Community-centered strategy and action
We strengthen people, programs, and communities by connecting values to action, building practical skills, and creating pathways toward safety, stability, opportunity, and healing.
Start here
Pause, Breathe & Choose helps people slow down, recognize what is happening inside, and choose a response aligned with their values. It is designed to feel human, culturally grounded, and practical—not clinical or distant.
Lakota emotional-intelligence teaching
A clear, heart-centered pathway for working through emotions, triggers, choices, consequences, and personal strength.
Built for real-world access: readable on phones, usable on slower connections, and available without video.
Who we are
Turquoise Tiospaye is a mission-driven nonprofit and consulting partner focused on community safety, behavioral change, cultural connection, workforce readiness, organizational capacity, and digital access.
Our work begins with engagement—not assumptions. We help individuals and organizations identify what matters, understand what stands in the way, and build practical strategies that can be sustained.
Turquoise Tiospaye is a federally recognized 501(c)(3) public charity.
EIN: 39-4250862
Contributions may be tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
TTO Safer Communities Initiative
Turquoise Tiospaye brings liberation psychology into respectful dialogue with Lakota community knowledge to examine how relationship, history, power, accountability, cultural connection, and collective action contribute to safer and healthier communities.
This framework does not claim cultural authority or use Western psychology to validate Lakota knowledge. It asks psychology to enter the relationship with humility, accountability, and a willingness to listen and be corrected.
Read the Safer Communities FrameworkCommunity in action
Our work is grounded in real people, real places, and the everyday moments where community strength is carried forward.
Services
Professional services can be delivered directly by Turquoise Tiospaye or in partnership with community-based organizations, nonprofits, public agencies, and Native-led initiatives.
Program design, logic models, implementation plans, referral pathways, outcomes, policies, budgets, and funder-ready narratives.
Listening sessions, stakeholder outreach, community assessments, coalition development, facilitation, and culturally responsive planning.
Trauma-informed cognitive behavioral intervention, emotional intelligence, decision-making, conflict reduction, reentry, and mentoring support.
Work-based learning, contractor partnerships, participant support, construction pathways, housing rehabilitation coordination, and retention strategies.
Professional websites, content strategy, accessible design, domain setup, email routing, Cloudflare configuration, Apache hosting, maintenance, and digital training.
Governance support, board systems, grant readiness, operational documents, technical assistance, partnerships, and sustainable organizational growth.
Program priorities
Helping participants examine thoughts, emotions, triggers, choices, and consequences so they can respond with intention rather than reaction.
Open Pause, Breathe & Choose →Strength-based support that promotes accountability, stability, connection, conflict reduction, and successful community reintegration.
Hands-on learning, mentoring, readiness, paid work pathways, employer connection, and long-term retention support.
Web presence, community communication, digital literacy, ethical storytelling, and technology systems that expand reach and opportunity.
Evidence-based practice
Turquoise Tiospaye uses clear performance targets and practical measurement tools to evaluate whether programs are producing meaningful change.
Participants demonstrate stronger emotional awareness, reflection, and decision-making after completing CBI sessions.
Measured through pre/post assessments and facilitator observation.Participants report increased stability, improved conflict management, and stronger protective factors.
Measured through participant surveys, case notes, and follow-up check-ins.Participants advance into employment, training, education, or another verified readiness milestone.
Measured through placement verification and documented milestone completion.Participants remain engaged through the planned service period and complete core program activities.
Measured through attendance, participation, and completion records.Accountability: These figures are program targets, not claims of completed results. Actual outcomes will be reported using documented participation, assessment, placement, and follow-up data.
Community partners
We collaborate with organizations whose missions support culture, community safety, information access, healing, opportunity, and self-determination.
TTO Research & Community Education
This pilot research publication organizes and analyzes publicly available reporting related to Native justice, incarceration, prevention, reentry, behavioral health, healing, and community-based solutions.
TTO uses transparent research methods, original charts, Native-led interpretation, and practical recommendations to identify what is changing, what may be overlooked, and what actions can strengthen safer communities.
Read Pilot Issue No. 1 — PDF
Community Voice
This space addresses current events, community safety, youth, behavioral health, culture, justice, housing, workforce development, media, and the decisions shaping our communities.
“We cannot empower people without first creating a real opportunity for them to engage their values, their choices, their pain, their strength, and the consequences of the path in front of them.”
Commentary is identified as a personal perspective or an official Turquoise Tiospaye statement.
Connect with us
Contact Turquoise Tiospaye about consulting, program development, partnerships, training, web design, community initiatives, or technical assistance.
