The Cherokee Nation Behavioral Health Scholarship is funded by the tribe’s historic opioid industry settlements and administered through the Cherokee Nation Foundation.
The Cherokee Nation Behavioral Health Scholarship is funded by the tribe’s historic opioid industry settlements and administered through the Cherokee Nation Foundation.
TAHLEQUAH – When she eventually graduates with a master’s degree in the behavioral health field, Nataliia Goodman plans to work for her tribe, per an agreement made as one of the first recipients of the Cherokee Nation Behavioral Health Scholarship established in 2023.
“That was like a huge blessing,” the 21-year-old CN citizen said. “I was working and trying to figure out how much I made that summer and how much I would need to pay for the semester, and the scholarship was the exact amount I needed almost to the dollar. I think people always think of scholarships as just helping with money. But I think more than that, it helps for your dreams to become a reality and less stress. You can work yourself into the ground and still make these things happen, but getting a scholarship helps you not have to worry or feel like you have to pick the quickest and cheapest degree. So, you can really focus on the quality of the program that you want.”
The Cherokee Nation Behavioral Health Scholarship is open to full-time students with at least 60 credit hours pursuing a degree in a behavioral health field, or doctoral candidates enrolled in an accredited clinical psychology program. Undergraduate recipients must demonstrate a likelihood of providing professional services within the Cherokee Nation Reservation, while graduate or doctoral recipients must be agreeable to a period of grant payback in service to the Cherokee Nation for a period equal to the number of scholarship years provided. Students who plan on entering behavioral health fields have until Jan. 31 to apply for the latest scholarship, which is designed to keep tribal citizens working within the reservation.
There are no income or residency restrictions for the Cherokee Nation Behavioral Health Scholarship.
“It gives us an opportunity to hire these folks, keep them on the reservation and take better care of our people,” Tribal Councilor Danny Callison said. “Hopefully, we can get Cherokee people a chance to get this degree and come back and help their people.”
Goodman, of Tulsa, plans to graduate from Oral Roberts University in May with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and minor in Christian caregiving and counseling. She is currently employed as a mental health technician at the Tulsa Center for Behavioral Health.
“I’m going to go straight for my master’s after graduation, and I’m also going to stay working where I am as a mental health tech,” she said.
Goodman said that after her master’s program, she will likely work for the Cherokee Nation as a therapist.
“Right now, that’s three-and-a-half years away so I don’t know what will be open,” she said. “My long–term goal is I want to write different self-help books and eventually become an adjunct professor, hopefully at ORU. And then maybe open my own private practice or go back for my doctorate. It’s kind of all open and up in the air.”
She also hopes to merge her Christian faith and career.
“I went through this like traumatic experience as a child, so that’s what got me interested in mental health, and years later, that’s what led me to my faith,” Goodman said. “In trying to figure out both of those, they kind of like blended, and I found I guess the purpose in my suffering. I really felt this strong call that helping people through what I’ve been through is what my purpose is.”
The scholarship was created in 2023 when Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and Deputy Chief Bryan Warner announced the tribe would establish a $5 million endowment to support Cherokee citizens as they enter behavioral health fields. Administered by the Cherokee Nation Foundation, the scholarship is funded by the tribe’s historic opioid industry settlements.
“This scholarship will help address the challenges we see throughout the reservation and across the country by encouraging and supporting more Cherokee students going into the field of behavioral health,” Hoskin said. “Generational trauma affects every facet of our tribe and our society, so we must continue to address this plight head-on.”
The Cherokee Nation Public Health and Wellness Fund Act dedicates $98 million in opioid settlement funds and nearly $2 million in settlement funds from e-cigarette maker Juul. Aside from establishing the $5 million endowment with CNF, the legislation allocates $73 million for a behavioral health capital fund to construct facilities across the reservation dedicated to behavioral health services, including drug treatment and prevention. The balance of the funding supports innovative drug treatment strategies and the financial consequences of seeking recovery over the course of a decade.
“Cherokee Nation took on the opioid industry and secured over $100 million in settlement funds for the Cherokee people,” Hoskin said. “Deputy Chief Bryan Warner and I asked for and received the council’s support in investing $5 million of those settlement funds into a permanent endowment to support Cherokee students going into behavioral health fields. This means more Cherokee students will have the opportunity to one day work for their tribe. Together we can break the chains of addiction and help put many of our citizens on the path to recovery.”
The Cherokee Nation Foundation is a nonprofit organization serving the Cherokee Nation. For additional information, visit cherokeenationfoundation.org or call 918-207-0950.
The tribe has also partnered with Northeastern State University to support scholarship opportunities that will help develop and grow its public health efforts.
“Licensed behavioral health providers and social workers, licensed professional counselors … are just very hard to find,” said Juli Skinner, Cherokee Nation’s senior director of behavioral health. “There’s just not enough of that type of profession in our area a lot of times. So, we wanted to provide a pipeline, so to speak, for the work we’re doing within behavioral health.”
The Cherokee Nation Public Health scholarship is providing more than $76,000 per year between four eligible Cherokee graduate students pursuing a master of science degree in counseling at NSU. The scholarship is meant to recruit applicants into NSU’s graduate program for addiction counseling to help fill the current void of licensed Cherokee providers. Each recipient will dedicate two years of service to a Cherokee Nation health facility for every year in the program.
The tribe and NSU worked together on a formal program above and beyond internships to fill those needs, Skinner said.
“I’ve been with the tribe almost 25 years now, and I’ve worked with our Cherokee families for many, many years,” she said. “We have special needs and considerations. So, I really wanted to have a pipeline with Cherokee people serving Cherokee people.”
Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.
We recommend switching to one of the following browsers:
