BUTTE — The White Buffalo Healing Lodge here in Butte has given people a path to recovery and it’s also helping artists at the same time.
Casey Heavy Runner waves his hand over a section of the mural he completed for the addiction counseling center.
"For the Blackfeet, in which I am, the bear paw represents good fortune," says Heavy Runner.
"When I was trying to find my path in sobriety of trying to figure out what am I going to do while I’m sober—because you’re basically kind of killing off a part of who you are to find something new when you become sober," he adds.
Heavy Runner has a history of run-ins with the law and is currently serving a sentence for possession of dangerous drugs at the Butte Prerelease Center. He says connecting with his culture through meditation, round dance, and visual arts is helping him find a new path.
"I’m starting to understand that the therapeutic of those types of things is huge and it gave me a better understanding—okay, well, this is what I can do, you know? I can also help people but I can also help, you know, myself through my art and that’s where it's become spiritual for me and that’s how I use it today," says Heavy Runner.
Another man participating in therapeutic activities with the White Buffalo Healing Lodge agrees with Heavy Runner's thoughts on sobriety. Arthur Windy Boy, who is also serving time at the Butte Prerelease Center for possession of dangerous drugs, the connection to his culture through singing and painting has been helpful to his recovery.
"Ever since I was able to walk, you know, hold a pencil in my hand, I was always, you know, putting a pencil to the paper doing artwork as far as I can remember," says Windy Boy, a member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe from Rocky Boy.
Somewhere along the way, Windy Boy says he fell in with the wrong crowd and he became an addict. He says not only did addiction steal his artistic talent, but it stole his freedom and time with family.
"It took many years away from me, being a drug addict. But now I’m glad where I’m at today. I’m glad to be part of the Butte society," Windy Boy says.
Both Heavy Runner and Windy Boy are looking forward to returning to their families when they complete their sentences.
