“…what it all comes down to is being a good relative”: urban indigenous perspectives on caregiving, community, and culture to inform trauma transmission prevention and generational healing

The colonization of Turtle Island, which includes the United States, involved the mass genocide of Indigenous Peoples and discriminatory policies. These harmful acts have resulted in massive group trauma disrupting family systems across generations. The role of historical trauma in ongoing intergenerational transmission and toxic stress among Indigenous families renders an opportunity to better understand the role of kinship systems to inform behavioral medicine. Although 87% of the American Indian and Alaska Native population in the U.S. reside in metropolitan areas, urban Indigenous peoples have often been made invisible and their experiences misrepresented. The current study centers the voices and the lived experiences of caregiving adults within the urban Indigenous community of one metropolitan area to identify what encompasses a strong sense of cultural connection and belongingness for families and communities to promote healing and break cycles of intergenerational trauma transmission. With the guidance of a Community Advisory Board, four talking circles, an Indigenous research method, were held with 14 adult participants who identified as urban Indigenous caregivers (i.e., parents, guardians, Elders, educators, practitioners) of children. Transcripts underwent hybrid coding and reflexive thematic analysis. Four primary themes were identified: (1) Grounding in identity; (2) Barriers to belongingness and strong sense of self; (3) Fostering belongingness; and (4) Pathways for healing. Participants called for culturally and trauma-informed community caregiving and healing initiatives that are inclusive of the diversity and multiplicities of urban Indigenous populations. Implications of these findings inform strengths-based approaches to promote generational healing through an Indigenous worldview.