Naha (Hello)!
Welcome to the site for Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies’ newest program- Native American Initiatives (NAI). My name is Amy Stiffarm and I manage the NAI Program. This program was created to continue the work initiated by the LIFTS in Indian Country project where HMHB worked with Tribal Communities across the state to build the Reservation-specific resources for the LIFTS Resource Guide. Building off of this work, HMHB has created the Native American Initiatives Program to support Native American families across the state.
The goal of this new program is to continue to build relationships with tribal stakeholders to form strong collaborative partnerships and alliances to support Native mothers, pregnant people, and babies, from pregnancy to age three. We look forward to working with you all to support mothers, those caring for young children, and pregnant people and ensure there is a safe and healthy beginning for all babies in Montana. I welcome any conversations on how to partner with you on better serving Native mothers, birthing people, and babies in your communities. Ginnehayan (thank you) for your time!
Amy Stiffarm, PhD, MPH, Aaniiih, Chippewa-Cree, Blackfeet
Our Projects
LIFTS in Indian Country
The LIFTS (Linking Infants and Families to Supports) Resource Guide is an online resource for Montana families state-wide. In the building phase of the guide, HMHB hired an Indigenous person with experience in maternal child health to lead efforts in including Reservation Communities in Montana within the LIFTS Resource Guide.
LEARN MORE about LIFTS in Indian Country
This was the start of the LIFTS in Indian Country Project. The first year of the project involved collecting information on resources for each of the communities. The second year we held meetings virtually for each reservation. These meetings initiated relationships and the conversations led to the creation of the ‘Native Cultural Connections’ resource category. Please check the LIFTS Resource Guide and see if your program is included. You can add your program as well as events right on the site!
Cultural Safety for Indigenous Mothers and Birthing People
In 2023, a cultural safety toolkit was created for those who provide care or work with families during the perinatal period. We are in the process of designing a toolkit that is more reader-friendly. In the meantime you may access the toolkit content created by Dr. Amy Stiffarm, for her dissertation work.
LEARN MORE about Cultural Safety for Indigenous Mothers and Birthing People
Since the summer of 2023, we have been offering cultural safety trainings for perinatal providers. We’ve done this over zoom and in-person. The cost depends on the amount of time and how in depth you would like your training to be. See below for more information. Please contact us at amy@hmhb-mt.org if you are interested in bringing a training to your community.
Cultural safety seeks to achieve better care through improving the awareness of power relationships, implementing reflective practice, and by allowing the patient to determine whether a clinical encounter is safe (Curtis, 2019). Continuous critical reflection and commitment to addressing power imbalances experienced by oppressed people are ways to promote cultural safety (Hall et al., 2023). The overall goal of this training is to better inform providers on how to provide culturally safe care to Indigenous patients and clients during the perinatal period. Due to systematic education issues that fail to properly acknowledge non-dominant cultures, many people lack foundational knowledge about the Indigenous populations in Montana. We cannot address perinatal health issues until we are fully informed on the circumstances that created the environment for significant health inequities to occur. Even more important for Indigenous perinatal health is the cultural knowledge and strengths that are relevant to pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period. This training will provide information on crucial historical and cultural contexts in relation to the tenets of cultural safety.
Other Projects
We work with many partners throughout the state on various projects, related to the perinatal population.
LEARN MORE about Other Projects
As work continues to grow we will post updates here. Feel free to reach out for more information.
