mode of transportation was by dog team.  In the summer she lived at a summer camp along the Koyukuk River where they fished for subsistence.  She feels that her principles and values were heavily influenced in the “old way” through those earlier years of her life.  She grew to respect the land and the animals that provided for her and her family.  She also learned self-reliance through having to do things for herself and also watching her parents model this. 

Once she became of school age she with her parents began living in the village of Huslia.  Huslia was a smaller village back then with a population of approximately 150 people (today the population is close to 300).  Huslia is an interesting location as it is located on a higher elevation in comparison to the surrounding lands as it sits in a basin like location.   It is mostly taiga with soil that is dessert like.  During rainy season foliage grow abundantly especially with the many different types of berries.  The village is surrounded by lakes and sloughs.  At one time, it was an area identified as the most heavily moose populated in the world.  Lastly, it is the home of one of the last medicine men in the area whom happened to have been Sonia’s paternal grandfather, the late Francis Olin.  

Sonia finished the highest grade in Huslia which was the eighth grade at the time.  This was a time before the villages had high schools.  After the eighth grade she attended the first two years of high school in Fairbanks Alaska and the latter two in Galena Alaska.  She graduated with the second graduation class of Galena.   A year after graduating she attended Sheldon Jackson College where she graduated in 1979 with an Associate in Science.  She had started a path toward nursing with her first hands on experience taking vital signs on patients at the Mt. Edgecumbe hospital.  In 1982 she took a position as a Community Health Aide in Galena which led to an interest in mid-level practitioners.  She then attended and graduated as a Physician Assistant from the MEDEX Northwest program at the University of Washington in Seattle in the spring of 1985.  

Upon graduating she returned to Galena to begin her career as a Physician Assistant where she worked until 1992.  Since leaving Galena her career path has led her on a journey toward self-determination as an Athabascan woman where she has come to believe that Alaskan natives are the ones that must solve the many social ills that plague them.  She believes that through much prayer and resolve the Alaskan native population can begin on a path of healing triumphing over much of what has been past of trauma.  

Sonia has one grown son and lives in Anchorage Alaska where she surrounds herself with her many like-minded friends and family.  She enjoys the fiddling dances that are held regularly around the state during corporate annual meetings where she meets up with her many acquaintances.  She enjoys beading, dancing, singing, and participating in cultural activities.

Tara Sutphen

http://www.tarasutphen.com

Ila R. McKay

Ms. McKay has over 20 years of grant writing experience and has worked in various settings to include universities and community colleges, tribal housing authorities, law enforcement, tribal planning, economic development, community development, emergency management, health services and health related services. At the heart of her work is the goal of improving the lives of Alaska Native/American Indian people. 

Ms. McKay has worked in administrative roles related to diversity and strategic planning for Eastern Washington University; has served as an Adjunct Professor for the American Indian Studies Department of Eastern Washington University; has served as an Associate Counselor at the Healing Lodge of Seven Nations, a youth drug and alcohol treatment center located in Spokane, WA; has served as an Editor of Indian Country Today, a national Indian newspaper and has worked for the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe for a total of 15 years in various administrative capacities related to health program management and program development.
Ms. McKay possesses a high level of community organizational skills that have aided her in the planning and logistics of community events to national events/conferences. Ms. McKay has exemplary grant writing skills that have provided funds for community and economic development, and program development. Ms. McKay is a former Tribal Chairman of the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe and is a leader who firmly believes in improving the quality of life for Alaska Native/American Indian people.

Her community organizational skills and grant writing/community development planning experience aided her in the development of youth violence, bullying, and suicide prevention community prevention plans as a Community Coordinator/Sustainability Coordinator for the tribes/villages she assisted while employed with the Native Aspirations Project of Kauffman & Associates, Inc. Ms. McKay was instrumental in the development of resource tools to aid Alaska Native/American Indian tribes and villages to develop and implement youth violence, bullying, and suicide prevention programs in their individual communities. Ms. McKay served as a trainer/facilitator of community planning processes, evidence- and culture-based interventions, and sustainability planning.

Her formal education includes a BA (Bachelor of Arts) degree in Business and Public Administration/American Indian Studies from the University of North Dakota and is currently a candidate for a MURP (Master of Urban and Regional Planning) degree from Eastern Washington University.

Inez L. Larsen

I am a child of the Killer Whale House, eagle moiety, in Alaska, I am also a member of Kluane First Nation Killer Whale clan, Wolf moiety in Canada. I have five children, ten grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

                    Professional Experience

                    Keet wholesale, LLC & Keet Construction, LLC                                                              2008 to present

                    I established a general construction company and a wholesale company.

                    Alaska women's Resource Center                                                                                 2006-2007

                    Family Violence Prevention Specialist

                    I supervised staff providing comestic violence counseling to women, youth & children.  I supervised graduate

                    students, Legal Advocate volunteers and was Co-chair of the Fatality Review Team. I also planned the 2007 Anchorage

                    Domestic Violence Conference  

                    Alaska Federation of Natives                                                                                        2002-2003

                    Project Director for SAMHSA  Grants

                    I provided technical assistance and monitored two grants.  1) Cherish the Children providing mental health services to children and families in remote villages. 2) Coming Home program provided mental heath & substance abuse treatment to homeless

                    mentally ill substance abusers.

                    Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp.                                                                                    1998-2000

                    Clinical Supervisor for the Chemical Misuse Treatment and Recovery Systems, a CSAT grant.  I supervised counselors in

                    three villages, collaborated with other service agencies, tribal council and community members to develop methods to address                         addiction, suicide, and related issues.

                    I was the Substance Abuse Coordinator for Indian Health Service in the California Area for seven years monitoring mental

                    health and substance abuse programs.  I was a member of the Indian Health Service Institutional Review Board and

                    served on state and national committies to develop data, assess needs and provide programs to address substance abuse

                    and related issues including HIV/AIDS, suicide prevention, domestic violence and child abuse.

                    Education: Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, Union Institute                                                1987

                                     MA in Marriage, Family & Child Counseling University of San Francisco               1977    

                    Affiliations:

                    Awakening Spiritual Unity, vice-president                                                                            Present

                    National Native AIDS Prevention Council Advisory Committee                                               2007-2009

 info@tarasutphen.com
310/770 6454