Healing Plants for Native American Recovery
Plants reconnect us with the natural world and ourselves. Spending time in nature, being quiet, and observing and listening to healing plants brings our hearts, minds, and bodies into alignment.
It slows down our thoughts, releases stress, and puts us at peace—helping us to feel what it is like to be truly present in the moment. It soothes us.
Think back to a time you were out on the land, perhaps picking berries. Remember the feeling of the earth under your feet, the wind and sun awakening your skin, the smells activating your senses, and the taste of the harvest. Those memories are what it means to be human.
Native Healing Plant Teachings In Addiction Recovery
Royal Life Centers’ plant teachings curriculum is rooted in Coast Salish lands and culture. Native Elders and Ancestors have taught younger generations that the Plant People were the first teachers, they are sacred and carry stories and wisdom that allow native people to learn, grow, and heal.
During our culturally-based groups on healing plants and herbs, NAP group facilitators work with guests to explore the healing that can come from reconnecting with nature. In general, our curriculum focuses on plant teachings for growing social-emotional skills. Throughout these lessons, our guests learn traditional and modern uses of plants in food, medicine, and ceremony.
Groups also use storytelling and sharing circles to further deepen our guest’s connection with plants, their peers, and themselves. Through our plant teachings, guests also build connections to land, culture, identity, history, and their community. In focusing their energy on reconnecting their minds and hearts to the natural world, our guests learn to honor plants as teachers and guides in their new sober lives.
For us, plant teachings are more than just learning about plants; it’s about developing meaningful relationships with them. It’s an opportunity to learn how we fit into the larger ecosystem of life — how we can live in harmony with plants, and how to take care of them. We learn to cultivate respect for the environment and appreciation for all living things.
What To Expect In Plant Teaching Groups?
Healing plant teachings are a journey into connection – with yourself, your community, and the natural world around you. It’s an opportunity to build resilience—both physical and spiritual—and healing through your relationship with plants.
As you spend time building relationships with plants, you come to understand the depth of their wisdom. In doing so, you can connect to important teachings of who you and your people are and how you can be happy, healthy, and resilient.
Throughout their recovery journey, our guests explore the many ways they can work to embrace their connection with each other and the earth. Together, group facilitators and guests alike create healthier, more sustainable lifestyles that are rooted in love and respect for nature.
Why Learn About Healing Plants and Herbs In Recovery?
At Royal Life Centers, our goal is to provide resources and guidance to help guests understand the power of plants, and how to cultivate a meaningful relationship with them. From gardening tips to herbal remedies and recipes, we offer insights into finding harmony with nature. During treatment, group facilitators also share stories from people who have successfully used plant medicine for healing and spiritual growth.
Learning about healing plants and herbs in recovery can include:
- Increase individual and community resilience through building social-emotional skills including mindfulness, self-awareness, healthy relationships, and distress tolerance
- Grow knowledge of local plants and ecosystems.
- Harness the benefits of healing plants and herbs to support a fulfilling recovery lifestyle.
- Build a sense of community, seasons, and place – promote connections between land, culture, and community; build relationships between and among humans, nonhuman beings, and the environment.
- Protect and promote healthy plant communities and ecosystems through education, ethical harvesting, and ecological restoration.
- Promote the value and significance of Indigenous Science and Native ways of knowing, doing, and being, including intergenerational, experiential learning, the transmission of knowledge through stories, and recognizing and building reciprocal relationships.
Using nature as a guide can help our guests to recover their strength and courage to face whatever life throws at them. Plants can be used in different ways – from teas, tinctures, or baths to aromatherapy, herbalism, and even doing art with petals, stems, and leaves.
Healing Plants that Promote Mindfulness
Mindfulness is an integral skill throughout our horticultural therapy curriculum. It is a pathway towards reconnecting with yourselves and nature. Practicing mindfulness helps clients to be fully present in the moment without attachment or judgment.
