"Repowering" Indigenous Perspectives Through Mentorship
Utah's Dr. Dena Ned and UT Arlington social work PhD student Stephen Silva-Brave reflect on their experience in CSWE's Minority Fellowship Program
Utah's Dr. Dena Ned (right) and UT Arlington social work PhD student Stephen Silva-Brave met in person for the first time at the 71st CSWE Annual Conference in Denver, CO, held October 23–26, 2025.
Social work PhD student Stephen Silva-Brave didn’t expect a virtual mentoring relationship to feel so grounded. But in the first few minutes of his conversation with University of Utah College of Social Work Professor/Lecturer Dena Ned, he recognized something rare: an Indigenous mentor who not only understood his academic path, but the worldview shaping it.
The pair first connected in the spring of 2025 through the Council on Social Work Education’s (CSWE) Minority Fellowship Program (MFP). For both, this experience has evolved beyond a program requirement; it has forged a pathway for Indigenous ways of knowing to influence the future of social work practice. For Silva-Brave, the match came at a pivotal moment in his academic journey.
"So, Dena is the first mentor I’ve had that checks every box: she’s Native, a social worker, and in higher education. And I don't have to explain myself to her, because the stuff that means the most to me are our culture, social work, and the things I'm navigating in higher education and academia. She gets it all. …It really was like finding a unicorn."
Silva-Brave, a member of the Sicangu Lakota Tribe (formally recognized as the Rosebud Sioux Tribe by the U.S. government), is currently in the first year of his social work PhD program at the University of Texas at Arlington, where he also earned his MSW in 2025 and BSW in 2023.
As an undergraduate, Silva-Brave participated in CSWE’s Substance Use Disorders Education and Leadership Scholars (SUDEALS) Program. The experience helped him build skills in a specialized area of practice, connect with social work professionals at national conferences, and access research funding and academic scholarships. He said the program set a clear direction for his professional development, and he wanted to continue that trajectory in graduate school. That preparation shaped not only his decision to apply to the MFP, but also the lens he brought into his early conversations with Ned.
Ned, a member of the Chickasaw Nation with descendancy from the Choctaw Nation, joined the U’s social work faculty in 2007 after serving four years as executive director of the Urban Indian Center of Salt Lake (at the time, the Indian Walk-In Center). She now leads the College of Social Work’s Indigenous Social Work Scholars (ISWS) Program, often engaging with students as a guide, a resource, and a mentor. When she first learned about the MFP through an email from CSWE, she recognized it as an opportunity to share her knowledge with the next generation of social workers beyond the Salt Lake Valley. She viewed the program as another space to offer support founded in experience and cultural understanding.
Her approach to the program is consistent with the mentoring relationships she has built over many years—rooted in social work skills and shaped by the example of Professor Emeritus E. Daniel Edwards (MSW’65, DSW’76). Edwards, who founded and directed the American Indian Social Work Career Training Program at the University of Utah, taught an ethnic studies course that Ned completed while minoring in American Indian Studies as an undergrad at the U—an experience she credits as foundational to her own mentoring practice. That early grounding continues to guide how she enters each mentoring relationship, including the one with Silva-Brave.
Dr. Dena Ned (left) and Professor Emeritus E. Daniel Edwards (MSW'65, DSW'76) at the University of Utah College of Social Work's Annual Scholarship & Donor Dinner in 2007.
“For the first time, I was seen by an educator for who I was and where I came from—it was transformative. His mentorship had nothing to do with the next steps in my career or how I could advance his research agenda,” she said. “There was an understanding of our shared history and lived experience as Native people, and the path to our education. Dr. Edwards saw and acknowledged me for who I am and instilled a profound sense of trust and shared purpose. There was nothing I had to prove. I learned the value of recognizing and honoring that rich connection. I felt that kind of rapport during my first meeting with Stephen.”
Silva-Brave described a similar sense of ease and recognition in his conversations with Ned. He says he’s been fortunate to have many mentors, but the guidance he receives from Ned stands apart, offering a depth of understanding and connection he hasn’t found anywhere else.
