Rachel Turner MSW, MS

Rachel (Tayagnaq) Turner works as a mental health clinician at Norton Sound Health Corporation in Nome, Alaska, USA, where she is completing hours for her LCSW clinical license. Rachel is also a PhD student in Indigenous Studies at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Her research is focused on understanding and remediating suicide among Iñupiat men in the Bering Straits region. Rachel chose this region because her father’s mother and grandmothers descend from the Iñupiat communities of Unalakleet, Teller, and Shishmaref, Alaska. Rachel has a strong educational background. She holds an MSW from Cal Poly Humboldt in Northern California and an MS in Child Development from the University of California at Davis. Rachel is drawn to the topic of men’s suicide because suicide has directly affected her family and she is aware that a gender-specific focus on men’s mental health is an underserved area of research and practice. In her free time, Rachel loves to travel. She has enjoyed visiting the Mediterranean, Hawaii, Canada, and Washington State in recent months. She also cherishes every opportunity to visit family and enjoy nature in Alaska and California.