House of Healing

In partnership and close collaboration with Coast Salish tribal nations and the Western Native American Student Union, Western has built a Coast Salish style longhouse, called the House of Healing, in honor of the historic importance of place that it occupies and in acknowledgement of the University’s responsibility to promote educational opportunities for Native and all other students.

Western's Bellingham campus is located within the ancestral homelands of the Coast Salish Peoples, who have lived throughout the Salish Sea basin and Cascade Mountains watersheds from time immemorial. Specifically, the Bellingham campus occupies traditional Lhaq’temish (people of the sea) Lummi territory. The Lummi Indian Business Council has approved the Lummi name Lhaq ’temish-ew’xw e tse XwLemi’ for the longhouse. Lhaq'temish refers to the 44 original tribes, and XwLemi' refers specifically to the Lummi. The full name translates to "Lhaq'temish Building of the Lummi, who are descendants of one of the original 44 tribes." 

Located at the south end of the Sehome Arboretum, this is a place for healing—not only for Native Americans who continue to navigate the grief of intergenerational trauma—but also for our entire community. The longhouse is a place to bring people together in reflection and education in a spirit of collective healing. The project is truly a community-wide effort, with the City of Bellingham working with Western to establish a long-term lease for the House of Healing to be sited within the Sehome Arboretum, making it part of a popular Bellingham public park. 

The House of Healing includes a gathering hall that will support educational, community, and cultural functions, a teaching/warming kitchen, student lounges and other support services. The outdoor spaces include gathering areas, cooking space, and educational gardens with native plantings that may be used in teaching indigenous science, art, and medicine. The building reflects traditional Coast Salish architecture and design and serves as a gathering and ceremonial space for Native students as well as Coast Salish tribal nations throughout the Salish Sea region.

It supports American Indian/Alaska Native and First Nation students in academics by providing a dedicated space on the university campus for students to gather, build community and support each other. An identity conscious facility will have a powerful impact on the recruitment and retention of Native students and will promote cultural sovereignty and a sense of place for Native students, faculty, staff, and tribal communities. The longhouse will also enhance through action Western’s land acknowledgement statement for the campus and tribal communities who serve Native students.

The new building will serve as an educational center to promote healing, cultural exchange, and supportive understanding for the communities served by the university. The Coast Salish people have long understood the importance of collective healing in response to shared historical trauma, as well as holding the power of traditional and cultural practices to overcome hardship. By acknowledging the past trauma and suffering of Indigenous people and all ethnic groups, as well as the grief and suffering caused by the global pandemic and ensuing economic crisis, the proposed Coast Salish House of Healing will benefit the recovery process for all people who have suffered and continue on a road of recovery. 

As with the historic longhouses and other places of gathering built by the Coast Salish peoples, Western’s House of Healing celebrates its connection to the land and ecosystem of the region. In that spirit, the project maximizes the use of locally sourced materials and products in its construction and furnishings. The design also uses high efficiency mechanical systems and a high-performance envelope that will lower energy costs and the reduce the carbon footprint over the life of the building, together with Low Impact Development site design strategies.

The dedication for the House of Healing was held May 14, 2026.

Christopher Mead, Project Manager, (360) 650- 4005

John Thompson, Sr. Director, University Communications, (360) 650-3350