My own mental health journey began with destigmatizing mental illness and eventually transformed into an acceptance of mental health care as an inextricable part of holistic wellness. How Trauma Is PassedThe Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) does not include “intergenerational trauma” in its classification of mental illness diagnoses used by mental health professionals, but the most recent edition expands its definition of trauma to include the effects of direct and indirect exposure. The term “historical trauma” was coined by Dr. Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart in the 1980s specifically in relation to the colonization, forced relocation, and assimilation of Native Americans. They recognized in the men’s teachings their unique definition of historical trauma that was summarized by the four C ’s: colonial injury, collective experience, cumulative effects, and cross-generational impacts. I began to view mental illness less as a series of disorders and more as a response to our environments.