Re-opening My Therapy Practice: Lessons Learned and Skills Gained During My Time at School

It was almost two years ago when I started my Bachelor's of Indigenous Social Work at First Nations Technical Institute at the age of fifty-seven. At that time, I seemed to think that once I had adjusted to the school workload, I would be able to continue my practice, at least part-time. Early in my course load, I consciously decided to focus all my attention on what I was learning at school. The coursework I was engaged in, you see, was framed through a completely Indigenous lens, rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing. As someone who did not grow up within her culture, I knew this was going to be a remarkable journey of discovery. I was not only learning new modalities that would make me a better Social Worker, therapist, and helper; I was also shedding remnants of my own intergenerational and vicarious traumas as I gained the skills and knowledge to best guide others seeking to move past the barriers these traumas sometimes create.

As I finish up the last three months of classes and prepare to graduate, I can see how I have gained some really cool new skills to share with others who are unlearning old patterns and creating healthier ways of living. I also see how much I have grown in my understanding of who I am, and how I have gained the confidence I needed to know that what I offer others comes from a place of humility and great care. You see, my own healing happened through psychotherapy and in returning to the teachings of my Anishinaabe and Mohawk - Wendat ancestors while processing all that intergenerational trauma that I carried and did not understand. I was lucky enough to have an amazing psychotherapist who encouraged this journey every step of the way. Not everyone is lucky enough to find that kind of support within westernized and colonial therapy systems.

I share this journey with you because I am offering both Indigenous and western healing modalities as I build my practice on a part-time basis. I know from my own journey and from what I have witnessed in those whom I healed alongside that returning to culture to heal from five hundred years of colonial violence is essential. Furthermore, it is not only those people Indigenous to Turtle Island who have colonial intergenerational trauma to heal, but it is also pretty much everyone. Everyone on this planet has been affected by colonization. Some are just further removed from first contact than we, the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island, are. Turtle Island was the last frontier for conquering. I also want to be clear that western society does have many therapies that work for many people. including Indigenous people. It comes down to knowing when a combined therapeutic approach would be beneficial. It also depends on the Indigenous person and whether their complete trust in Western and colonial systems has been obliterated due to ongoing systemic racism experienced on a day-to-day basis. You see, colonization has not stopped, and there is much systemic violence happening to this day.

I feel fortunate that, with the accreditations I have gained in Neural Network Therapy and the knowledge I have gained in my SSW and BISW program and through the teachings I have been given in healing modalities based on Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing, I will be able to offer a combination of both cultural systems in a good and effective way. And, I will offer those services to people from all four directions of the medicine wheel, with a focus on the Urban Indigenous population who just don't have the same access to and are still finding their way home to heal.

The purpose of sharing this journey with you is to share a little bit about where I have been over the past couple of years and to connect with both future clients and peers in a way I was never comfortable with or confident enough to do before this educational and healing journey. I hope that the words I have shared will be helpful to anyone who is at the point of reaching out to gain some relief from whatever it is their going through. I hope that I have shown how important reclaiming and returning to culture is in overcoming intergenerational traumas carried because of historical and present-day colonization. Finally, I hope that I have demonstrated that western therapies can work if they are delivered in a person-centred, trauma - informed way that honours the role that cultural reclamation plays in healing on the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual dimensions we all carry within us. I think the people who choose me will be able to realize their goals for their own healing journeys.

My goals in my social work, counselling/therapy and helper practice will be to encourage both clients and colleagues to be brave enough to embrace their own growth and change. I want to build a supportive community of people who are focused on engaging in healing not only at the mental health level, but also at the emotional, spiritual, and physical levels of life. I plan to create workshops, work with groups, and maintain one-on-one counselling services moving forward. At first, this will be a part-time practice as I will be starting a new educational endeavour in September in a Master of Social Work program in Indigenous Trauma and Resiliency at the University of Toronto. This program will provide me with even more lived, practical experiences that I can incorporate into my practice on a deeper level. I am excited to reopen my practice and simultaneously gain a higher level of experiential education that I can apply immediately.

I would like to quote Eminem at this point as I say, "Guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back...na na na."