“My friend at UTA, Dr. Les Riding In, who sadly passed away in August at only 53 years old, took me under his wing. Whenever he learned that there was another Native student on the UTA campus, he’d seek them out. He was the dean of the College of Liberal Arts, but he wasn't a social worker. So, Dena is the first mentor I’ve had that checks every box: she’s Native, a social worker, and in higher education,” Silva-Brave said. “And I don't have to explain myself to her, because the stuff that means the most to me is our culture, social work, and the things I'm navigating in higher education and academia. She gets it all. …It really was like finding a unicorn.”
As their conversations deepened, Silva-Brave began sharing the projects and questions shaping his doctoral path. His research and community projects center on matters affecting Native communities, particularly seeking justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and strengthening mental health supports for Native men. “These issues are directly related to a lack of resources for Native communities,” Silva-Brave said. These themes frequently surfaced in his meetings with Ned, who encouraged him to explore how culture and lived experience could guide his academic direction.
He is also exploring the possibility of framing his dissertation as a critique of empowerment theory through an Indigenous perspective. The idea was sparked when Silva-Brave conducted an interview for his undergraduate thesis with Tara Meeks, who operates NR Source, a program for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. She offered the linguistic change from “empowering” to “repowering.”
“‘Repower’ sounds very similar to ‘empower,’ so what does that mean? She explained to me that ‘empowering’ implies that someone is giving a person some kind of power. But we simply must ‘repower’ people and remind them who their ancestors were, who their elders are, and what we have been through collectively as Indigenous people. And here we are still! We don't need saviors to empower us,” Silva-Brave said. “I felt goosebumps, and ever since then I’ve felt the need to expand on this thought as a researcher.”
Ned and Silva-Brave have met four times so far this year, per MFP requirements. Even in that short time, Ned says she’s watched her mentee step fully into his role as a PhD student. “The growth I’ve seen in him is the progression of focus of his proposed dissertation research. We just jumped right in,” she said.
"If research and curricula came from an Indigenous way of knowing—a collective, collaborative, community focus—I think we would come up with better solutions. Training social workers with this lens as they go out into the community reflects the social work principles that the client is at the center, recognizing the person in environment, and that it’s our clients’ voices that we are here to support."
Both Ned and Silva-Brave emphasized the importance of representation and how Indigenous epistemologies provide a framework that shapes research, teaching, and practice. “If research and curricula came from an Indigenous way of knowing—a collective, collaborative, community focus—I think we would come up with better solutions,” said Ned. “Training social workers with this lens as they go out into the community reflects the social work principles that the client is at the center, recognizing the person in environment, and that it’s our clients’ voices that we are here to support. I think Indigeneity is the answer, but it’s also my only lived experience.”
Silva-Brave expanded on this idea, noting that Indigenous knowledge is not only relevant to Native communities but also offers wisdom applicable across society. “Indigenous ways of doing things have existed for thousands and thousands of years, whether it be how we cultivate food, live in community, or practice our interconnectedness with nature. So, when we're talking about American Indian studies or we're talking about social work research, it’s not just, ‘How can these systems help us?’; it’s, ‘How can we help you?’” he said.
| Learn more and complete the interest survey for the 2026–2027 CSWE Minority Fellowship Program (MFP), available to graduate and doctoral social work students. |
Ned added, “It's ‘practice-based evidence.’ How do you know you're making a difference? How does your client know that they’re doing better? Lived experience.”
Their shared experience in the MFP illustrates the impact that culturally-aligned mentorship can have on both individual scholars and the direction of the field. Silva-Brave calls on Native scholars to show up in this capacity. “If you’re a Native professor or a Native social worker, I know we all have a lot on our plates. But you may be the only one who is willing to give back, and there are students out there who need you. I think it can make the difference between a student dropping out of college, feeling that ‘no one understands me,’ and the student thriving in higher education. Programs like this one, where students are seen in their identities, are so important.”