Tekicihila Unpo (Love One Another): Confronting Human Trafficking With the Guidance of Traditional Lakota Wisdom in Nursing Practice.

Abstract

Human trafficking emerged as a serious social issue in North Dakota during the Bakken oil field boom in the western part of the state. The oil industry has seen a dramatic decrease in production in recent years. However, the presence of human trafficking continues to dominate the scene in the state. As the RN Case Manager and Community Outreach Nurse for a Healthcare for the Homeless grantee clinic in Fargo, the author is the only nurse outside of a traditional environment who works with victims of trafficking in the largest metropolitan area of North Dakota. The majority of the current targets for this heinous industry are young Native American women. The author, a Lakota woman, employs an approach with trafficking victims that seeks to reestablish the view of self as a being with significant value and ability to contribute to the world in a way that no other being can. In advocacy, she teaches professionals about the Lakota view of the Earth as a living being whose destruction may be correlated with the increased violence against women.