Televeda and Rededication Day: Honoring Native Veterans with Mental Health Resources

Phoenix, Arizona Jun 5, 2024 (EMWNews.com) – Televeda is an Arizona-based digital health company working to reduce social isolation and loneliness for those who face challenges connecting.

The Navajo Nation Veterans Administration (NNVA) and Televeda are excited to announce a brand new initiative and partnership to provide mental health resources and reduce healthcare inequities for American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIAN) veterans across the nation.

On Saturday, May 25th, the NNVA hosted Rededication Day in collaboration with Televeda. Held in Window Rock Memorial Park, this event honored veterans over Memorial Day weekend and introduced various mental health initiatives. Navajo Nation VA and federal VA leaders were in attendance to pay tribute and commemorate the day.

AIAN Veterans have been historically underserved through the lack of proximity and easy access to VA medical facilities and Native-specific mental-health resources on the Reservation. This initiative seeks to establish a standard of health equity as the foundation for AIAN Veteran health services. This project will be veteran-led and run, and community members will be involved in planning and design, gardening maintenance tasks, supporting outreach and collaboration, and hosting educational workshops and events.

During Rededication Day, the NNVA and Televeda came together to plant 4 types of native flowers along each quadrant of the park. The color of each plant symbolized a respective quarter of the medicine wheel (black, white, red, and yellow), a traditional Indigenous symbol for healing. The Window Rock Memorial Park will serve as the central point for talking circles as a part of this project. One Talking Circle participant shared the following: “I had a good experience in the Talking Circle. I wish there were more people. We shared about our experiences, which felt very good. I would do this again.”

Details of the specific initiatives made available to the veterans: 

A Veteran Community Garden program at Window Rock for the vets. 
For those who cannot attend the in-person talking circles, select NNVA events will be made available virtually.
Televeda released the Virtual Talking Circle (web app) on its platform, which is available for use by veterans across the country, providing a valuable resource for connection and support. Further, additional online veteran peer support groups, Indigenous programming (fitness, cooking), and tribal resources will be made available for remote access on the platform.

Televeda’s web application, Hero’s Story, has further digitized resources available for on-demand access to veterans across the country. These include Indigenous programming for social connectedness & the launch of Virtual Talking Circles for culturally competent peer support. Registration for all veterans and veteran service organizations is free. The NNVA and Televeda aim to develop hybrid talking circles and support groups where veterans can come together to share their stories and heal as a community while gaining access to important wellness resources. Members will have the option to access care resources remotely and participate in online support groups.

Read more: https://www.televeda.com/heros-story-project