In Native and Christian: Indigenous Voices on Religious Identity in the United States and Canada, 219. New York and London: Routledge, 1996.

Karol Parker (Mandan-Hidatsa) is a clinical social worker with the Community University Health Care Center at the University of Minnesota.  Convinced that mental health problems among native people are the product of a broad pattern of economic inequity and government policy, she is involved in a variety of social justice issues and was a co-founder of the American Indian Community Mental Health Association in Minneapolis.  Parker is also an active member of the Council for American Indian Ministry in the United Church of Christ (UCC).  She originally presented this essay at the Second Biennial Assembly for UCC Women and subsequently published it in the UCC magazine Common Lot in 1991.  Unlike Little, Parker's early experiences in Catholic schools drove her away from the church, and she found a new sense of purpose and identity in the political movements of the sixties.  Family considerations eventually led her back to an organized religious community, where she found a comfortable combination of support and activism.

Karol Parker, January 18, 2006:

My current job experience has moved into administration (from mental health).  I have worked for the past 5 years as a clinic director of an Indian Health Service clinic located on my home reservation (Ft. Berthold in North Dakota).  Currently, I am beginning a new job (same one) at another IHS clinic on the Pine Ridge Reservation in SD.  I still maintain my license in social work so that I may one day return to clinical work.

© 2008 by James Treat