Life is always changing, and if you are fixated on the past or future, you can miss the gifts that are present now. Mindfulness also opens new ways for you to react to challenges. These practices can help clients notice their inner state, slow down before they act, and make intentional choices that help them move toward their goals.
Healing plants for mindfulness:
- Mint – Clarity and Focus
- Nettle – Build Inner Strength
- Salmonberry – Interconnectedness
- Usnea – Thinking
- Willow – Flexibility
Treatment can also use plants to practice grounding. Grounding is the process of connecting with the physical world and the body to create a sense of security, stability, and focus. With every breath you take, you are taking in oxygen from the air around you—oxygen that has been produced by plants. So when you connect with plants, you are connecting with the oxygen cycle that sustains your life.
Using plants during mindfulness meditation practices can also strengthen the ability to deepen our guest’s connection with themselves and the earth around them. Studies show that interacting with nature can help increase relaxation by increasing focus and calming the mind. Connecting with plants allows us to be present in the moment, observe our environment, become aware of our thoughts and feelings, and create a peaceful state of mind.
Plants for Healing that Promote Self-Awareness
Self-awareness helps us to notice, identify, understand, and regulate our emotions. By paying attention to the way our feelings and thoughts create our behaviors, we can act in more healthy, kind, and positive ways. Sometimes self-awareness means better recognizing our strengths (including those of our culture, family, school, and community) which builds our confidence and helps us understand our purpose.
Healing plants for self-awareness:
- Bigleaf Maple – Willingness
- Cottonwood – Wellspring
- Dandelion – Problem-Solving
- Hawthorn – Courage
- Hemlock – Humility
- Salal – Endurance
By using plants for self-awareness, clients can nurture themselves by creating rituals connected to each plant’s unique properties. For instance, they can make teas, bathe with herbal extracts, and bring fresh or dried plants into their homes as decoration. When people use plants to reflect on what’s happening in their lives, they can gain insight and develop better strategies for managing pain and stress. Together, plants and personal reflection can help you create a more mindful, compassionate life that reflects your true values.
Natural Remedies for Distress Tolerance
Pain and stress are a part of life. Yet, when you resist reality and focus on the pain and stress, it can make things even more difficult. Plants can show you ways to be resilient in the face of life’s challenges.
Healing plants for tolerating stress:
- Douglas Fir – Adapt
- Oak – Patience
- Plantain – Self-Soothe
- Wild Rose – Love, Protection, Acceptance
- Wild Strawberry – Embrace the Moment
In watching nature, you can observe its resilience against all odds. In life and in nature, distress tolerance provides inner strength to preserve and maintain control over emotions, thoughts, and actions in difficult situations. It is your role to learn the lessons of nature when it comes to dealing with life’s ups and downs.
Learning from plants also means being open and willing to change alongside your external environment. For example, some trees need to make adjustments and adapt to their new environment if they are transplanted or moved a long distance. With this kind of resilience, we can trust that life will carry on even in the most difficult moments and have hope for a better future.
Plants also can be a great way to strengthen your resolve, providing you with meaningful symbols to remind you of the values you hold dear. As a result, these plants can help you to keep going in any challenging situation.
Building Healthy Relationships with Nature and Others
Plants must develop balanced relationships with other species around them to survive. This interdependence is found everywhere in nature and reflecting on it can help you build your social awareness skills.
Healing plants for healthy relationships:
- Alder – Build Community
- Camas – Reciprocity
- Cedar – Kindness and Generosity
- Fireweed – Restore
- Licorice Fern – Find Your Voice
- Salmonberry – Interdependence
- Yarrow - Boundaries
Plants show how healthy relationships can help you thrive in recovery. When attacked by insects, plants send warning signals through the air to help nearby plants build defenses. Similarly, trees share food and medicine with others in need. These examples show how sharing your knowledge and perspective can strengthen your community.
