GRANDMOTHER’S VOICE PRESENTS
INDIGENOUS WISDOM IN TRAUMA RECOVERY
4 Part Series
The “Felt Sense” & the 4 Seasons of Change:
A Western and Traditional Anishinaabe Approach to Healing and Trauma Recovery
INDIGENOUS WISDOM IN TRAUMA RECOVERY
The Felt Sense & the Four Seasons of Change
A FOUR PART SERIES
Thursday, May 7, 2026
Thursday, June 25, 2026
Thursday, September 24, 2026
Thursday, October 22, 2026
Location: TBD with the Halton Region
$2200 + HST
Group Rates available for 4+persons or to make alternate pay arrangements, please email Jody@grandmothersvoice.com
A 4-part Indigenous-led training series that supports trauma recovery through body awareness, reflection, relationship, and Traditional teachings.
Why this matters
This series helps organizations strengthen how services are delivered so they are more culturally safe, respectful, and grounded in healing.
Aligned with Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action #57:
To change how services are delivered, ensuring they are culturally safe and respectful.
Who it’s for
Mental health teams, community organizations, helping professionals, and service providers seeking a more culturally grounded, trauma-informed approach.
What participants gain:
- A deeper understanding of trauma and healing
- Tools for reflection, regulation, and relational care
- Learning rooted in Indigenous wisdom and community practice
- A stronger foundation for culturally safe service delivery
- Trauma-informed Indigenous healing practices
Format
- 4 in-person sessions | 1 day each | practical and community-rooted
Indigenous Wisdom in Trauma Recovery is a program with Elder Dennis Windego, in relationship with Grandmother’s Voice.
The program will be held at Halton Region, ON, offering an ideal setting for immersive learning.
$2200 + HST per participant | $550 per session
ABOUT THIS PROGRAM
Dennis Windego blends Anishinaabe teachings and philosophies of natural healing methods which are aligned with the change of seasons steeped in traditional knowledge of the Anishinaabe peoples of Turtle Island. Anishinaabe ceremonies such as fasting and the vision quest are combined with Land- Based Focusing-Oriented Therapy (LBFOT), and the “felt sense”. Humanity is at cross-roads— the red road of harmony and balance with nature and the other of loss and destruction. Indigenous cultures have ancient traditions that include teachings about cycles of time, interconnectedness, and the importance of living in harmony with the Earth. These teachings are relevant to the challenges faced by the world today, including environmental issues, social conflicts, and a general sense of disconnection. In recent decades, there has been a growing awareness of Indigenous wisdom and practices among people in the Western world. Many individuals and communities are seeking to learn from Indigenous cultures about sustainable living, holistic health practices, and spiritual wisdom.
Combining LBFOT methods and Anishinaabe traditional teachings facilitates a powerful natural healing and recovery process for all nations of the world, and any therapeutic context.
WINTER
Winter is storytelling and a time to transmit knowledge, wisdom and build connections.
SPRING
Spring is the period of birth/rebirth and development, with interest, curiosity, and attending to unresolved issues of trauma.
SUMMER
Summer is a time to experience land-based healing activities to address trauma and addictions caused by colonialism, including residential school trauma, the 60’s scoop, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Girls and Women (MMIGW), and the reserve system.
FALL
Fall is about transformation, building capacity, self-care, and continuing to heal through our medicines and teachings learned.
Who Should Take This Program?
This program weaves traditional Indigenous wisdom with evidence-based psychotherapy. Healers and Helpers can be found in many sectors of our community:
- Front line workers such as counselors, therapists, social workers, health care, parole officers, police or legal professionals interested in incorporating land-based training and healing methods into their professional or personal practices.
- Corporate leaders looking for practical ways to implement Truth & Reconciliation Calls to Action and improve employee wellness will benefit greatly from this training.
- Individuals on their own healing journey, Indigenous or non-Indigenous.
- Indigenous agency and community therapists such as those working with residential school survivors, addiction cases, or survivors of abuse, neglect, abandonment, or attempted suicide.
- Para-professionals with field experience but lacking formal training
- Thought leaders, change makers, coaches & healers
- Anyone interested in Truth & Reconciliation, decolonization, and healing people and planet through land based teachings
Why Should I Participate In This Program?
- You will learn how to connect psychotherapy that is based on a Western paradigm to an Indigenous spiritual paradigm that will help people move forward in their lives and towards healing
- You will receive traditional knowledge to create new strategies (we are new people doing traditional things: ceremony, connection to land)
- You will receive the transfer of knowledge as well as the tools, the tips, the practical skills and the cultural permission, appreciation, humility & responsibility from Dennis (Elder) to utilize this training in your own practice
What Is The Approach Used In This Training?
Focusing-Oriented Therapy (FOT) is a body-centered and person-centered approach to healing developed by Indigenous practitioners. FOT allows people total control of the pace and the direction of their healing journey. It is particularly effective in the treatment and healing of complex trauma caused by accidents, sexual, physical, emotional abuse, or neglect. FOT has been especially well received in Indigenous communities because of its humanistic, person-centered approach to healing, which reflects the core values of respect and non-interference.
