Episode 257 - A commitment to collaborative, community-driven research with Professor Melissa Walls

Today I am delighted to share this imperfectly perfect, perfectly imperfect conversation with Professor Melissa Walls, an Indigenous researcher who works with American Indian and First Nations communities to promote health equity through culturally centered projects.

Melissa Walls, PhD (Bois Forte and Couchiching First Nation Anishinaabe) is Director of the Great Lakes Hub for the Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health

Dr. Walls is an Indigenous social scientist committed to collaborative research with Indigenous communities to promote health equity. Her involvement in community-based participatory research (CBPR) projects to date includes mental health epidemiology; culturally-relevant, family-based substance use prevention and mental health promotion programming and evaluation; and examining the impact of stress and mental health on diabetes.

Dr. Walls’s collaborative work has received funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Public Health Agency of Canada.

In this episode, we explore her amazing work, her journey and how when any one encounters indigenous thought, the invitation is maybe not to interrogate it and, maybe just support it. An invitation to be curious and be open.

Melissa's request is also: 'please stop making us justify who we are, because a lot has been taken already, and this is taking a lot of energy away from us."

And so much more...

I invite you to take a listen. I am sure you will love every minute of this. I know I did!