Growing Social-Emotional Skills In Horticultural Therapy
Our horticultural therapy groups provide plant teachings for growing social-emotional skills. Guests practice empathy, compassion, and kindness toward all living things while recognizing the interconnectedness of nature. Through gardening therapy activities, they find peace and joy, building resilience to aid their recovery journey.
Paying attention to nature teaches valuable life lessons and helps you appreciate its beauty. Listening and observing your surroundings can deepen your understanding of yourself and the world. By honoring ancient plant teachings, guests build a stronger connection with nature and create more meaningful lives.
Royal Life Centers’ Native American Drug and Alcohol Treatment Centers
Royal Life Centers is honored to be a part of the White Bison family as one of only 12 Wellbriety Certified Treatment Centers. We proudly offer our Native American Program for guests undergoing treatment in one of our five facilities located across the beautiful state of Washington. In doing so, our programs provide specialized care within our Native American drug and alcohol treatment centers.
Our culturally competent staff is knowledgeable about Native American spirituality and respects the traditions of the communities we serve. We strive to incorporate cultural aspects into our treatment plans while providing a nurturing environment. In doing so, our clients benefit from therapeutic activities that incorporate native healing plants, ancestral teachings, and traditional ceremonies. By connecting with their culture many individuals find renewed respect for themselves and their heritage while beginning the healing process.
We understand that there are often unique challenges faced by Native American individuals and families when it comes to addiction and recovery. Through our specialized programming, we can provide them with the support they need on their journey to sobriety.
Our Holistic Treatment Approach to Native American Treatment
Royal Life Centers is committed to providing effective individualized treatment plans for each of our clients. Our team of dedicated professionals consists of knowledgeable and experienced counselors, medical staff, psychiatrists, therapists, and other specialists who help each person reach their treatment goals.
At Royal Life Centers, our holistic approach to treatment focuses on the physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental healing necessary for long-term recovery. For this reason, our Native American treatment also incorporates evidence-based therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). Guests also participate in individual and group therapy, support groups, and holistic wellness services to support their healing journey. By integrating traditional and holistic methods, we can offer the most comprehensive treatment plan possible.
With help from our substance abuse counselors, you can gain the tools you need to cope with the difficult realities of addiction. This way, you can make lasting changes so that you can live a healthier, more fulfilling life in recovery.
Does Insurance Cover Native American Programs for Addiction?
Royal Life Centers is in-network with Shasta Insurance and the Healthcare Management Administration (HMA). We also have a collaborative relationship with Indian Health Services (IHS). We also work with other insurance providers to get you into our Native American Program. If your insurance plan is out-of-network, we advocate on your behalf. Our admissions team will work hard to come to an agreement with your insurance provider. We will collaborate with you, tribes, and insurance providers to place you in a quality addiction treatment program.
Verify Your Insurance
Interested in joining Royal Life Centers Native American program? Fill out our secure insurance verification form below to expedite the admissions process. We will direct your information to our admissions department. In doing so, you can accelerate the verification of your insurance and admission into our treatment program.
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Our Native American Treatment Centers in Washington State
At Royal Life Centers, our Native American treatment centers in Washington State offer a range of culturally-inclusive addiction treatment services for substance abuse and addiction. We believe that connecting to the natural world can help both tribal and non-tribal guests find peace, balance, and spiritual connection.
For this reason, our Native American program incorporates traditional Native healing practices and Wellbriety-certified courses. Through our holistic approach, we value inclusivity and strive to create an atmosphere of safety and trust where clients can discover their true selves.
Royal Life Centers’ offers a full continuum of care for substance abuse treatment including:
Our Native American inpatient treatment centers are located in:
- Spokane, Washington
- Lacey, Washington
- Sumner, Washington
Our outpatient Native American programs are located in:
- Mead, Washington
- Lacey, Washington
At Royal Life Centers, our experienced team is dedicated to creating individualized plans that meet the needs of each guest. Contact us today by calling 877-RECOVERY to learn more about our Native American treatment centers in Washington State and how we can help you on your journey toward recovery.
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