Marlena Hanson hadn’t worked in six years when she applied to participate in the Indigenous Parent Leadership Initiative. One year into recovery, she was sitting on her mom’s bed when she found the Facebook ad for the program. Hanson hadn’t left the house in over a year in fear of relapsing but was interested in participating in the program.
“I wanted to get out again and be social, so I joined the Indigenous Parent Leadership Initiative cohort,” Hanson shared. “Taking the class empowered me to find out what my passion was and what I wanted to do—and that, I guess, is policy work!”