“We are taking our time with the planning process,” says Jen Randolph, executive director of Kinship Heals, about Aquinnah Headwaters: A Source of Healing & Restoration. The new site is being developed, on land purchased in 2023 for $1.67 million, to create a safe space for native women to recover from domestic and sexual violence, with a focus on Wampanoag traditions, cultural practices, and knowledge.
Four out of five native women (84.3 percent) experience violence in their lives, and more than half (56.1 percent) experience sexual assault or rape. The vital work of this organization, founded in 2020, is grounded in Wampanoag traditions, culture, and restorative practices, including support groups, education, advocacy, and rebuilding connections within the community and extended family.
This year, Kinship Heals has been working closely with South Mountain Co., using trauma-informed architecture to build a physical space that prioritizes safety, empowerment, and choice while reducing environmental stressors that could trigger retraumatization. Randolph adds, “It is also about being respectful of the environment and the creatures that live there.”
At Aquinnah Headwaters, women will be able to find safe shelter, receive therapy, take classes, and earn their GEDs. “It will have all the components people need for healing mind, body, and soul,” says Randolph. The land will provide secure, private housing for women survivors and their children. Residents will stay for about 12 to 18 months. “Most shelters are 30 days, but there’s absolutely nothing you are going to accomplish in that time, or even six months,” Randolph notes. “It takes that long to get someone housed. And how much progress can you make in therapy or taking a class when you’re thinking about meeting your basic needs?”
The program building will include areas for gathering, education, outreach, and exercise, along with a library, a children’s playroom, and a food pantry. There will also be an outdoor kitchen for cooking classes featuring indigenous foods, as well as a garden, and a food forest with wild indigenous plants. Walking paths and meditative spaces will provide nourishing connections to the land’s natural beauty.
Randolph explains, “We’re trying to preserve the environment as much as we can, because in our native belief system, we are part of nature. We are not above the trees or plants; they are our relatives. If we have our healing space in an environment where everything is a sovereign being and is respected, then it brings you back to your traditional core belief system, where everyone has the right to be happy, safe, and to consent to sexual activities. So often, when you have been in an abusive situation, these things have been eroded from you. When you practice these beliefs, you ignite a belief in yourself again. It is important to bring the people we provide services to back to those natural spaces, to rebuild relationships with nature and restart that healing process within themselves.
“This land is truly beautiful. In the healing space, we’re trying to ensure everything is respected. We looked at how the water flows underground, whether certain trees can be preserved or built around, and if they must come down, how we could respectfully use the wood.” Randolph notes, “We’re also looking at the creatures: for example, tick management from a traditional perspective. What can we do to restore frog habitats so they can eat the ticks? What are the natural ways of being that we can create to ensure things coexist in harmony and balance?”
Kinship and South Mountain Co. are working together to create an environment that highlights key elements of traditional Wampanoag culture. This includes east-facing openings that catch the morning sunlight in key areas, patterns inspired by traditional regalia, and colors drawn from the surrounding environment, such as the ocean, sky, cliffs, woods, and sand. It also incorporates teachings from traditional wetu and longhouse structures. Natural building materials will include wood, local soils, and stone from the site or elsewhere on the Vineyard. Randolph states, “If you look at the building, it will look like something we would have built before colonization, and it brings back our value systems.”
Kinship Heals continues to fundraise for both the $1.07 million design and permitting phase, and the $14.93 million needed to build Aquinnah Headwaters. Randolph says that given the ever-changing, shifting sands regarding federal funding and the economic stress felt across the Island, “I wondered, Was this the proper time to be asking folks for millions of dollars to build this facility, or should we wait? Then I thought about the impact of people already losing services, which creates more stress on families, and people’s fear because of ICE. We may be indigenous, but maybe our family members are not. Because of all those things, we really need to create safe spaces now more than ever.”
Randolph adds, “Now is the perfect opportunity to develop something quite amazing, to show those who try to hold you down that we can do this despite everything happening. And that we continue to thrive, and we’re all in this together. It’s not just about us; it’s about all of us.”
For more information, visit kinshipheals.org/healing-center.
