The Storyteller

RICHARD DeSIREY

Richard began his career as a teacher, founding the first alternative schools in the Tulsa,
Oklahoma, area in the late 1970s. This book tells the story of the Plains Indians that was
left out of the chapter he once taught on the “Indian Problem.” Nearly fifty years later,
he is tying up one last loose end from his teaching days.

He went on to develop therapeutic residential care models, including group homes,
therapeutic foster homes, and crisis centers, along with therapeutic classrooms in
schools across Oklahoma. He also created Systems of Care initiatives, bringing
therapeutic support to children and families throughout the state and, at times, beyond
it. All of this work centered on healing generational and personal trauma.

Like Benjamin, the book’s narrator, Richard is 74 and looking back across fifty years.
Shaped by his work with troubled youth, he believes our society still has unmet needs to
reckon with, chief among them, one our “Dominant Culture” has failed to address: the
impact of trauma on children’s lives. Punishment, he insists, is not the answer to
behaviors rooted in trauma. He calls on neighborhoods, schools, houses of worship, and
extended families to become sanctuaries where safety, security, trust, and hope can be
restored.

He and his wife, Cindy, have three children, Sara, David, and Mikey, many grand-
children, and an increasing number of great-grandchildren. Nearly all live in the Tulsa
area, where Richard has spent his whole life. Growing up, he heard Tulsa called
“America’s Most Beautiful City” and the “Oil Capital of the World.” In recent years, he
has come to appreciate its place at the intersection of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, the
Cherokee Nation, and the Osage Nation.

Historical traumas persist, though, across generations, most visibly in Oklahoma’s many
Indigenous communities and in Tulsa’s African American community. Through this
book and growing support in local communities, he hopes healing will continue to take
root. He imagines A New Way, in his hometown and across the state, where people of
every culture and heritage are equally valued and lifted up, honoring both our
differences and the bonds we share.