Trinity Mace was at a crossroads a few years back when she was first introduced to a counselor with Two Feathers Native American Family Services at her school in Hoopa.
Facing an unstable family situation and struggling with social anxiety and substance use, Mace says becoming involved in the nonprofit’s programs proved to be a turning point in her young life, providing her with a sense of stability and a safety net of dependable people she could trust.
“I feel like everyone at Two Feathers makes you feel comfortable,” Mace says. “I feel like you can go to them for anything.”
Now a senior at Captain John High School with her sights on a career in counseling, herself, Mace credits that counselor’s unwavering support and consistency with enabling her to open up about what she was going through at a time when she really didn’t trust anyone.
“That,” she says, “was the start of it all for me.”
This past year, Mace was one of several Native youths featured in the short film Chími Nu’ Aráriihkanheesh: The Healing Journey — Chími Nu’ Aráriihkanheesh means “in this way we heal together” in Karuk — talking about her challenges and how her involvement with Two Feathers has helped her stay sober and change the course of her life.
“It was cool to get my story out there and potentially help other youth or even adults who hear my story, and hopefully make an impact on their lives and what they are going through,” Mace says.
Started in the late 1990s by the Bear River, Blue Lake and Big Lagoon rancherias to provide violence prevention and crisis services for tribal communities, Two Rivers has evolved to focus on mental health and wellness care for Native youth and their families across the region, regardless of tribal membership or affiliation.
Chartered as a nonprofit under the Big Lagoon Rancheria in 2002, Two Feathers has grown exponentially in size and scope in the last six years, now boasting more than 40 staff members working with hundreds of children, teenagers and young adults in a wide-range of culturally based programs, all with a mission of empowering “Native American youth and their families to achieve their full potential.”
One of the many things that sets Two Feathers apart, says Executive Director Virgil Moorehead Jr., is how its staff approaches that goal, with a priority placed on helping people who walk through their doors form healthy connections with positive role models, their culture, their community and each other.
“So we’ve tried to put in place a system in front where fun, relationships, positivity and good energy comes first. Then, the deeper work comes after that.” — Virgil Moorehead Jr.
“We’re taking kids in our car and going to the beach or taking them to get food, so we build those relationships. And then we’ll get to the mental health,” Moorehead says. “So we’ve tried to put in place a system in front where fun, relationships, positivity and good energy comes first. Then, the deeper work comes after that.”
In addition to therapy, family reunification services, substance-use treatment and school-based counseling in partnerships with more than a dozen districts at campuses from Hoopa to Fortuna, Two Feathers’ unique approach takes many forms. Those include classes in ceremony protocol and traditional practices, like regalia making and gathering, as well as leadership and mentorship programs, camps, talking circles and communitywide activities like sports tournaments and dinners. But all the nonprofit’s diverse programs share the aim of helping Native youth forge positive pathways in their lives and changing the way they see themselves.
“A lot of our youth, they’ve experienced an understanding of the world that the adults in their lives aren’t safe. That they can’t trust. That they can’t open up,” says Youth Leadership Program Director Amy Mathieson. “So the work we do is to build up their sense of healthy attachments again.”
Mathieson says it takes unconditional commitment to break through those barriers but one of the things she consistently hears from those participating in Two Feathers’ programs “is they do feel like they are part of a family.”
“When youth come here, they feel like they are loved, they’re cared for, they are accepted where they are, and they are at home with us and they are safe,” — Amy Mathieson
“When youth come here, they feel like they are loved, they’re cared for, they are accepted where they are, and they are at home with us and they are safe,” she says.
That, Mathieson says, sets the stage for helping them realize all of the amazing things they are capable of achieving, with the ultimate goal of building a solid foundation of resilience, life-skills and self-confidence to prepare them for success in the future.
“Short-term interventions don’t work. They just don’t work,” she says. “We need years sometimes with our kids. So we really have a long-term commitment to the youth in our community and I think that’s also what’s different with us, we are going to wrap up these kids for years. And then we are excited when they’re ready to take on that next opportunity and go get that next job, go to college or go to a trade school and we’re seeing some real success with our kids being able to achieve those things. But it takes a lot of time and a lot of resources and you have to be patient.”
That means hard, challenging work and dedication, she says, noting “it takes time to really build up our youth’s resilience and their skills to give them these tools.”
“We are fighting against a lot of years of disadvantage, a lot of years of hardship and sad experiences and real trauma,” Mathieson says. “To bolster up our youth, it takes real intentionality, it takes time and it takes perseverance.”
The vast majority — 60 to 70 percent — of Two Feathers’ annual operating budget of $5 million, comes from grants, according to Moorehead, followed by contributions from foundations. Reimbursements from MediCal make up around 10 percent of the total.
It’s no secret that Humboldt County has some of the highest rates in the state of what are known as Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, which range from neglect and abuse to living in an unstable household due to divorce, violence, substance abuse, incarceration or someone who suffers from mental illness, resulting in toxic stress levels with potentially lifelong implications.
