Torn from her tribe
“In a Talking Circle, each one is equal and each one belongs.”
At age 11, Antoinette Red Woman’s (Wosidah’s) mother and grandmother died, leaving her in the case of missionaries who relocated her from her tribe. They physically, mentally, and emotionally abused her and vilified her people, calling them “heathens and savages.” For six years, her extended family assumed she was dead.
Antoinette’s dislocation drove her to homelessness. For ten years Antoinette endured depression, alcoholism, and anxiety until she connected with the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. In 2002, she founded the Talking Circle at the Coalition's Stout Street Clinic. She is now a role model and leader for her community. “I think it comes from the lineage of my grandfathers and grandmothers, the chiefs, and the medicine people... to help my people in a good way.”
Talking Circle is a support group to assist homeless Native Americans from all Tribes and Nations to find housing, sobriety, rediscover their spirituality and maintain mental health through emotional support and cultural identity...and to be proud once again.