Indigenous Episcopalians to participate in suicide prevention training at Winter Talk conference

Pictured are Indigenous Episcopal leaders who helped develop the Soul Shop Movement’s suicide prevention training curriculum for Indigenous communities. Soul Shop will pilot the new curriculum on Feb. 28 at The Episcopal Church’s 2026 Winter Talk gathering, which is an annual forum where Indigenous Episcopalians can highlight their Native traditions and contributions to the church. Photo: Courtesy of Shaneequa Brokenleg

[Episcopal News Service] Suicide prevention training will be a focal point for the Indigenous Episcopalians attending this weekend’s Winter Talk Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as the church works to help reduce one of the leading causes of death in Indigenous communities.

“Suicide is so common in Indian country that we don’t have the same stigma that’s attached to it as other places. So, as a priest doing funerals, families will allow me to say, ‘This person died by suicide.’ Elsewhere, usually, families don’t want you to mention it,” the Rev. Shaneequa Brokenleg, The Episcopal Church’s staff officer for racial reconciliation and interim missioner for Indigenous Ministries, who is Lakota, told Episcopal News Service.

In the United States, Indigenous people die by suicide at higher rates than any other racial or ethnic group, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among Indigenous youth ages 8 to 24.

Systemic injustices, attempts by the U.S. government and big businesses to seize sacred Indigenous lands for natural resource extraction, the intergenerational trauma caused by the legacy of Indigenous boarding schools and colonialism, and the high rate of missing and murdered Indigenous people, especially women and girls, are major drivers in the Indigenous communities’ high suicide rates. These issues are increasingly being recognized as acts of literal and cultural genocide.

At its 73rd General Convention in 2000, The Episcopal Church passed Resolution D008, pledging prayer, support and advocacy for suicide prevention awareness. In 2021, General Convention passed Resolution C014, which recognized that “clergy and adults who work with youth are often on the frontlines of suicide prevention.” Under C014, institutions and diocesan programs are encouraged to offer four hours of evidence-based suicide prevention training education for priests, deacons and any adults who work with younger people.

The one-day training on Feb. 28 at Winter Talk will use a new curriculum designed by the faith-based nonprofit Soul Shop Movement, which offers in-person suicide prevention workshops nationwide led by trained professionals in partnership with organizations like the Episcopal Parish Network and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The program offers specialized training for various communities, including Black and Hispanic churches and youth leaders.

Soul Shop addresses seven causes – the “Seven Ses” – for suicidal desperation and how to address them: Sickness, stuck, shunning, systemic situations, stress and shame. The program also gives an overview of suicidal desperation in Scripture, such as Job 7:13-15 and Acts 16:23-34.

“Suicidality is never about a singular cause; it’s a convergence of multiple factors,” Michelle Snyder, co-executive director of Soul Shop and a mental health therapist, told ENS.

Additionally, the program identifies four types of people who are affected and how to identify and address them: Those thinking about suicide; those worried about someone thinking about suicide; those who have lost someone to suicide; and those who have attempted to die by suicide or experienced suicidal ideation.

“We as a community have a responsibility to learn what to look for so we can take the necessary steps to save lives and bring hope to people,” Christopher Epperson, co-executive director of Soul Shop and an Episcopalian, told ENS.

The curriculum for Indigenous communities was written in collaboration with the Office of Indigenous Ministries and Indigenous Episcopal leaders representing multiple tribes, including several members of The Episcopal Church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Commission on Native American Schools. The commission is researching the full extent of The Episcopal Church’s participation and complicity in operating Indigenous boarding schools, gathering stories from boarding school survivors and navigating how to best engage in advocacy and reconciliation efforts.

“We’ve been working on the back end to get everything in place, but after we pilot the Indigenous curriculum at Winter Talk, we’re going to take participants’ feedback. We’ll look at the curriculum again and figure out what needs to be changed,” Epperson told ENS. “It’s great to have experts in suicide prevention, but if the program doesn’t meet the needs of the people, then we will not have hit our mark yet.”

Winter Talk, which is organized by The Episcopal Church’s Office of Indigenous Ministries, is an annual forum where participants can highlight their Indigenous traditions and contributions to the church. About 65 people, including some bishops and non-Indigenous Episcopalians who serve Indigenous communities, will participate this year. The suicide prevention training at this year’s gathering, taking place Feb. 27-March 1 at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, reflects the 2026 theme, “Gathering Medicine: Healing in this Time and Place.”

Part of that healing, according to Brokenleg, includes openly talking about genocide and historical trauma. The discussion is a part of Soul Shop’s curriculum for Indigenous communities.

“We need to be able to use genocide in a sentence along with suicide because we believe that they are connected,” Brokenleg said. “In order for us to talk about and prevent suicide correctly, we’re going to have to bring up the historical trauma.”

Every Soul Shop workshop has trained “lifeguards” who observe participants throughout the training and check with anyone showing signs of distress. All the “lifeguards” at Winter Talk will be Indigenous.

Soul Shop aspires to put people in a “yellow zone” that challenges them to leave their comfort zones and complete the training “transformed,” according to Snyder. If they aren’t challenged enough, or in the “green zone,” they won’t learn anything. At the same time, trainers try not to push people into the “red zone,” where the suicide information and discussions leave them traumatized and feeling less safe than before the workshop began.

“We’re not just trying to teach skills to save lives, but we’re also trying to create ‘soul-safe communities’ where people can bring their desperation, talk about it openly and find real help and healing and community,” Snyder said. “We try to watch the room and make sure that people are safe. The ‘lifeguards’ are also a way of modeling what it can look like when we take intentional care to create safety for people.”

If the pilot program is successful, Indigenous Ministries and Soul Shop will raise funds to train trainers for future workshops for Indigenous communities. They recently applied for a United Thank Offering grant.

Brokenleg said she’s excited about Soul Shop’s Indigenous curriculum’s future as it develops into a potential source of healing and relationship building.

“I think the core of Indigenous theology is ‘relationship.’ How are we related to all of creation, to each other, to the Creator? If we can be in balance, in right-relationship, then maybe suicidal desperation wouldn’t be so prevalent in Indian country, because we would have a supportive environment, a supportive church and a supportive community,” Brokenleg said. “I’m really excited to see where this program takes us.”

Anyone struggling with suicidal thoughts or emotional distress can call the 24-hour Suicide & Crisis Lifeline toll-free at 9-8-8 to receive local mental health assistance, or they can text 435748 for support and resource information. Health insurance isn’t required. The Episcopal Church’s Department of Faith Formation also offers a list of mental health and suicide prevention resources on its website. This includes free online intervention training through LivingWorks, creator of safeTalk, an evidence-based training program that teaches participants how to identify the warning signs of someone contemplating suicide and how to prevent it.

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.