John Gonzalez, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and a Native Alaskan. Gonzalez showed the Council how using community-based participatory research protocols are making the People Awakening Project at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks more effective.

This research, which is supported in part by the NCMHD Community-Based Participatory Research Initiative, concerns itself with understanding and developing more effective ways to address substance abuse issues within local tribes in Alaska.