Land-Based Cultural Healing
Photo: Julie Ellison
A Healing House in Kake, Alaska
rooted in our community, culture, and care.
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In our traditional way of life, healing begins with belonging and grows through relationship, culture, and connection to place.
OUR STORY
Kake is a Tlingit community in Southeast Alaska, held by the Tongass rainforest and the waters of the Inside Passage that have sustained our people for generations. Here, culture is lived through harvesting, processing, sharing food, and caring for one another.
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Healing in our community has always happened in relationship — with land, with culture, and with each other. The Cultural Healing House grows from this understanding. It creates a place close to home where people can heal from substance abuse disorder, strengthen cultural connection, restore healthy routines, and receive support within the context of community life.
This work builds on what our community has always known: when culture is active and relationships are strong, healing is possible.
What is the Healing House?
Healing Together
The Healing House restores our people through land-based recovery, cultural teachings, and collective belonging. Located in the former U.S. Forest Service bunkhouse at Portage Bay, the building includes 16 beds, a shared kitchen, and a gathering space within walking distance of shoreline and forest.
Land-Based Healing
Subsistence, shoreline, forest, and food as medicine.
Culture & Ceremony
Clan teachings, songs, regalia, and intergenerational learning.
Recovery & Re-entry
Trauma-informed, peer-supported, and grounded in belonging.
What Makes It Different
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At home, on ancestral land
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Culture as treatment (not an add-on)
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Family & clan involved in healing
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Local workforce development
How You Can Support
Make a Gift
Philanthropic gifts help complete renovation, hire local staff, and fund ceremony, food, and cultural programming.
Partner With Us
We welcome aligned federal, Tribal, and institutional partners who respect Indigenous sovereignty and cultural authority.
In-Kind or Volunteer
Contractors, builders, healers, and cultural workers can contribute time, expertise, or materials.
Building Healing Infrastructure
Fifty-two miles from Kake and twelve miles from Petersburg, in Portage Bay, is an old Forest Service administration bunkhouse. For decades, it has sat empty. Now, the building will be repurposed for cultural healing.
Renovation-Ready
Existing 16-bed building with kitchen and gathering space. Utilities and systems upgrades are scoped and feasible.
Phased Plan
Phase A: Utilities & safety
Phase B: Interior & kitchen
Phase C: Cultural elements & outdoor space
Phase D: Staffing & operations
Aligned Funding
Philanthropy (arts, culture, healing)
Alaska regionals & tribal partners
Federal pilots (behavioral health & community health)
Kake Speaks
“When people want to get sober, they often lose their community. Everyone has their drinking buddies, but when you try to change, you’re suddenly alone. If we can create a place of belonging, it becomes easier to stay on the right path.”— Community member, Kake