The more ACEs a person experiences growing up, research shows, the higher their chances for depression, adverse education and employment outcomes, and risky behaviors such as smoking and drug or alcohol abuse that can lead to poor health results later in life.
Those numbers are often more acute in tribal communities, compounded by intergenerational trauma inflicted by the government-sanctioned attempted genocide of Native peoples and the atrocities suffered by generations of Native children — some as young as 4 — who were forcibly removed from their families to attend Indian boarding schools in a concerted effort to strip them of their cultural identities.
While all children are at risk of experiencing ACEs, according to the Centers for Disease Control, the agency notes that numerous studies show inequities “linked to the historical, social and economic environments in which some families live” can play a major role, with Indigenous individuals among those experiencing the highest ACEs scores.
In a 2024 report on addressing ACEs in tribal communities, the National Indian Health Board cites the need for a holistic approach — like those employed by Two Feathers — that includes “cultural practices and community support,” noting that by “prioritizing well-being, identity and community involvement — especially with Elders — effective interventions can mitigate ACEs’ impacts.”
Five years ago, Two Feathers became the first tribal entity certified by the county’s Department of Health and Human Services as a mental health provider for MediCal eligible children in the region, with DHHS Director Connie Beck noting at the time that certification is a “long and difficult process” and both agencies worked “together on this for quite a while.”
DHHS Behavioral Health Director Emi Botzler-Rodgers said in an email to the Journal that “behavioral health services are most beneficial when provided with cultural humility and cultural sensitivity,” and “attending to culture and cultural practices relevant to each person’s experience and needs are what lead to best outcomes.”
“Two Feathers has been successful in engaging with local tribal communities due to their ability to render culturally relevant services,” Botzler-Rodgers says, adding that DHHS allows Native clients to choose the nonprofit’s services. “Having Two Feathers as part of our network helps us to ensure that clinically appropriate and culturally relevant services are able to be offered. Additionally, Two Feathers has been an excellent partner in responding to the community, in schools and in Tribal communities, when there is a crisis or other need.”
Yurok Tribe CEO Taralyn Ipiña had similar words.
“Two Feathers is an incredibly important resource for our community. We strongly support the tribally led organization’s highly effective, culturally centered approach to helping people restore balance in their lives,” Ipiña says in an email to the Journal. “This work benefits everyone.”
Moorehead notes with pride how Two Feathers has been able to assemble one of the most extensive mental health teams in the county, growing from a single therapist at its inception almost three decades ago to nearly 25 mental health clinicians, in addition to a network of counselors and mentors.
Describing the staff as Two Feathers’ “secret ingredient,” Moorehead says bringing together the right people is integral to the work they do with some of the community’s most vulnerable children, noting the nonprofit actively seeks to hire individuals “who are easy to get along with … have good energy and are committed to this cause.”
One of the reasons Two Feathers has been so successful in recruitment, Mathieson adds, is the staff “aren’t stuck in an office seeing client after client coming through the door.”
“They’re able to be out in the community with the people they are working with and I think people find that very valuable and meaningful personally, and it’s fulfilling in their work and that’s what brings people to Two Feathers,” she says. “It brings the kind of people who are passionate about investing in their community and lifting up Native people in the community. That’s the kind of people we recruit and that’s the kind of people who walk in our door.”
Youth Development Specialist Yvonne Guido agrees, saying she knew Two Feathers was the right place for her the moment they said she was being hired to be an “auntie.”
“That just sold me,” says Guildo, who previously worked as a counselor at juvenile hall, noting she understands the challenges many of the young people she works with face, having undergone her own journey of recovery and healing.
“I’ve been clean for 17 years and through that journey of finding out who I am and who I want to be, I’ve realized that my purpose in this world is to support young people, and so this is the perfect job for me,” she says. “It fulfills my purpose. It gives me a reason to wake up every morning.”
Her work at Two Feathers, she adds, gives her the opportunity to be “the person I needed when I was their age.”
“I’m right where I belong,” she says.
Guido’s part of a network of mentors working with small teams of the 50 teens — generally high school juniors and seniors — employed each year through the Two Feathers’ Youth Ambassador Program, which focuses on “building up the next generation of Native community leaders through one-on-one support, cultural engagement, work experience and community service.”
That can include everything from helping organize community events to teaching “littles” about cultural practices like acorn processing and traditional games at the Two Feathers ACORN program, offering them a chance to serve as role models for the next generation.
Mace, who’s part of Guido’s ambassador group, says she’s really enjoyed running into some of the children she’s worked with in the past, noting how they “come up and give me hugs and still remember me.”
“I definitely have a big leadership role and I appreciate it,” she says.
In addition to leadership development workshops, cultural classes and opportunities to earn certifications in everything from first aid to food safety, youth ambassadors also share their personal stories and experiences with Two Feathers as panelists at state and national conferences, and through projects like The Healing Journey film.
