Member Education Sessions: Mental Health and Wellness

Dr. Autumn Asher BlackDeer is a queer anti-colonial scholar-activist from the Southern Cheyenne Nation and serves as an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver. Her scholarship illuminates the impact of structural violence on American Indian and Alaska Native communities. Dr. BlackDeer centers Indigenous voices throughout her research by using quantitative approaches and big data as tools for responsible storytelling. Dr. BlackDeer is a racial equity scholar with an emphasis on Indigenous Tribal sovereignty and is deeply committed to furthering anti-colonial abolitionist work.

Monique Castro is a citizen of the Diné (Navajo) Nation and Xicana, born, raised, and currently lives on Tongva lands (Los Angeles, CA). She is a mother, licensed marriage and family therapist (Lic\# 104427), certified professional coach, consultant, facilitator, and advocate with over 16 years of professional experience in health, wellness, community organizing, and education. Her approach emphasizes an Indigenous worldview and core values. She is a collaborative and relational leader with an exceptional track record of building and maintaining sustainable relationships with Native-led organizations, Tribes, higher education institutions, and community members throughout California and nationally. Her leadership includes establishing the California Native Vote Project (co-founder), So'oh-Shinálí Sister Project (co-founder), Indigenous Circle of Wellness (founder and CEO), and Monique Castro Coaching and Consulting, LLC (founder/owner). Monique earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from California State University of Los Angeles (CSULA) and a Master of Science degree in Counseling Psychology from Mount Saint Mary’s University (MSMU) and is clinically trained in Relational Gestalt Therapy, EMDR, and other holistic approaches to wellness.

Dr. Glenna P. Stumblingbear-Riddle (Khoiye-hayn-ee) is a citizen of the Kiowa Tribe and is a licensed health service psychologist. After serving as Director of Behavioral Health for a Tribal clinic for several years and after providing care for college students at a college counseling center, she started her private practice Resilient Tribal Roots, PLLC. She serves as a Senior Tribal Initiatives Consultant for the Suicide Prevention Resource Center and contracts with the Oklahoma Heart Hospital providing on-call crisis care. She is from Anadarko, Oklahoma, and lives with her husband, daughter, and their two dogs in OK.

Dr. Stumblingbear-Riddle obtained her doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology at Oklahoma State University. She completed her pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral fellowship at the Oklahoma Health Consortium. Dr. Stumblingbear-Riddle is a member of the Society of Indian Psychologists, Oklahoma Psychological Association (OPA), the First Americans Museum, and an alumni of Matriarch an Indigenous women’s and two-spirit organization that promotes community healing. During her doctoral training, she became a fellow in APA’s Minority Fellowship Program. On local and state levels, she has served on the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services board and the Oklahoma Southeastern Regional Child Death Review Board. In 2016, while serving as OPA’s Diversity Delegate she founded OPA’s Diversity Division and served as Chairperson for the Diversity Division. She is currently serving as President-Elect for the Oklahoma Psychological Association. On a national level, Dr. Stumblingbear-Riddle served on APA’s Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs. She has been honored and humbled by receiving local and national awards throughout her career.

Dr. Stumblingbear-Riddle is dedicated to reducing behavioral health disparities and promoting overall mental health and wellness in Indigenous and marginalized communities. With specific focus on reducing suicide and the negative impact of trauma through the use of evidence-based, community-led, cultural, and strength-based approaches. Her clinical and research interests include historical and intergenerational trauma and healing, missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people, diversity, social justice and advocacy, suicide prevention, strength-based approaches, integration of evidence-based practices with cultural practices, and lifespan issues.

On a personal note, she is also an artist, enjoys spending time with her family, weight lifting, jewelry making, music, art, traveling, learning and teaching the Kiowa language to her daughter, and living a life with passion and purpose. She also supports Indigenous fashion and models for Indigenous fashion designers during the Santa Fe Indian Market and in Oklahoma. She lives and models these Kiowa words, “Bay p’ay tday, Bay p’ay tday” - don’t give up, keep trying. She is grateful for what her education from Oklahoma State University has afforded her family. She looks forward to working collaboratively; creating community-led and youth-focused programs based on the needs of the community. This year she will focus on working with Tribes throughout the US on crisis intervention regarding the new 988 mental health crisis line.