2022 Forge Project Fellow Rainer Posselt (Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians) will share his current research on historical trauma in Indigenous communities, including the various theoretical conceptualizations that try to explain how trauma is passed between generations. Additionally, he will cover how trauma manifests in the various health disparities faced by Indigenous peoples in the United States and Canada, and what can be done to reverse these cycles. Rainer will also share the goals of his current research project and how this will inform future scholarship.

Rainer Posselt has worked with Native youth, food-sovereignty initiatives, and currently works in public and mental health, including conducting various community needs assessments for the Menominee tribal epidemiology department and for the urban Indian community in Milwaukee. He designs and administers surveys, conducts focus groups, and examines epidemiological data to identify current mental health services needs for Native people in Milwaukee. Posselt's Master’s thesis will examine how historic trauma has affected the attachment patterns of Native American adults.

This theoretical relationship has never been quantitatively examined with regards to Native American historical trauma. His study aims to elucidate some of the relationships between historical trauma and how it is transmitted by demonstrating that a high burden of historical trauma cognitions and related symptoms result in the development of anxiety or avoidant attachment within members of Indigenous communities.

A reception with light refreshments will follow the talk.

As COVID-19 continues to be active in our communities, and as New York State has also declared MPVX a State Disaster Emergency, for the safety of staff and guests, proof of COVID-19 vaccination and masks will be required for all who visit Forge Project or Forge Project hosted events. If you are feeling ill or have been recently exposed to either COVID-19 or MPVX, we ask that you stay home.

Additional information about MPVX in NY State can be found at: https://health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/zoonoses/monkeypox/

Register online.