Iron House Medicine
The Iron House Medicine program is Native American Reentry Services work with our incarcerated relatives. Our support includes supporting the Wellbriety Movement, providing traditional medicines, advocacy, and connecting relatives to the HEAL for Reentry support services as they transition back to their families and communities.
From 2016 through 2021, NARS administered the WA State DOC American Indian/Alaska Native Religious Services contract, serving 12 prisons/21 Native American groups, with bimonthly sweat lodges, drum & dance circles and teachings.
Powwows are held annually at all 12 prisons statewide. Normally powwow season is between May and October. Family members and guest elders, drummers and dancers come together to celebrate with our brothers and sisters for this important event. If you are a tribal elders group or community drum group or dancers interested in supporting our powwows with your presence, please contact Winona Stevens at winona@nativereentry.org or 253-212-9227.
Click here to check out our Iron House Medicine Powwow Pix!
Sweat lodge services are held within all 12 DOC prisons. This intertribal ceremony constitutes a critically vital component of spiritual life. Ceremonial practices offer an opportunity to ground our incarcerated relatives. The sweat lodge is a place that allows spiritual, emotional, mental and physical healing. It’s an opportunity to gather as Native and Indigenous people, stepping away from the prison walls if only for a few hours. Please contact us if you’re interested in sharing your ceremonial traditions with our brothers and sisters in the Iron House. Please contact Winona Stevens at winona@nativereentry.org or 253-212-9227.
Teachings are held at several DOC prison units. Elders are contracted to providing traditional teachings, and with the supervision of contract staff Iron House Medicine Peer Mentors Facilitate Medicine Wheel & 12 Step classes to those in their units.
The Iron House Medicine Program uses the White Bison curriculum Medicine Wheel & 12 Step for Men & Women to provide a way for our Hoop members to address mental, spiritual, emotional and physical challenges using cultural and traditional practices endorsed by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
If you are interested in supervising one of these classes, please contact Winona Stevens at winona@nativereentry.org or 253-212-9227.
Drum and dance groups are held at several DOC prison units. Contract staff and volunteers teach and bring songs to the Hoops. With supervision, our brothers and sisters gather through song to reinforce traditional and indigenous ways of knowing. If you are interested in supervising one of these groups, please contact Winona Stevens at winona@nativereentry.org or 253-212-9227.
The Iron House Medicine Program is a contract with the Washington State Department of Corrections. Please go to the DOC Tribal Relations page for additional information on the American Indian/Alaska Native incarcerated population.
