Land, Water, and Leadership Acknowledgement

Maria Lebovich Counseling acknowledges that the land where we live and work are the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary lands of the Cheyenne, Ute and Arapaho nations.  This area was also the site of trade, hunting, gathering and healing for many other Native Nations; The Lakota, Ute, Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Shoshone, and others. 48 Tribes have called this land home. We recognize the Indigenous peoples as the original stewards of the land, water, plants, and animals who called this place home.

We honor and respect our elders - past, present, and emerging - for their perennial stewardship and continuing leadership for our lands, waters, and communities.

Let us also acknowledge the painful history of genocide and forced removal from this territory. We recognize that U.S. public policy has been used to displace Indigenous communities, erode Tribal Nation sovereignty, and forcibly assimilate Native individuals into U.S. society. We respect the many diverse Indigenous peoples still connected to this land on which we gather. We pay our respect to them and give thanks to all Tribal Nations and the ancestors of this place.

We also acknowledge the labor of enslaved Africans and their descendants who worked this stolen land for the colonists, and who continue to disproportionately face economic oppression, racism, violence, and exploitation.