BELCOURT, ND — A recovery center under construction in Belcourt, North Dakota, aims to take a cultural approach to healing.
Erin Belgarde, the center’s board chair, said the facility’s focus will set it apart from others of its kind.
“Ours will be indigenous and will be a healing for our specific culture here, the Turtle Mountain Band,” she said.
The Turtle Mountain Recovery Center, a 16-bed facility focused on providing various levels of treatment for those struggling with addiction, is in its 100th week of construction and is already open for outpatient services, according to Belgarde. It recently hired an executive director, Joan Azure, who has also worked on the project as a consultant. Talks are underway for an unofficial and formal opening, and the board is working to hire key staff such as behavioral therapists, counselors and a nurse. The center already has peer support specialists, a case manager and a billing specialist.
The idea behind the center came in 2018 when a local council member said the community needed a long-term rehabilitation center. Applying for and being granted a Ready Grant led the board to enter into a cooperative agreement with Purdue University, which helped the board develop a business plan. The board also conducted a needs assessment and spoke with law enforcement, emergency services and others who could provide them with data on overdoses and drug use on the reservation. In 2019, the analysis found that about 700 members per year needed treatment, which Belgarde said was the “rationale” for building the facility.
In addition to rehabilitation services, the center will focus on indigenous culture. The center’s curriculum will utilize the Wellbriety movement, which uses indigenous culture for healing. There will also be a medicinal plant garden.
“We already have a sweat lodge up on the hill,” Belgarde said. “We’ll have teepees, we’ll have buffalo overlooking the park, and we’ll create a bald eagle sanctuary. It’ll be very indigenous.”
Azure added: “This cultural aspect is so unique and beneficial to the people in the community.
“I’m excited because it’s a new building and we have all the great services that we’re going to offer,” she continued. “I think expanding on what we have now will be very successful.”
The community is behind the project, Belgarde said. She said construction is progressing well and the center has received some opioid settlement funds from the tribe to support the work. It’s a grueling process, but Belgarde is excited about the future.
“It’s hard work and, I can tell you, when you go home at night you’re very tired,” she said. “But it’s going to be great. I tell myself how we’re going to feel in a year when things are just going great and we can finally breathe a sigh of relief.”
Contributed by / Wylee Azure
Otto is the Grand Forks Herald’s regional reporter.
