Written by Victoria Ybanez, MPA
What is a Tribal Coordinated Community Response?
The Coordinated Community Response model was developed by the Domestic Abuse Intervention Program in Duluth Minnesota in the early 1980’s. This model is an interagency effort to change the climate of tolerance of battering by institutionalizing practices and procedures which centralize victim safety and offender accountability in domestic violence-related cases. (Pence, 2001)
Key activities of a CCR include:
Understanding how the system works. Not just looking from the outside but looking closer, learning about what guides it, its limits, gaps, and barriers.
A process for thinking through unintended consequences. Always working to figure out potential outcomes and examining how they can do harm.
Approaching complex problems. Looking at multiple facets of a problem, digging deeper to find root causes, and figuring out how to address them.
Differentiating between types of violence. Recognizing that context is critical to understanding violence by knowing what the intent behind the violence is and the harm that the violence causes.
The focus of change is not on the individual worker, it is about changing what organizes and coordinates workers to think and act. (Pence, 2001) The work of the CCR is systems change work and focuses on changing the system by looking at patterns, trends, gaps, and barriers. Addressing the work of one individual fixes the problem one person at a time. By changing the way an agency operates or functions, all individuals’ practice will be changed.
Native American communities can build from this model. When we think of a Coordinated Community Response, many see this as a Tribal concept that is as old as the hills. Marlin Mousseau (Oglala Lakota), a former Tribal police officer and national trainer from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, described a traditional Tribal Coordinated Community Response as holistic, community-centered responses that are inclusive of protectors, sustenance and resource providers, healers, and leaders. At the center is the safety and well-being of the people (Mousseau, 2004).
Historically, Tribes have worked together cooperatively. Native societies needed a high level of cooperation to survive (e.g., obtaining sufficient food, protection of the people). American Indians and Alaska Natives place value on the importance of the group rather than on the individual. (SAMHSA, 2019) Working together cooperatively is driven by understanding our interconnected relationships. The Tribe relied on all cooperation and coordination for survival.
A Coordinated Community Response model then makes sense for Tribes to build. Envisioning a world without violence while engaging the community to enhance safety and hold offenders responsible for their harm will have elements of the Duluth model for a CCR, however, it will also look different in Tribal communities.
Mending the Sacred Hoop conducted a research project to look at how the criminal justice systems worked to address violence for [American Indian and Alaska Native] victims and found that the criminal justice system was not operating in ways that made sense to [Tribal] ways of being. (Peacock Ed.D, George M.S.W, Wilson Ed.M., Bergstrom Ed.D., & Pence Ph.D., 2002) The project identified features of the criminal justice response to be fragmented in ways that created burdens to victims and categorizing in un-helpful ways that felt objectifying and burdensome. In addition, the voice of survivors was not heard early in the lengthy criminal justice process. These problematic features are why a Coordinated Community Response is so important for a Tribal Response.
Native American Solutions through a Tribal Coordinated Community Response to Domestic Violence
The concept of the “sacred circle” is a part of most Indigenous North American cultures. The fundamental understanding expressed by the “sacred circle” is that healthy whole individuals, communities, and Nations are comprised by physical, emotional, thinking, and spiritual elements (Peacock Ed.D, George M.S.W, Wilson Ed.M., Bergstrom Ed.D., & Pence Ph.D., 2002) resulting in balance and harmony. Living with balance and harmony means to live within the core values and beliefs of the Tribe. American Indian and Alaska Native people as individuals and communities understand that they are responsible for one another and to their tribal communities, and that their communities are accountable to community members.
Creating a Tribal Coordinated Community Response (TCCR) should be a blending of the Duluth-Model CCR while centering traditional ways of seeing the world, including how the Tribe practices their values and beliefs. This can be challenging work as Tribes primarily have mainstream models to draw from and will need to work to identify how to incorporate Tribal custom and tradition in its work. Tribal values and beliefs can be incorporated into the TCCR in many ways; the following is a starting point for a Tribal CCR to consider:
Through the foundations of the TCCR by blessing the work and creating space for recognizing the individual and collective need for healing.
