Pawnee Nation Behavioral Health is committed to being a trusted center of excellence for tribal sobriety.
Culture and Healing
We offer a full continuum of care, including detox, residential treatment, outpatient services, an intensive outpatient program, and medication-assisted treatment for adults.
Each program is rooted in cultural values and designed to support long-term healing through connection, tradition, and compassionate care, with more services coming soon.
Wellbriety & White Bison
Healing Through Culture and Connection
At Pawnee Nation Behavioral Health, healing begins with remembering who we are as Native people: our stories, our teachings, and our connection to one another. We walk alongside our relatives on their healing journey through the teachings of the Wellbriety Movement, a Native-led approach created by White Bison, Inc. that restores balance, identity, and purpose.
Wellbriety means more than sobriety. It means living in wellness. It calls us to heal in all four directions of life: mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual. It reminds us that recovery cannot be separated from culture, community, and spirituality.
Red Road & Wellbriety Teachings in Practice
Wellbriety teachings at Pawnee Nation Behavioral Health are shared through the principles of the Red Road, helping participants understand recovery through a cultural and spiritual lens. These teachings emphasize personal responsibility, connection to community, sobriety as a way of life, and restoring balance across all areas of well-being.
Grounded in the Medicine Wheel, Red Road and Wellbriety teachings support healing of the mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of life. By reconnecting individuals with culture and tradition, this approach helps address deep-rooted trauma and offers a holistic alternative or meaningful complement to standard Twelve Step recovery programs for Native peoples.
This pathway allows individuals to engage in recovery in a way that honors identity, tradition, and cultural strengths while supporting long-term wellness.
Our Wellbriety Values
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Culture is the foundation of healing and wellness.
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Recovery restores balance in the spirit, heart, mind, and body.
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Connection to community brings strength and belonging.
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Elders, ceremony, and traditional teachings guide our path.
Founded by Don Coyhis (Mohican Nation), White Bison is a trusted voice in Native wellness and recovery. Through the Medicine Wheel and 12 Steps teachings, White Bison provides a culturally rooted path that blends traditional knowledge with recovery practices that speak to our hearts and spirits.
At Pawnee Nation Behavioral Health, we integrate Wellbriety principles into our programs to help individuals reconnect with culture, reclaim identity, and restore balance in their lives. Healing happens when we come together; in talking circles, ceremonies, songs, and shared stories. Through Wellbriety and the wisdom of White Bison, we continue to build a place of hope, healing, and cultural renewal. Where our people can return to wellness and walk in balance again.
Sweat Lodge
Healing the Spirit, Cleansing the Body
At Pawnee Nation Behavioral Health, our healing philosophy is grounded in culture, ceremony, and connection. One of the most sacred and powerful healing traditions we honor is the sweat lodge ceremony. A purification and renewal ceremony guided by an experienced cultural leader.
The sweat lodge is a place of prayer, reflection, and rebirth. It represents the womb of Mother Earth, where participants cleanse themselves physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Through prayer, song, and the power of heat and steam, individuals release what no longer serves them; inviting healing, humility, and new strength.
From a medical perspective, sweat lodges offer measurable health benefits. The ceremony encourages detoxification, improved circulation, stress relief, and a deep sense of emotional release.
Sweat Lodge Construction In Progress Fall 2025
When guided properly, it supports both mental and physical wellness, complementing traditional behavioral health treatments with cultural healing practices.
Our sweat lodge ceremonies are conducted with the highest respect, safety, and cultural integrity by trained and trusted cultural leaders. These leaders carry the responsibility of preparing, guiding, and protecting the ceremony and ensuring that each person’s experience is safe, meaningful, and grounded in tradition.
At Pawnee Nation Behavioral Health, we recognize that healing is strongest when it begins with culture. The sweat lodge connects us to our ancestors, to creation, and to the sacred balance that sustains life. It is not just a ceremony. It is a way of returning to ourselves.
Talking Circles
Sharing, Listening, and Healing Together
Talking Circles provide a safe, structured space for participants to share openly and be heard without judgment. Guided by traditional talking stick protocol, this practice honors long-standing communication traditions and reinforces respect, reflection, and active listening.
Within the circle, each person is given the opportunity to speak from the heart while others listen with intention and care. This process supports emotional expression, strengthens community connection, and encourages mutual understanding, allowing participants to feel seen, supported, and respected.
Talking Circles are offered as part of Pawnee Nation Behavioral Health’s cultural healing pathway. Participation is voluntary, and circles are guided respectfully to complement behavioral health treatment by fostering connection, grounding, and shared healing through community.
Smudging & Cleansing Practices
Grounding the Mind, Body, and Spirit
Smudging is used to help individuals clear negativity, reduce stress, and prepare emotionally and spiritually for counseling sessions, group work, or personal healing. This practice offers a moment of pause and intention, allowing participants to center themselves and enter healing spaces with greater calm and focus.
Guided respectfully and in alignment with cultural protocols, smudging supports grounding, reflection, and spiritual balance. Participation is always optional and offered as part of Pawnee Nation Behavioral Health’s cultural healing pathway, complementing behavioral health services while honoring individual comfort, beliefs, and traditions.