Another member of Guido’s cohort, Jasmin O’Neill, who, like Mace, appeared in the documentary and was also introduced to Two Feathers as a student at Captain John, says she was drawn in by the staff’s persistence and consistency in offering her support and all the activities that they provide.
“When I think about Two Feathers, I think of a big family that is very open-minded and very big on mental health,” she says. “I think being part of Two Feathers has made a difference. It’s given me something to put my mind around when things in my life didn’t make sense.”
Guido’s pride is evident in her voice when she talks about how far so many of the youth ambassadors she’s worked with have come in their young lives, saying it takes “a lot of courage to get up in front of community and peers and to share their stories,” noting the stigma that still exists around substance use issues.
“I just think there is a need. I feel like a lot of the kids I’m honored to work with need an extra layer of support, some stability. They need an auntie in their life.” — Yvonne Guido
“I just think there is a need,” she says. “I feel like a lot of the kids I’m honored to work with need an extra layer of support, some stability. They need an auntie in their life. They need somebody that is stable, that will answer the phone at all hours. … This isn’t a job for me. This is my community. I love all of these young people.”
The Youth Ambassador Program, Moorehead says, is another example of Two Feathers’ vision to always seek out new and innovative ways to best serve their community and form connections by “just constantly trying to find how to engage kids and how to positively impact kids.”
“We’re saying youth employment is mental health intervention, not just one-on-one counseling,” Moorehead says. “So that’s always been in our philosophy: rethinking mental health care, rethinking how you do this work.”
“They want a job, so we are meeting kids where they are at,” Moorehead says. “And then trying to get to that deeper stuff.”
And if they stumble and fall along the way, Two Feathers staff is there to help them pick themselves up and brush themselves off and, perhaps most importantly, let them know that there will always be someone who has their back.
“I think that’s the difference with us,” Mathieson says. “Yes, it’s a job, but if a kid shows up for work high, which is not the ideal situation but it does happen, we are able to have a conversation with our kids, support them, ‘How do we do harm reduction here? How do we support you in smoking less weed, not showing up to work high, being able to get you to school?'” she continues. “Those kinds of conversations are really important, instead of just being, ‘You’re out of here. You’re smoking weed.’ That’s not our model. That’s not what we do. That’s not what our kids need either.”
Mathieson says she’s also had kids just drop out and say, “‘I don’t want to work with you anymore.'”
“But I won’t give up,” she says. “I keep calling and then I’ll just show up at their house and say, ‘I’m not giving up on you,’ and then they’ll re-engage because they see that we won’t give up on them, because they see that I’m someone who cares about them and then that relationship reestablishes and they are able to continue on in the program.”
While speaking at conferences might be one of the most challenging aspects for the youth ambassadors, Mathieson says it’s also one of the most empowering, allowing them “to see themselves in a new light and accomplishing things that they might not have ever imagined themselves accomplishing.”
“To me, that’s what is so powerful,” she says. “It bolsters their sense of identity, their sense of purpose, their sense of self-efficacy: ‘I can do things that I set my mind to. I can set goals and I can accomplish goals.’ For a lot of these kids, they didn’t have that understanding that they had that ability before … and also how they are able to transform and impact people around them.”
As Two Feathers looks to expand its services and reach in coming years — a plan that includes providing transitional-age housing for Native youth — it is also looking inward. The nonprofit recently received a grant from the University of California at Los Angeles to work on its evaluation method and will be highlighted as one of nine nonprofits working with youth doing youth-led programs.
“I know we are doing amazing work. I know we are transforming lives. I know that our youth are experiencing growth and new opportunities that they’ve never had before, but we want to be able to show that through data,” Mathieson says. “So I’m really excited about the opportunity to partner with UCLA and to then be a model and have a model for other Native organizations and organizations and nonprofits to work with … and do youth leadership and employment programming that’s meaningful to who they are as people.
“Our program’s goal is to build up our communities, our next Native leaders, and I really truly believe we are doing that,” Mathieson continues. “But we want to have a template that other programs and other organizations can take and then implement in their communities, as well.”
Being inclusive has always been an important focus of Two Feathers, Moorehead says, noting that “we have a lot of Native youth who struggle with their own identities but they feel included here.” And that inclusivity extends to the community, he says, pointing to the Halloween carnival and Easter egg hunt events they hold at their McKinleyville office, with more than 1,000 people joining the festivities, many from the surrounding area.
He also notes Two Feathers was recently recognized as Nonprofit of the Year by the McKinleyville Chamber of Commerce.
“I think that was a result of us partnering and having that inclusive mindset that we are trying to build a community,” Moorehead says. “So it’s not just impacting Native youth. Yes, we are impacting the Native youth, but we’re trying to impact the environment around them, too. We are trying to model inclusivity and the positive values of what it means to be human and the positive values of who we are as Indigenous, Native people.”
Kimberly Wear (she/her) is the Journal’s digital editor. Reach her
at (707) 443-1400, extension 323, or
kim@northcoastjournal.com.
This article appears in ‘A Big Family’.
