Julie Smith-Yliniemi

<p>Dr. Julie Smith-Yliniemi is an assistant professor and the director of community-engaged research for both the Indigenous Trauma & Resilience Research Center and the DaCCoTA Research Center CoBRE, housed in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of North Dakota. She is Ojibwe/Anishinaabe and grew up on the White Earth Indian Reservation in northern MN. She is personally and professionally committed to helping improve the health of Indigenous people and underserved populations. She has had the privilege of both formal and informal education and has found her home in the behavioural health, academia, and public health arenas. Her background is in health education, school counselling, and grant management, along with clinical mental health therapy/diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders. She spent several years adapting evidence-based trauma therapy models to fit with Native American traditional healing practices. She co-developed and implemented the first domestic cultural immersion event with the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC). Board-certified counsellors and counselling education professors spent eight days immersed in the Native American culture on her reservation, which led to her dissertation findings of increased cultural humility after immersion experiences. Her experience with research in tribal communities includes serving as the grant manager for a meth and suicide initiative grant (MSPI) for the White Earth Nation. She worked with her community to develop a mobile crisis response team, which included local community members and mental health professionals.</p> <p><br />Julie collaborates with communities, academic institutions, and agency partners to focus on community-engaged research to improve population health outcomes. She is a board-certified counsellor, a licensed school counsellor, and a licensed professional clinical counsellor. She has thirteen years of experience working in K-12 public and tribal school systems, beginning as a health teacher and then transitioning to a school counsellor, and then a clinical mental health therapist. She recently worked for four years as an assistant professor in higher education in the Department of Psychology and Counseling. Julie graduated with a Master’s Degree in Counseling from Minnesota State University – Moorhead in 2006. In 2017, she completed her Master of Public Health-American Indian Public Health certificate from North Dakota State University, and in 2018 completed her Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision. She is a 2015 NBCC Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) fellow. She is passionate about learning from others and helping students prepare for working with people from diverse backgrounds.</p> <p><br/>Julie lives in Detroit Lakes, MN, with her husband and children. In her free time, she enjoys yoga, traveling, and being outdoors. In the summer months, she enjoys going to pow-wows, bike riding, watching her children’s activities, and being on the water. In the winter months, you can find her enjoying any outdoor activities as weather permits. She enjoys sharing the beauty of her culture and travel experiences from around the world.</p>