"In 2009, Sheila Claw-Starr was adrift in Tucson. She'd left her home in the Navajo Nation to be closer to her ex-husband, but now she was on her own, hunting for a job, looking into taking classes, and planning for a future in a strange, often lonely place.

“Basically, I was just trying to find myself,” she recalls.

Then she met Raymond Mattia.

In a gathering at the Tucson Indian Center, Claw-Starr and Mattia, a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation, bonded over their shared experiences.

Both had been raised by deeply traditional grandmothers well-versed in their tribe’s ancient ceremonies. Both had struggled in their off-reservation lives. Both were living in recovery from substance abuse, and both wanted to help others do the same."

Get the Story:
Finding a Native Way to Heal (Arizona Public Media 11/16)