According to a 2016 study funded by the National Institute of Justice, more than four in five American Indian and Alaskan Native women have experienced violence in their lifetimes, with more than one in three experiencing violence within the last year.
WomenSpirit Coalition (WSC) is a Sequim-based tribal coalition offering technical assistance, consultation, and trainings on domestic violence, sexual assault, date violence, stalking and sex-trafficking issues, serving the 29 federally recognized Washington tribes.
“If you’re in an area where there aren’t tribal organizations like ours, then you have to rely on mainstream organizations, and they may not be aware of the nuances and practices that go in to making a culture,” said WSC’s executive director Dee Koester, a Lower Elwha tribal member, who founded the coalition in 2002.
Sequim Gazette photo by Elijah Sussman / Dee Koester holds a purple shawl representing survivors of domestic violence in the WomenSpirit Coalition office on April 30.
“Natives are more willing to go to a native organization than a non-native organization.”
WomenSpirit Coalition has met the statutory demands required to be a tribal coalition. Though they have secured continuous non-competitive funding, many of the tribal programs they serve do not. Funding for advocacy programs is highly competitive and for some smaller tribes, this can mean lapses in service on unfunded years.
Welcoming the public
From 1-3 p.m. on Thursday, June 6, the coalition is hosting a ribbon cutting and open house for their most recent expansion the Sayu’? X Wey Family Safety Center at 530A N. Fifth Ave. This is an opportunity, WSC representatives said, for the community to hear more about the coalition’s work, tour the space and witness a shawl ceremony.
Sayu’? X Wey means “the breath that moves one forward in life” in Coast Salish. The center will host advocate trainings, relevant tribal meetings, and allow for clients to fill out forms and job applications in an up to date computer lab. The space is beautifully refinished and designed intentionally with client comfort in mind.
WomenSpirit Coalition has maintained a low-profile over the years because of the sensitive nature of their work, staff said. But with the inauguration of their new enterprise Sayu’? X Wey Family Safety Center they are opening themselves up to being more known in the general community.
Sequim Gazette photo by Elijah Sussman / Doe Koester, WomenSpirit Coalition executive director and founder, is pictured in front of the organization’s office.
“I’m kind of torn between wanting the public to know and wanting to keep it quiet,” Koester said.
As the organization expands their operation though, they’ve decided that the value of reaching someone in need, who might not otherwise know of their presence, outweighs any nerves.
Advocacy
The advocate role is essential in supporting victim-survivors, staff said, as advocates walk through the processes of response and recovery with each individual. Koester says that for many victim-survivors, their advocate becomes the most important person in their life.
Like many who do this work, Beatriz Arakawa — Family Advocate Manager for the Lower Elwha Tribe — saw family members effected by violence and experienced it in her own life. This personal connection deepens her resolve for the work.
Sequim Gazette photo by Elijah Sussman / Beatriz Arakawa, Family Advocate Manager for the Lower Elwha Tribe in the new Sayu’? X Wey Family Safety Center in Sequim on May 7.
“Nationwide domestic violence is really a big issue, not just a tribal issue,” Arakawa said. “The statistics say that it’s especially (an issue) within the tribal nations. They are the people most significantly affected by domestic violence and sexual assault.”
Arakawa has known Koester for more than 20 years and received advocate trainings from WomenSpirit Coalition. She sees Koester as a mentor in her work.
Arakawa has been the Family Program Advocate at the Lower Elwha Tribe for 24 years, and she sees an average 35 unique cases per year. She serves many of these clients consistently over an extended period of time.
Advocates are trained to sit with victim-survivors and to see them through a number of essential processes: providing medical transportation, securing safe housing, purchasing reliable transportation, helping with the filing of restraining-orders, finding an indigenous counselor, or a counselor with indigenous cultural training, and more.
Sequim Gazette photo by Elijah Sussman / Red Dress Day marchers leave the Elwha Klallam Heritage Center, walking to raise awareness for missing and murdered indigenous people (MMIP) in Port Angeles on May 3.
An advocate brings themselves to their work with the intent of bearing witness and offering support to their client in a time that is emotionally rife, potentially dangerous, and complicated for a victim-survivor. They strive to facilitate a safe aftermath and a well-supported path towards recovery.
In her work at the Lower Elwha Tribe, Arakawa also organized a Red Dress Day Walk on May 3 in Port Angeles to raise awareness for MMIP (missing and murdered indigenous people).
Arakawa notes that her work at the Lower Elwha Tribe is not limited to tribal members, but to anyone in the community experiencing the abuses they address.
Sayu’? X Wey Family Safety Center ribbon cutting, open house
When: 1-3 p.m. Thursday, June 6
Where: 530A N. Fifth Ave.
More info: 360-681-3701
Website: womenspirit.net
