Decolonizing Counselling and Mental Health Approaches to Address Complex PTSD and Intergenerational Trauma

Suzanne Methot is the author of the award-winning non-fiction book Legacy: Trauma, Story, and Indigenous Healing (2019), which Margaret Atwood chose as one of 10 books to read for “important background reading in a time of Canada-First Nations clashes.” She is also the co-author of the textbook Aboriginal Beliefs, Values and Aspirations (2011). Suzanne is a social historian, educator, and community worker who has over 30 years of experience creating and applying equity-based programs, curriculum, and service frameworks in the education, social service, health care, and museum sectors. She has also worked in advocacy and direct-service positions at organizations including the YWCA Elm Centre (Winona’s Place) and the Native Women’s Resource Centre of Toronto, and facilitated change-making sessions/groups at West Neighbourhood House (Toronto), Strong Nations (Nanaimo, BC), and the Hiiye’yu Lelum House of Friendship (Duncan, BC), serving community members healing from intergenerational trauma and reclaiming culture while marginalized by racism, poverty, homelessness, health status, addictions, mental-health challenges, crime, and victimization.

Suzanne’s work focuses on systemic change through decolonization, anti-oppression, and culture-based, trauma-informed practice. At the Toronto District School Board, she created an arts-based classroom program for Indigenous students experiencing intergenerational trauma that matched Indigenous cultures, histories, and perspectives to the Ontario curriculum in order to foster identity, engagement, and student achievement. At the Anishinabek Nation, Suzanne provided support to Community Health Representatives in over 40 on-reserve communities across Ontario, and also co-facilitated a province-wide community consultation on Indigenous culture-based models for long-term care. Community engagement and community-led approaches are central to Suzanne’s work. At the Native Women’s Resource Centre of Toronto, she co-facilitated community consultations that developed the first set of best practices and professional standards for Indigenous adult literacy programs in the province through the Ontario Native Literacy Coalition’s Native Literacy Planning Process. She was also part of the educator working group that developed a culture-based curriculum framework for urban Indigenous learners during the First Nations Adult Education Project. From 2014 to 2019, Suzanne was an appointee to the Royal Ontario Museum’s Indigenous Advisory Circle, assisting the ROM Learning Department in building authentic and sustainable relationships with Indigenous communities. Suzanne also served on the Program Advisory Committee for Durham College’s Faculty of Journalism and Mass Media from 2016-2019, and on the Voice of Witness Education Advisory since 2020.

Born in Vancouver and raised in Sagitawa/Peace River, Alberta, Suzanne is Asiniwachi Nehiyaw (Rocky Mountain Cree) of mixed Indigenous and European heritage. She lived on Wendat-Haudenosaunee-Anishinabeg territory in Toronto for 29 years, and now lives on the unceded territory of the Snuneymuxw Nation, near Nanaimo, BC. Her book for young adults, Killing the Wittigo: Indigenous Culture-Based Approaches to Waking Up, Taking Action, and Doing the Work of Healing, will be published in Spring 2023 by ECW Press.