Freedom Lodge is an outreach organization founded to assist Native Americans. Freedom Lodge provides counseling, training, and guidance on youth concerns, female issues, addiction, grief, veterans’ matters, and public considerations of the Native American population. Freedom Lodge trains individuals to overcome past injustices, address current concerns, and live a more productive life.

History

Founded in August 1993, Freedom Lodge is a Native American counseling, training, and outreach organization founded by Tulley Spotted Eagle Boy and Ruby Gibson. ¹ In 2015, the Black Hills Historical Trauma Research and Recovery Center opened in Rapid City, South Dakota. ²

Purpose

Freedom Lodge’s initial goal was to support the recovery of Native Americans suffering from ethnocide, post-traumatic stress syndromes, and school abuses. ³ Since inception, Freedom Lodge has worked on Native American outreach programs that educate, empower, and heal; including prevention and healing from youth date rape and violence, building youth advocacy, healthy youth-peer relationships, grief support for families, and providing intergenerational healing services, traditional spiritual mentoring, and conference participation. ⁴

Programs

Executive director Ruby Gibson says Freedom Lodge works to resolve underlying issues related to genocide, colonialism, historical trauma, and loss of land, culture, and language. ⁵

Freedom Lodge teaches a historical trauma master class (HTMC) to recover from complex trauma events. ⁶ The class is designed for Native American health care providers, recovery counselors, social workers, domestic and sexual abuse advocates, and traditional healers. ⁷ The class looks at personal and cultural memory; emotional patterns; breaking personal trends of abuse, addiction, struggle, and grief; tracks patterns of sexual abuse, chronic pain, and repetitive injury; and heals relational dynamics. ⁸ Additionally, Freedom Lodge offers a historical master class trainer program designed for HTMC graduates that wish to provide training to others under the guidance of Gibson. ⁹

Freedom Lodge provides counseling free of charge to tribal members on a weekly basis. ¹⁰  Historical Trauma Recovery provides individual counseling to veterans and war survivors, depression, anxiety, anger, grief, emotional distress, addiction, chronic pain, spiritual disorientation, and recovery from boarding school legacies. ¹¹

Freedom Lodge runs a master class on Somatic Archaeology – a process of remembering stories to remember one’s history. ¹² The class examines adoption of attitudes, patterns, and dynamics from families, communities, and one’s environment in remembering what teachers have taught and others have said and ways that can shape one’s life. ¹³ The teaching seeks to enable those to choose a positive destiny. ¹⁴

Freedom Lodge offers youth programs that address date rape, suicidal prevention, juvenile court advocacy, healthy lifestyles, sobriety circles, and cultural discussions. ¹⁵ Freedom Lodge organizes a project to work with young females suffering from exploitation, enslavement, and effects of sexual violence. ¹⁶ Freedom Lodge provides programs for Native women designed by Native women when talk therapy, western medicine, and even ceremonies may be ineffective. ¹⁷ Freedom Lodge offers cultural sensitivity seminars for the larger community including police departments, fire departments, hospitals, tribal schools, domestic abuse shelters, and others to work with Lakota cultural expectations. ¹⁸

Finances

In 2022, Freedom Lodge had net assets of $197,920. ¹⁹ According to the organization’s tax returns, in 2022 Freedom Lodge recorded $249,309 in revenue and $682,724 in expenses. ²⁰ In 2021, Freedom Lodge raised $605,658 in revenue and had $448,473 in expenses. ²¹ Executive director Ruby Gibson’s salary increased from $94,596 in 2019, $92,981 in 2020, and $97,166 in 2021 to $146,778 in 2022. ²²

Freedom Lodge states the organization was made possible by the Tides Foundation for Indigenous People. ²³ Freedom Lodge has received grant money from the Kalliopeia Foundation, PRBB Foundation, and the National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ²⁴

Leadership

Ruby Gibson is co-founder and executive director of Freedom Lodge. ²⁵ Gibson has developed two trauma recovery models – Somatic Archaeology and Generational Brainspotting. ²⁶ Gibson is the author of the book My Body, My Earth, The Practice of Somatic Archaeology. ²⁷

1. “About.” Freedom Lodge. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://freedomlodge.org/about/.
2. “Dr. Ruby Gibson.” Freedom Lodge. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://freedomlodge.org.
3. “About.” Freedom Lodge. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://freedomlodge.org/about/.
4. Freedom Lodge, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2022; “About.” Freedom Lodge. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://freedomlodge.org/about/.
5. Neves, Alena. “Healing Center Looks to End Historical Trauma Through Restorative Approach in Native Community.” KEVN. September 12, 2023. Accessed November 13, 2023. https://www.blackhillsfox.com/2023/09/12/healing-center-looks-end-historical-trauma-through-restorative-approach-native-community/.
6. “Historical Trauma Master Class.” Freedom Lodge. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://freedomlodge.org/services/.
7. “Historical Trauma Master Class.” Freedom Lodge. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://freedomlodge.org/services/.
8. “Historical Trauma Master Class.” Freedom Lodge. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://freedomlodge.org/services/.
9. “Historical Trauma Master Class Trainer Program.” Freedom Lodge. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://freedomlodge.org/services/.
10. “Counseling.” Freedom Lodge. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://freedomlodge.org/services/.
11. “Counseling.” Freedom Lodge. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://freedomlodge.org/services/.
12. “Somatic Archaeology Master Class.” Freedom Lodge. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://freedomlodge.org/services/.
13. “Somatic Archaeology Master Class.” Freedom Lodge. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://freedomlodge.org/services/.
14. “Somatic Archaeology Master Class.” Freedom Lodge. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://freedomlodge.org/services/.
15. “Youth Advocacy.” Freedom Lodge. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://freedomlodge.org/services/.
16. “Healing the Sacred Womb Project.” Freedom Lodge. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://freedomlodge.org/services/.
17. “Healing the Sacred Womb Project.” Freedom Lodge. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://freedomlodge.org/services/.
18. “Cultural Sensitivity.” Freedom Lodge. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://freedomlodge.org/services/.
19. Freedom Lodge, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2022.
20. Freedom Lodge, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2022.
21. Freedom Lodge, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2021.
22. Freedom Lodge, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2019; Freedom Lodge, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2020; Freedom Lodge, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2021; Freedom Lodge, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2022.
23. “Services.” Freedom Lodge. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://freedomlodge.org/services/.
24. “Freedom Lodge.” Kalliopeia Foundation. Accessed November 13, 2023. https://kalliopeia.org/grantee-partner/freedom-lodge/; “Proudly Announcing Our 2022-2023 Grant Partners: For Grants to be Carried Out in 2023.” PRBB Foundation. Accessed November 13, 2023. http://www.prbbfoundation.org/grant-partners/’ National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2021.
25. “Dr. Ruby Gibson.” Freedom Lodge. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://freedomlodge.org.
26. “My Story.” Dr. Ruby Gibson. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://rubygibson.com/my-story/.
27. “My Story.” Dr. Ruby Gibson. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://rubygibson.com/my-story/.