The way the team members interact with one another holding respect, allowing space for multiple voices to be heard, keeping open minds to hearing about different approaches to addressing the work, and engaging in constructive dialogue.
The way the TCCR looks at accountability in its work agency to agency, in its work being accountable to survivors, and in its work being accountable to the community.
Through the way the TCCR writes its policies, protocols, and other documents. The policies will reflect Tribal values, Tribal beliefs, and Tribal communication.
The following is an example of how a Tribe’s cultural practices made a difference in facilitating the work of a Coordinated Community Response.
One Tribal CCR team that I worked with was engaged in some challenging work addressing gaps in the response to domestic violence. The team seemed stuck and tension between members was growing. They decided to pause. During the pause they brought in a traditional healer. They held a healing ceremony followed by feasting the work they had accomplished up to that time. They spent time talking about why this work was important for the community. When they reconvened, their logjam had released, and their work moved forward.
A TCCR will have a broader approach to addressing safety for survivors and holding offenders accountable. The TCCR will examine all aspects of the domestic violence response from prevention to recovery from harm. At the core will be a holistic response to domestic violence that places survivor experiences at the center of systemic problems to use as the lens from which to solve them. This requires a commitment to learn from the lived experiences of survivors.
How Survivors Inform TCCR work
A survivor-centered approach to a Tribal Coordinated Community Response is one that considers the needs and safety of the survivor in every action the TCCR takes. To learn from the lived experiences of survivors, the TCCR must commit to their safety while working to include survivors in their efforts. This requires listening to what survivors have to say about their experience with the response to domestic violence, and how those experiences have helped or harmed them.. This includes the multiple points of the systems that respond from advocate programs to criminal justice responders to offender management as well as behavioral health, housing, traditional healing options, and more. Learning about survivor experiences helps to identify strengths and gaps in the domestic violence response, along with growing stronger understanding about survivor safety and survivor needs.
Advocates have been seen as having a voice for survivors. Through their work, they have information about the experiences survivors have had when working with different agencies in the domestic violence response. It is important for TCCRs to not rely solely on advocates for their information about survivor experiences. It is helpful to collect information from survivors directly in multiple ways such as collecting survivor experience surveys or conducting focus groups/listening sessions.
Consulting with survivors can pose some risks and challenges so it is important that consultations with survivors are safe for them to share their experiences. Often TCCRs work with advocate programs to organize listening sessions or focus groups. The TCCR identifies the questions about what they are wanting to learn, however, the advocates organize and facilitate the listening sessions and only share aggregate data from those sessions with the TCCR team to protect the confidentiality of the survivors.
Final Thoughts
A Tribal Coordinated Community Response is a powerful way to change the conditions in our communities that allow violence to exist by changing the system that responds to domestic violence. Engaging in this work within a Tribal framework makes a significant difference by ensuring that the TCCR will actually make a difference within the Tribal community. The work on the TCCR is not easy, it requires patience and persistence. With time, the community will see the benefits of the TCCR’s hard work.
Works Cited
Mousseau, M. (2004). Coordinated Community Response Training for the Eight Northern Pueblos. Espanola, New Mexico.
Peacock Ed.D, T., George M.S.W, L., Wilson Ed.M., A., Bergstrom Ed.D., A., & Pence Ph.D., E. (2002, December). Community-Bssed Analysis of the U.S. Legal System's Intervention in Domestic Abuse Cases Involving Indigenous Women. Retrieved April 2024, from U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs: https://www.ojp.gov/library/publications/community-based-analysis-us-legal-systems-intervention-domestic-abuse-cases
Pence, E. (2001). Duluth, Minnesota.
SAMHSA. (2019). Behavioral Health Services for American Indians and Alaska Natives: For Behavioral Health Service Providers, Administrators, and Supervisors. Retrieved May 2024, from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Institute of Health: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK539584/box/p1.b4/?report=objectonly#:~:text=Cooperation%2C%20collectivism%2C%20and%20harmony.,Sharing%20is%20vital.
This project is supported by Grant No. 15JOVW-21-GK-02228-TRIB awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
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