Strengthening a Nation’s Future Through Youth Healing to Wellness Courts

Drummond Woodsum has had the honor of assisting the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Mohtakomikuk (Indian Township) with the development and implementation of a youth Healing to Wellness court program to provide wraparound services to support the community’s youth in their journey to wellness. The Tribe, like many across Indian Country, has been plagued by the Opioid epidemic, and the community’s leaders were unwavering in their commitment to assist and protect the Nation’s youth in the fight against substance use disorders.

There are approximately a hundred healing to wellness courts throughout Indian Country, and each serves as an alternative to the typical Western-style criminal adjudication of drug-related crimes. The purpose and primary benefit of a healing to wellness court is to truly address the underlying issues that result in alcohol and drug offenses. Rather than merely processing an individual through a criminal justice system, healing to wellness court clients are connected with appropriate services that accommodate and incorporate their culture. Clients have their own case management plan and are provided with regular check-ins, support, and incentives to encourage them to continue progressing through the program.

Drummond relied on the immense array of resources available to Tribal Nations seeking to develop a healing to wellness court program,¹ but found that the real work came in ensuring that the program adequately fit the community’s needs. Drummond worked closely with a Steering Committee comprised of leadership, the tribal court judge and clerk, prosecutor and defense counsel, law enforcement, child welfare, education, health services, an elder/cultural advisor and the tribal attorney. Through a series of highly engaged meetings, the Steering Committee designed the program model, reviewed and approved a program manual and other key documents, and participated in trainings to better understand and respond to substance use disorders.

The Passamaquoddy Tribe at Mohtakomikuk (Indian Township)’s youth healing to wellness court program is young, but promises a brighter future for the community.

^{1  See e.g., wellnesscourts.org, hosted by the Tribal Law and Policy Institute.}