Replenished & Resourced: Micro and Macro Wellness for Post-Secondary Counsellors

Mindfulness and Compassion Practices: Fostering Inner and Inter-connectedness

In a helping profession such as counselling, counsellors tend to lean in more to serve their clientele and in that process can sometimes underscore their own needs. Further, in a post-secondary counselling setting, counsellors tend to wear many hats to advocate for their students’ optimal well-being while sometimes facing resistance from many quarters. Consequentially counsellors may undermine their own self-care and feel depleted and disconnected.

Mindfulness and compassion practices are gaining increasing scientific evidence in alleviating stress & burnout while enhancing inner and inter connectedness. This workshop will invite attendees to explore certain mindfulness and compassion practices (towards self and others) with an intention to enhance presence, acceptance and equanimity to foster connection within and without.

About Sahana Madhyastha

Sahana Madhyastha (M.A., M Phil., PhD) has been working as a student counselor at Selkirk College, Castlegar, BC since 2017. Prior to that she was working as a professor in clinical psychology for about 13 years at Manipal University, India, where she supervised clinical practicum and research work of post-graduate students in Clinical Psychology Programs. In her current role as a student counselor, she enjoys advocating for the students and tends to adapt cognitive and mindfulness approaches in her work with students. She has been trained in MBCT and is currently enrolled in a 2 year mindfulness meditation teacher training program with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. She enjoys hiking, meditating, reading ancient East Indian and Buddhist teachings, and writing poetry & write ups inspired by meditative insights.

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haʔn̓tíxʷ iʔ tm̓xʷúlaʔxʷ uł niʕáy̓p ctxət̓stum̓s: Reciprocal Pathways to Healing and Well-Being on the Land

Participants are invited to join Sn̓ʕ̓ay̓ckstx knowledge-keeper, Richard Desautel, and Melissa Dorey as they share traditional knowledge and practices pertaining to the land and healing. Based on the overarching holistic world view of many Indigenous Peoples, the need to live in harmony with nature, one another and with oneself will be emphasised throughout our land-based workshop.

This world view has an interconnectedness and interrelatedness to all aspects of living on this earth, including caring for our Mother Earth and ourselves. With a focus on personal and community well-being, participants will have an opportunity to learn and experience cultural pathways to healing on the land.

As we gather together, holistic healing and cultural practices will include singing and drumming, smudging, flute playing while connecting with our inner-spirits, and an introduction to the gathering and use of traditional plants. Indigenous protocol and conduct, local cultural history, and Indigenous language revitalization will be interwoven throughout the journey as well.

*This session can be attended by the public, please see above for registration rates and process.

About Melissa Dorey & Richard Desautel

“I am passionate and dedicated to the revitalization of Indigenous languages and traditional practices on the land.” ~ Melissa Dorey

Melissa originates from the Sipekni’katik district (NS) alongside the Atlantic Ocean in Mi’kma’ki and is a Mi’kmaw/French descendant. She has lived in the Slocan Valley and surrounding areas for more than a decade.

Throughout her post-secondary education Melissa has strived to uphold the Two-Eyed Seeing principal, recognizing the importance of Indigenous science and traditional knowledge alongside western science. She is a Selkirk College alumnus and holds a degree in Natural Resource Protection from Vancouver Island University.

Her career began with Parks Canada, where she was a seasonal aquatics researcher, and has since worked as an independent environmental consultant. Her collaborative work focuses on ecological and cultural protection, as well as education.

Melissa is enthusiastic about the harvesting of ancestral foods and medicines, speaking the N̓səl̓xcin language, and continuing to learn from Elders and knowledge-keepers. She looks forward to learning her Indigenous language as she completes a Masters of Education degree at Cape Breton University.

Richard Desautel descends from the Sn̓ʕ̓ay̓ckstx (Lakes/Sinixt) Nation and is a member of the Colville Confederated Tribes (CCT). He currently resides in the Inchelium area on the Colville Indian Reservation (WA), and his family-line extends into northern Sinixt territory, now known as the southern Interior of BC. He was raised by his grandmother, who passed on Sn̓ʕ̓ay̓ckstx traditional knowledge to him.

Richard is a veteran and has a background in law enforcement. He has been an employee of CCT for 23 years and currently works with the Fish & Wildlife Department conducting research.

As a traditional hunter, Richard brought forward a Sn̓ʕ̓ay̓ckstx hunting-rights case in BC which was heard before the Supreme Court of Canada. He received a favorable SCC decision in 2021, which recognized Sn̓ʕ̓ay̓ckstx inherent rights to hunt within their traditional territory (BC).

Richard believes in the importance of passing on traditional knowledge and practices to future generations, and looks forward to the full recognition of Sn̓ʕ̓ay̓ckstx peoples, unceded Sn̓ʕ̓ay̓ckstx territory, and history in Kanata coming to fruition.

Facing a Changing World

What do wellness and connection to the environment mean in a world increasingly experiencing floods, fires, drought, climate refugees, extinction of many species and a ripple effect into our assumptions about a stable future? How do these experiences impact the role of post-secondary counsellors and the changing context in which both you and your students are navigating? Together we will explore these questions and seek ways to build relationships that foster resilience, reciprocity, restoration and gratitude amongst the human and non human world.

*This session can be attended by the public, please see above for registration rates and process.

About Jan Inglis

Jan Inglis has been both a grassroots and academic climate educator for over 30 years, applying the research of adult development, systems science, and deliberative democracy to public engagement regarding climate disruption. She is a facilitator with Joanna Macy’s Work that Reconnects network, and past Co-director of the Calgary Integrative Body Psychotherapy Institute through which she taught post-graduate therapists and had a therapy practice. As a community animator she has used participatory theatre to understand our ecological footprint and north/south issues of community sustainability, equity and bioregionalism. She has taught post-secondary peace and conflict studies relevant to cultural and environmental contexts. Her PhD focused on commons based economics and governance. She is also a gardener, artist, singer, and walker who lives in Nelson and Victoria, B.C.