Theda New Breast

Visiting Scholar Week: April 13-17

Theda New Breast was born and raised on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana and later experienced relocation to the San Francisco Bay Area during the Civil Rights Movement. She entered UC Berkeley at age 17, earning a B.S.W. and M.P.H. in Health Promotion and Prevention.

Theda is a founding board member and master trainer with the Native Wellness Institute, where she has served since 1988. She is an internationally recognized leader in Indigenous cultural resilience, specializing in proactive healing from historical trauma, mental health, and recovery. She is co-creator of the GONA (Gathering of Native Americans) curriculum, a nationally recognized model for healing in communities of color.

She is a member of the Crazy Dog Society and the Blackfoot Women’s Society, and Sundanced for 10 years with the late Buster Yellow Kidney’s bundle. In 2013, she received a Humanitarian Award from the Red Nations Film Festival for her lifelong work in healing. She has also served on the Blackfeet Community College Board of Trustees.

Theda continues to support communities through training, storytelling, and culturally grounded healing practices. She also appeared in the FX/Hulu series Reservation Dogs and the film Meadowlarks.