Mission
The Western Gate Roots and Wings Foundation’s (“Roots and Wings”) mission is creating Rites of Passage for disconnected youth and veterans and cultivating a community of mentors, teachers, and elders. We strive to end the cycle of suicide, drug, alcohol, crime, recidivism and violence rates among youth and veterans, and support these individuals in healing from traumatic and uprooting experiences.
Restoring Community
Rebuilding lives through ceremony, story-telling, and mentorship, Roots and Wings creates a sanctuary for veterans and youth where both have opportunity to honor the lives that have been lost by war and violence, and support the healing of trauma.
Who we are
Western Gate Roots and Wings Foundation is a group of Elders, mentors, and teachers using Native American and indigenous teachings to cultivate a deeper respect for the trauma and harm suffered by veterans and disconnected youth.
Our work
Veterans and disconnected youth suffer from high rates of suicide, post-traumatic stress disorder, recidivism, and substance abuse. Programs that emphasize the power of listening and its connection to health address the needs of both youth and veterans and provide for synergistic healing and transformation.
Drawing from Native American and indigenous traditions, we cultivate a deeper understanding of listening and witnessing and its connection to health and well-being. Through ceremony, story-telling, and mentorship, we provide a reliable process of healing and support for disconnected youth and veterans. With retreats and circle processes, we create spaces where people can experience indigenous knowledge and belonging, and where educators and mentors can incorporate these teachings into their work.
Why now
Indigenous societies of past and present all developed human technologies to support individuals who have suffered trauma of isolation, violence, and substance abuse. These have included community, ritual, and telling one’s story, that allow the trauma to be heard and the warrior to be brought back to a place of balance. Bringing these healing modalities back into practice, we offer a model for helping veterans and disconnected youth recover from the harms of modern society.
By using innovative, community-based intervention that utilizes the modalities of narrative medicine (storytelling – personal and mythic/archetypal), artistic expression, earth- based ritual, and relational community practices, we help to promote stress reduction and healthy lifestyle behaviors, creating a new healing path for war-traumatized veterans and disconnected youth.
This work builds on the experience of two elders who have carried on the traditions of their Native American teachers for over three decades. They have been successfully delivering this intervention work to veterans, as well as youth in prisons and juvenile detention facilities.
Our Team
Miguel Rivera
Miguel Rivera is the Executive Director of Roots and Wings Foundation. Miguel was born in Guatemala and moved to the United State at the age of 13. He has decades of experience working with disconnected youth and former gang members. In collaboration with Dr. Ed Tick from Soldier’s Heart, a nonprofit serving veterns, Rivera leads retreats for veterans aimed at healing and reintegration. He brings the arts to his work, informed by decades as a professional musician, drummer, sound editor for film and television, as well as translator, with Robert Bly, of poetry from his native land.
glenn schiffman
Glenn Schiffman is the Director of Programs for Roots and Wings. An Elder and mentor for Roots and Wings, he has built more than 100 sweat lodges in all regions of the US, and has personally conducted over 1000 Inipi and sweat lodge ceremonies. He has been interviewed by print and TV news organizations including CNN, and appeared in two TV docu-dramas regarding Native American lore. He is a prolific writer of several works of creative fiction including “The Way I Was Taught”; a gifted story teller of Lakota Tribe legends; and a proud grandfather to baby twins.
mark marcum
Mark Marcum is the Board Chair of Roots and Wings Foundation. He is the owner of Khaos Digital, a company providing computer graphics and animation to major Hollywood films and television productions. He has extensive experience in successful program implementation in the for-profit sector and has been a key participant in the men’s sweatlodges in Los Angeles and sun dances in South Dakota. He currently assists in the envisioning process as well as securing key funds for the program’s expansion.