michael joseph
clinical cultral specialist

sləxlaxt waý x̌ast sx̌əl x̌ʕalt (“My friends, hello, good day.”)

My name is Mike Joseph and I am a Clinical Cultural Specialist for the Colville Confederated Tribes Behavioral Health and our new treatment center up on the Sanpoil. Before this I worked for 5 years as a Career Counselor in the Tribe’s Higher Education Program. I began this substance abuse counseling work while attending Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. I started off as a Detox Counselor in Durango for Southwest Colorado Mental Health Center I eventually worked my way up to Certified Addiction Counselor III. Then I got a job with the Southern Ute Community Action Program at the Peaceful Spirit Residential and Outpatient Treatment Center on the Southern Ute Reservation in Ignacio, CO (about 27 miles from Durango). There I did DUI Counseling for Native and non-Native clients and across the street, at the Southern Ute Detention Center, I counseled Natives from all over the Southwest! I graduated from Fort Lewis College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Indian Studies, a self-constructed major, with my new title being Cultural Facilitator. I moved back here to Washington in the spring of 2009 and took the NAADAC exam in Spokane Valley, which I passed to become a nationally certified counselor. On my road of life I had to experience many hardships and many travels, all of it to bring me back to our captik̓ʷl (Creation Stories) and our sqilxlcawt (Indigenous Lifeway).  

lim̓lm̓t slax̌t (Thank you).