[vc_row][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_custom_heading text=”Relationship Is Medicine…A Relational Response to Lateral Violence” font_container=”tag:h1|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes” el_class=”m-t-lg m-b-none”][vc_separator color=”custom” align=”align_left” border_width=”3″ type=”small” gap=”short” accent_color=”#b32017″][vc_column_text]Denise has developed and facilitated hundreds of workshops on Lateral Violence to community members, administrators, social workers, educators, child care workers and other helping professionals. Denise has spent 15 years researching the root causes of Lateral Violence and how to effectively support individual and collective capacity to respond to this phenomenon in a way that contributes to a sense of balance, wellness and empowerment. Denise has accumulated a lifetime of experience as a bicultural woman and Educator working with diverse groups of people throughout Canada to share her own lived experiences and knowledge in the areas of human development and healing.
Social healing is complex. The relationships we build with each other today will enable us to pave the way for future generations. Education can empower people to make different choices that will in turn transform the way we live and work together. If you are seeking a gentle wisdom based approach that incorporates Indigenous, Contemplative and Western Evidence Based Practices Denise will share what she has learned throughout her lifetime and you won’t be disappointed.
[/vc_column_text][vc_cta h2=”Contact Us Now” style=”flat” add_button=”right” btn_title=”Contact” btn_style=”flat” btn_shape=”square” btn_align=”right” btn_skin=”primary” btn_link=”url:http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kweykway.ca%2Fcontact%2F|||”]Get in touch to customize this service for your organization[/vc_cta][vc_custom_heading text=”Topics” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes” text_transform=”text-uppercase” el_class=”m-t-lg m-b-none”][vc_separator color=”custom” align=”align_left” border_width=”3″ type=”small” gap=”short” accent_color=”#b32317″][vc_column_text el_class=”m-t-xs m-b-md”]Specifically, Denise provides clarity, understanding and ways of responding to….[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text el_class=”m-b-none”]
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[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”781″ img_size=”large” alignment=”right” style=”vc_box_circle_2″][porto_testimonial style=”testimonial-style-2″ name=”Denise Findlay” name_color=”#572600″ quote_color=”#b32017″]”Relationship is the key. The very essence of the Indigenous Lifeway is based on unity, oneness and interdependence. We can no longer allow the importance of relationship and attachment to stay in the background. It can no longer be invisible. We must become conscious of it now because it is something that is being lost in our society today”[/porto_testimonial][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row wrap_container=”yes” is_section=”yes” section_skin=”parallax” remove_margin_top=”yes” remove_margin_bottom=”yes” remove_padding_top=”yes” remove_border=”yes”][vc_column offset=”vc_col-md-8″][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]
Denise Has Developed a Unique Approach
Our human potential is rooted in our capacity for emotional development…empathy, caring, consideration, the ability to learn from our mistakes, to reflect, mix complex ideas and feelings and be intrinsically motivated.
Denise effectively deconstructs the term Lateral Violence while gently leading participants to a deeper understanding of the impacts of intergenerational trauma caused by Residential School. Enacting a philosophy rooted in Trauma Informed Care, Contemplative Inquiry and Indigenous Knowledge Denise creates spaces where people can earnestly and lovingly reflect on their own journey and their role in the healing of our communities. Denise’s draws on the following philosophies, traditions, theories and evidence based practices that effectively synthesizes a diversity of knowledge human development.
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Who this Training Is For?
Denise offers an experiential, inspirational and fun workshop designed to bring diverse groups of people together to contemplate how to move forward with a good mind and heart.
Denise has customized everything from 1 hour presentations for larger groups to 3 to 5 day experiential sessions for smaller groups. Denise has facilitated sessions for community members, parents, social workers, educators, health care professionals and other helping professionals.
Denise’s approach is inclusive of the shared values of The First Nations Health Authority and the First Nations Health Directors Association which are:
- Respect
- Discipline
- Relationships
- Culture
- Excellence
- Fairness
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column offset=”vc_col-md-4″][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”985″ img_size=”full”][porto_testimonial style=”testimonial-style-2″ name=”H.H. The Dalai Lama XIV” name_color=”#572600″ quote_color=”#b32017″]”Hard times build determination and inner strength. Through them we can also come to appreciate the uselessness of anger. Instead of getting angry nurture a deep caring and respect for troublemakers because by creating such trying circumstances they provide us with invaluable opportunities to practice tolerance and patience.”[/porto_testimonial][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Kindness and Compassion Traditions
Compassion, kindness, empathy and moral development are at the root of all traditional lifeways. Questions in regards to how these virtues become characteristic have been asked since the time of early philosophers such as Plato and Socrates. Whole person development is the goal of Indigenous teaching and learning. How to live in harmony with all other beings and with the earth. Scientific research tells us that humans are born with the innate capacity for empathy and kindness, however, it must be developed through experiences of being cared for.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row wrap_container=”yes” is_section=”yes” section_skin=”parallax” remove_margin_top=”yes” remove_margin_bottom=”yes” remove_border=”yes”][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”987″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_border_circle”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]The Squamish story of Siwash Rock is an excellent example of the goal of development of a Squamish person as a spiritual being. It is a teaching in which the virtue of “selflessness” is revered by the Squamish people and one most important to development. A virtue all should aspire to. Developmental research today tells us that such moral development cannot be taught through rewards and consequences which are tenets of the behavioral approaches of mainstream society today. The development of moral virtues such as selflessness, caring, empathy, and kindness are intrinsic human qualities that we are born with and lie dormant until the right conditions give birth to the spontaneous emergence of them as the child/person matures. This philosophy is the essence of Squamish parenting and is now being discovered and espoused by neuroscience. This in and of itself should be the impetus for questioning behavioral approaches to parenting that rely on external motivation, coercion and objectification of children and that can distract us from the sacred Squamish teachings. Well known scientists and educators Frans de Waal, Jeremy Rifkin, Nel Noddings, and Daniel Siegal write extensively on moral development and all conclude that true moral development occurs as a result of deep emotional attachments in which we feel cared for unconditionally and not as a result of approaches that focus on power dynamics and externalized rewards and consequences.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row wrap_container=”yes” is_section=”yes” section_skin=”parallax” remove_margin_top=”yes” remove_margin_bottom=”yes” remove_border=”yes”][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Click to read the program intention and outline for It Takes A Village…Working Together Towards Healing
The Aboriginal Healing Foundation has done a national study on Lateral Violence that I recommend as a resource.
