From KQED:
Inside the Friendship House, a rhythmic drum beat fills the air as clients gather in a circle, chanting a Lakota battle song. For Priscilla Lenares, the sound transports her back 11 years to her own time as a patient at the Native-led recovery center in San Francisco.
The treatment center is a unique in-patient program combining Western medicine, like individual counseling, with traditional healing practices like smudging. The staff treated Lenares like family, and she found solace in singing prayers in the sweat lodge. This month, Medi-Cal began to support more people like her by expanding coverage to include traditional healing practices like music therapy, rituals and ceremonial dances.