Observation Component
In the observation component, which is ongoing throughout the program, students will gain experience in how to offer feedback from the perspective of the people, to peers in a professional and constructive manner. As well, students will experience and effectively observe and reflect on the therapeutic process and debrief in clinical supervision sessions.
Clinical Practice And Supervision
This program component will provide students with clinical skills and feedback about their level of practice throughout the program. Students will log and document a minimum of 80 peer therapy sessions as well as attending regular supervision sessions. Students will be evaluated by the course instructor on how they demonstrate the required level of competency through observation of practice, debriefing sessions, and skills demonstrated throughout the program..
What Is Different About This Approach?
This approach encourages sitting beside people and accompanying them, rather than sitting across from them, inviting them to be the subject of their journey rather than a client. Over the last three centuries, Indigenous people have been disempowered; part of the healing process is to give them back their power and invite them to be centered within their journeys.
How Will This Training Equip You To Serve And Support Healing Within Your Community?
The Indigenous Knowledge you will learn in this program is for ALL people.
You will be empowered with Indigenous cultural knowledge, wisdom and a therapeutic model that resonates with all people, including Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals and communities.
It will also provide you with the tools you need to create safe spaces for individual and communal healing with both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, or any community who has experienced trauma.
Meet Your Facilitator: Dennis Windego
Dennis Windego, or Zoongwebines (his Anishinabeg name), comes from the traditional lands of the Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nation in northwestern Ontario. A member of the Lynx clan, he embodies a decolonizing approach to mental health, addictions, grief, and trauma healing.
Dennis brings over 30 years of experience in one-on-one, family, and group sessions, providing outpatient and land-based treatment across First Nations, Metis, and Inuit communities in Canada.
Dennis’s journey extends beyond therapeutic practice; he is an internationally recognized instructor, currently serving as a Coordinator with the Focusing Institute (New York, NY) where he offers Indigenous Methods for Focusing-Oriented Therapy and Complex Trauma Program- a one-year program for psychologists, counselors, social workers, Elders, traditional healers, and paraprofessionals who work in the field of trauma and addictions with Indigenous peoples and communities affected by colonialism.
Currently working with the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay (CBHSSJB) in Northern Quebec, Dennis integrates Anishinabeg culture, ceremonies, and psychotherapy to address trauma, understanding addictions, grief, and various forms of childhood trauma.
He has also been a keynote speaker at numerous conferences, sharing his wisdom with judicial, educational, and healthcare professionals. Dennis holds an MSW from Laurentian University and graduated from the community based, BSW (Hons) program through Seven Generations and Carleton University.
A survivor of St. Margaret’s Indian Residential School, Dennis’s personal healing journey, coupled with academic training, informs his mission to guide others through direct and intergenerational trauma. His approach mirrors the lifelong wisdom of his late mother: “Don’t forget who you are and where you come from.”
THIS COURSE IS PRESENTED BY GRANDMOTHER'S VOICE
Grandmother’s Voice is a visionary Indigenous organization that aims to unite Indigenous voices while extending a warm invitation to individuals from all directions.
With deep reverence for the timeless wisdom carried by Grandmothers, we endeavor to be a source of healing and unity within communities.
Our mission is to revive and amplify these Ancestral insights and values, nurturing them for generations to come.
FAQ
The application process is simple!
Click “Apply Now” and you will be directed to an applications form. Here, you will be asked to provide information about why you want to take this course along with education and work experience. Please allow one week for Dennis to review your application to ensure this course is right for you. If approved, you will be contacted directly with next steps.
The investment for this course is $7,000 plus HST. The investment equates to $1,000 per Module.
This fee includes 21 days (3 days per module) of in-person instruction, supervision for 80 hours of practicum, all course materials, and meals during the in-person segments (light breakfast, lunch, afternoon snacks).
Travel expenses, hotel or other accommodations, and dinners are not included.
Upon acceptance into the program, a deposit of $1,000 will be required. The remaining balance will be billed to you according to your established payment plan.
Unfortunately, we are unable to offer any refunds if you are unable to complete the program.
However, we can offer an opportunity for you to participate in the following year’s cohort in order to complete the program.
Each session builds upon the previous, so it is essential that participants commit to attending all days of each module. If portions of the lesson are missed, it is the participant’s responsibility to learn the missed material from their cohort members.
If an entire Module is missed, the participant will be given an opportunity to attend a future session of that Module.
Awakened Healing is an advanced professional development and training program in Focusing-Oriented Therapy and Complex Trauma, which is particularly effective in working with trauma survivors.
Please note: upon completion of the course, Dennis will provide a certificate as evidence of your participation. Applying for FOT accreditation is the responsibility of each participant.
The Focusing Institute (NY, NY) offers members an international journal publication, The Folio, and continuing education and development opportunities such as annual conferences and various workshops on leading-edge Focusing and other experiential therapies at Focusing Centers worldwide.
