Shelby Rowe, MBA (she/her)
Shelby Rowe is the program manager for the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, an award-winning artist, mother of three sons and suicide attempt survivor. She is the recipient of the 2021 American Association of Suicidology Transforming Lived Experience Award and the 2016 Chickasaw Nation Dynamic Woman of the Year. Ms. Rowe has been a leader in the suicide prevention movement at the local, state and national level since 2007.
Ms. Rowe serves on the American Indian/Alaska Native Task Force and the Care Transitions Advisory Group for the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, the Clinical Advisory Board for Crisis Text Line, and is the co-chair for the Lived Experience Committee for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. In 2019, she co-founded the Indigenous Peoples’ Committee for the American Association of Suicidology, and was recently elected secretary for the AAS board of directors. She holds a B.A. in Sociology and Philosophy, and an M.B.A.
2021 Presentation
Save the Indian, Save the Man: A Social Justice Perspective on Suicide Prevention
This presentation will intertwine music, art and humor to address the serious issues that have increased risk of suicide among American Indians & how embracing culture is key to reducing that risk.
After over 500 years of attempted extermination of the Indigenous peoples of America, we are still here, fully aware of the perceived inconvenience of our survival. The speaker will challenge the audience to once and for all abandon the policy of “Kill the Indian, Save the Man”. Instead, saving the Indian could quite possibly Save Mankind. This presentation will intertwine music, art and humor to address the serious issues that have increased risk of suicide among American Indians – genocide, colonization & ongoing systemic oppression on suicide risk among Indigenous peoples in the US. The speaker will also talk about the Indigenous Renaissance that is currently taking place in the US, and discuss how embracing Indigenous culture could be a key to reducing suicide risk.