Description
LIVE STREAM: November 12 – 14, 2025 from 8:30am – 4:00pm (Edmonton, AB) Please adjust your start time according to your specific time zone.
ON-DEMAND: Recorded footage & course content (certificate, videos, quiz) will be available until December 15, 2025. Please allow 3 – 10 business days for footage to be processed. Extensions cannot be granted under any circumstances.
November 12, 2025 | Day One
Empowering Ourselves to Strengthen Our Future
PRESENTED BY Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, Ph.D.
This one-day workshop, facilitated by Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, will focus on the integration of traditional Indigenous healing and spiritual practices within mental health and educational frameworks. Designed for professionals working with children, adolescents, young adults, families, and communities, it will offer practical tools and culturally grounded insights that can be applied in clinical, educational, or community settings.
Participants will explore strategies for supporting cultural revitalization and community healing, with a particular emphasis on fostering sustainable, Indigenized practices. The workshop will provide opportunities for deep engagement with Indigenous healing traditions, encouraging reflection on both personal and community experiences. Through collaborative discussions and activities, attendees will develop actionable strategies for revitalizing and integrating traditional spiritual practices into contemporary mental health and educational approaches.
Whether you work with individuals, families, or larger community groups, this session will equip you with practical knowledge to enrich your work and support the healing and resilience of Indigenous communities.
November 13, 2025 | Day Two
Healing Through Spirit: Integrating Indigenous Healing Practices in Education and Mental Health
PRESENTED Varleisha D. Lyons, Ph.D, OTD, OTR/L
This workshop offers educators a transformative opportunity to explore the intersection of trauma and spirituality within Indigenous communities, focusing on the impact of intergenerational trauma and how cultural wisdom can support resilience and well-being. By examining both traditional and contemporary healing practices, participants will deepen their understanding of how Indigenous spirituality, storytelling, and community-centered approaches can foster healing, restore balance, and strengthen the individual and collective health of students and families.
Indigenous communities have long faced the repercussions of colonization, forced assimilation, and systemic violence. These traumas have been passed down through generations, affecting the mental, emotional, and social well-being of individuals, families, and communities. Yet, alongside these challenges, Indigenous cultures possess profound spiritual traditions and healing practices that have endured. These practices remain a vital source of identity, resilience, and recovery, offering pathways to healing for those impacted by trauma.
This workshop is designed to empower educators and other professionals working in or with Indigenous communities. Participants will learn culturally grounded approaches to support healing in educational settings, incorporating Indigenous spiritual traditions, cultural practices, and storytelling to enhance student well-being and academic success. The workshop will also provide practical tools for integrating these healing methods into classroom teaching, school activities, and community-based programs.
Through engaging hands-on activities and thoughtful discussion, participants will gain the knowledge and skills to create healing environments that acknowledge and address the wounds of the past while fostering hope, empowerment, and community revitalization.
November 14, 2025 | Day Three
Generations of Healing: Culturally-Informed Responses to Address Intergenerational Trauma for Educators, Mental Health Professionals and Community
PRESENTED BY Carolyn Coker Ross, M.D.
Intergenerational trauma doesn’t impact just one person—it weaves through families, classrooms, and entire communities. Educators, counselors, and mental health professionals alike witness its ripple effects: students who struggle to regulate emotions, families locked in cycles of adversity, and communities burdened by the legacies of historical and cultural trauma.
Extensive research has shown a direct link between early life trauma and long-term mental health outcomes, including substance use disorders (SUD) and eating disorders while traits such as compulsivity, impulsivity and emotional dysregulation are promoted. More than two-thirds of individuals with SUD report childhood experiences of abuse, neglect, or toxic stress. Emerging evidence now confirms that trauma’s effects can be passed biologically and behaviorally from one generation to the next, contributing to cycles of substance use, mental illness, eating disorders and family disruption.
While trauma-informed care has helped many individuals begin their healing journey, few programs offer tools to address the collective and generational dimensions of trauma—especially within Indigenous and historically marginalized communities.
In this informative and thought-provoking workshop, Dr. Carolyn Coker-Ross will explore the neurological, relational, and cultural impacts of trauma across generations. Drawing on case studies and culturally grounded approaches, she will equip educators, therapists, and community leaders with strategies to break the cycle of trauma, foster resilience, and support whole-family healing.
