Circle of Healing Council (Board) Members
Skylynn Olvera
Secretary
Anthony Fleg
President
Anthony Fleg is a healer who believes in the power of art and word to heal. Originally from Baltimore, Anthony grounds his healing work in antiracism, decolonization, movement, and a focus on strengths and holistic health.
He is a co-founder of the Native Health Initiative (NHI), and served as the Co-Partnership Director 2005-2022. In addition, he has dedicated much of his career to improving health in Indigenous communities.
He is a proud father of 4 children, an avid runner, and recently wrote his first book, Writing to Heal – A Pandemic Journey to Healing.
Shannon Fleg
Treasurer
Yá’át’eeh shik’éí.Shíéí Naadáá Łigai Naasht’ézhi Tábaahi nishłí, Kinyaa’áanii báshishchíín, Naakai Dine’é dashicheii, dóó Tsi’naajini eí dashinalí. Akot’êgo Diné asdzáán nizhłi. Greetings of well-being my relatives. I am Diné of the White Corn Zuni-Edgewater Clan born for Towering House Clan, Mexican Clan are my maternal grandfathers, and Blackstreak wood are my paternal grandfathers. I reside in Albuquerque, New Mexico and am originally from Moenave, Arizona (near Tuba City, Arizona). I am a mother to four beautiful growing children, and wife to an amazing, supportive husband. I love family time, running, exploring Mother Earth, writing, reading, gardening, and supporting others with Indigenous traditional ways.
For the past 20 years, I have been involved in grassroots, community, and non-profit organization work. I love working with, for, and at the guidance of the community. I have been a public health educator, facilitator, program planner, and cultural specialist working in the areas of health equity, health disparities, and issues/concerns of the Native American Indian/Indigenous populations.
About 18 years ago, I co-founded the Native Health Initiative, a love-grounded organization that is rooted in loving service (human-to-human element of wanting to serve others) to bring about health equity, meaningful health partnerships, honoring and respecting the traditional ways of Native/Indigenous individuals, families, and communities. As a former co-partnership director, I created health opportunities for youth, elders, health professions students, and families with scholarship, youth health programs, tobacco prevention with a cultural perspective, and community asset mapping.
I am honored to be a co-founder of the Native Health Initiative, now serving as a Circle of Healing Council (Board) Treasurer. I also serve as health consultant to support and advance health diversity, equity, and inclusion with an emphasis on understanding Indigenous/Native
American Indian perspective. Currently, I work with the Changing Woman Initiative as their Community Engagement Director.
KAREN WAconda Lewis
Karen is a tribal native of the Isleta and Laguna Pueblos. After her initiation into Native Medicine, she introduced traditional healing practices into an urban American Indian health clinic in Albuquerque, NM. She continues to expand this program into local hospitals, the Indian Health Service, the VA Hospital, and surrounding organizations. Karen integrates Western medicine with Native healing in preventive health, mental health, and overall well-being. She is the founder and director of the Center for Native American Integrative Healing, LLC, located in Albuquerque, where healers from various tribal nations practice their traditional medicine and extend their services to the community.
Karen is a Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader program graduate and has been practicing mindfulness from a young age, guided by her grandparents in her traditional tribal practices of caring for the land, gardening, cooking and animals. She regularly provides dharma teachings incorporating Native teachings in her community and nationally. She has intertwined Native teachings with Vipassana meditation, incorporating these practices into ceremonies, sweat lodges, and her community at Laguna Pueblo. At Laguna Pueblo, the ancestral teachings of mindfulness have complemented the Buddhist teachings at the Detention Center, providing insight and wellness to inmates and their families.
Additionally, Karen co-founded the Annual Indigenous and Native Healers Silent Retreat and the Albuquerque People of Color and Allies Sangha. She has also been appointed volunteer faculty at the University of New Mexico’s School of Medicine, where she guides faculty and staff on tribal health issues and wellness support to medical students and residents.
In her personal life, Karen enjoys spending time with her family, including her daughter and two grandchildren. She manages the family ranch and loves spending time with ancestral lands and caring for its inhabitants.