By Keshia Kills Small, United Tribes Technical College Wellness Counselor
2025-2026 Indigenous Visionaries: Women’s Leadership Program
I never imagined I would be the first in my family to step into a college classroom. As a first‑generation student, I carried both the weight of responsibility and the hope of possibility. Each assignment, each late night of studying, was a combination if more than just my efforts: it was a step forward for my family, my community, and generations to come.
My journey into the field of counseling grew from these experiences. It was rooted in resilience and guided by the values of healing and connection that have always been part of our way of life.
Elk Horn Butte, the land that raised my mother and the land that shaped me. Little Eagle, South Dakota.
Challenges and Turning Points
Being a first‑generation student meant learning to navigate systems that weren’t built with my community in mind. There were moments of doubt, times when the weight of responsibility felt heavy, but each challenge became a lesson in resilience. My work in behavioral health and child welfare across tribal communities taught me that healing is not just individual, but collective.
In November 2020, I faced the devastating loss of my mother to COVID‑19 during the first wave. I was by her side as she took her last breath. I had to Facetime my siblings so they could say goodbye. We shared a perfect mother–daughter relationship, and her passing hit me hard. Grieving her loss forced me to confront pain in its rawest form, and through that process I learned that healing is not about forgetting, it is about carrying love forward.
Later, when my husband survived a transplant, our family’s journey reminded me that wellness is rooted in connection, advocacy, and hope. Together, these experiences of grief and survival shaped my calling. I want to bring Indigenous healing traditions into the counseling field, and to ensure that culturally responsive care is not the exception, but the standard.
Current Journey
As I prepare to graduate from Chadron State College in the summer of 2026, I am interning at DeCoteau Trauma‑Informed Care and Practice, PLLC. Each day in this role deepens my understanding of trauma and resilience and affirms my commitment to working with Native American communities. The lived experience I carry combined with the professional training I am receiving drives me to focus on trauma‑informed care that honors culture, identity, and community healing.
Closing Vision
Today I am continuing my education in graduate school in the counseling field. I carry with me the lessons of resilience, community, grief, and healing that have shaped every step of my life. Being a first‑generation student is not just about earning a degree; it’s about opening doors for those who come after us. Showing that our voices and our stories belong in every classroom and profession. My vision is to weave Indigenous traditions of wellness into the counseling field, to create spaces where cultural identity is honored and where healing is collective.
My advise to other first-generation students is your path may be challenging, but it is also powerful. Each step you take is a gift to your family, your community, and generations yet to come.
Walking forward with the resilience, love, and legacy that shaped me.
Grief and resilience taught me that healing is not about forgetting it is about carrying love forward.
Keshia is a first‑generation college student pursuing a Master of Education in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Chadron State College, where she will be graduating in summer 2026. She currently serves as a Wellness Counselor at United Tribes Technical College and is interning at DeCoteau Trauma‑Informed Care and Practice, PLLC in Bismarck, North Dakota. With over a decade of experience in behavioral health and child welfare across tribal communities, her work is rooted in Indigenous healing traditions, resilience, and advocacy, with a vision to grow counseling that honors Native traditions and expands healing across communities. She thanks her parents, support circle, and mentors whose encouragement sustained her throughout this journey.
These are the places and people who shaped me to become the counselor I am training to be.
