Circle of Courage

A more recent and common term of the “medicine wheel or circle of courage” was developed by Martin Broken Leg, Larry Brendtro and Steve Van Bockern in 1988 and are co-founders of an organization titled Reclaiming Youth International. This model was introduced in order to provide structure for educators to have a foundation when working with children or youth at-risk. Instead of labelling these students as 'lost causes', they suggest reclaiming the at-risk environment these students come from and provide them with hope for the future. 1.

 Although this concept is not considered traditional with the Blackfeet people of Southern Alberta, it does have its merits with respect for the development of each individual in a family and community. The stages of development must be fulfilled in order to progress to the next stage. For example, the first stage of “Belonging” exemplifies how a newborn is nurtured by the family and engaged with the community. As the child develops skills of kinesthetic, physical, mental, emotional and social capabilities, they eventually learn what is necessary to progress to the next stage of “Mastery”. Similarly, each individual youth will learn to expand their skills into various community needs. Each individual is considered to mature at their own rate and possess their own strengths. Traditionally, all members of a community were valuable for which their community would embrace with support for further development of each individual’s strength (2.Pace, 2019).

 [Lakota Sioux artist George Blue Bird]

1.          From: [https://everystudentcanthrive.weebly.com/circle-of-courage.html]

2. Pace, Deborah, 2019. In discussion.