Assistant Professor, Department of Indigenous Health University of North Dakota, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Indigenous Health Saint Paul, Minnesota
Climate change and associated environmental impacts are among the most pressing public health challenges of our time. Both, direct and indirect consequences of climate-related events disproportionately affect Indigenous communities due to compounding and intersecting challenges of enduring health inequities, as well as the inequitable distribution of social and ecological determinants of health. Indigenous health and well-being has been most directly improved via efforts as redressing the collective impacts of settler-colonialism while also recognizing the important preventative qualities of connection to place and culture. This presentation introduces the concept of Indigenous Eco-Relational Engagement as a place-based composite consisting of spiritual activities, traditional cultural activities, and Indigenous language use, which is correlated with indices of positive mental health, or flourishing in a large American Indian sample. Furthermore, the positive relationship of IERE to positive mental health improves with the endorsement of higher levels of IERE engagement within the tribal communities sampled.
