American Indian perspectives on addiction and recovery

The circle of tribal society is "experienced from the inside.... When forced from the center, one is "alienated, irritable, and lonely" (Deloria, 1970, p. 13). Social workers, as service providers and researchers in collaboration with the American Indian women they are privileged to serve, have a distinct opportunity for working toward health--the integration of the physical, the emotional, the spiritual--in the lives of women who seek help in treatment facilities for substance abuse. A genuine contribution to the health of the communities to which the women return and to the generations which follow is central to this opportunity and lies deep within the circle.