Helping Professionals working within a First Nations’ community context are called, on a daily basis, to respond and care for clients suffering from the impacts of intergenerational trauma. This can and does cause a barrier for many to effectively providing care to their clients. Trauma informed practice tells us that the capacity to build trusting relationships with clients in order to be affective is fundamental. The question of how we achieve this while working through an indigenous lens continues to be asked. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada includes in their Calls to Action that the Government of Canada provide cultural competency training for all health care professionals as well as require all medical and nursing schools to take a course dealing with the history and legacy of residential schools, indigenous teachings and practices, intercultural competency, and anti-racism.
Recent literature on attachment and neuroscience tells us that relationship is the first priority of the brain and that healing and overcoming adversity cannot be achieved unless we can feel connected and safe. Indigenous ways of knowing and being transcend superficial knowledge about historical data. As contemplative education gains more and more attention we are asked to go back to the beginning and start with an understanding of our self-first before we can understand and help another. This three-day experiential workshop will be grounded in both indigenous and contemplative ways of knowing and being and will provide participants with the unique opportunity to explore who they are in relationship to the community they are working with and to their clients.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][porto_testimonial style=”testimonial-style-2″ name=”Justice Murray Sinclair” name_color=”#572600″ quote_color=”#b32017″]”Reconciliation is about forging and maintaining respectful relationships.
There are no shortcuts.”[/porto_testimonial][porto_testimonial style=”testimonial-style-2″ name=”Jean-Jacques Rousseau” name_color=”#572600″ quote_color=”#b32017″]”What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?”[/porto_testimonial][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row wrap_container=”yes” is_section=”yes” section_skin=”parallax” remove_margin_top=”yes” remove_margin_bottom=”yes” remove_border=”yes”][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”997″ img_size=”full”][vc_empty_space][vc_empty_space][porto_testimonial style=”testimonial-style-2″ name=”Roald Dahl” name_color=”#572600″ quote_color=”#b32017″]”A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”[/porto_testimonial][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]
Topics often included in the training include…
- Cultivating Lateral Kindness …exploring the importance of safety, Indigenous Ways of Knowing, Lateral Violence and Impacts of Intergenerational trauma, Aggression, Bullying, Kindness, Relationship Work, Communication Toxins, Working with Power
- Understanding and working in a context of Vicarious Trauma, the impacts of colonization and residential school and intergenerational trauma.
- Introduction to meditation and visualization practices.
- Reducing gossip and third party power
- Review models of change and transformation, personally and collectively
- Discuss the spirit of inquiry and curiosity required for constructive dialogue
- Review roles and systems change
- Discuss importance of inviting and receiving feedback (looking for the nugget of wisdom) Explore an Indigenous worldview, develop awareness of their own worldview and experiences that shaped who they are today
- Develop themselves as an instrument of reconciliation
- Utilize contemplative inquiry to remain present, curious and open to different perspectives
- Practice mindfulness meditation and visioning as a method of self-care, grounding oneself, deepening awareness, and attaining clarity and focus
- Self-development and building internal capacity to take care of oneself, increase confidence, manage stress, stay grounded and navigate the complexities and personalities within the organization and community. We begin with self and then move outwards to focusing on others and then out to the collective.
- Receive a relational/indigenous model and theory of human development and growth across the lifespan to help understand and work with the impacts of trauma intuitively
- Best practices for developing relationships with peers and community members
- Practice the art of storytelling to normalize experiences and as a teaching tool
- Reflect on the communities they are working within and make a plan to learn more about the pre-contact philosophy of the people
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” wrap_container=”yes” text_align=”center” is_section=”yes” section_skin=”primary” remove_margin_top=”yes” remove_margin_bottom=”yes” remove_padding_bottom=”yes” remove_border=”yes” bg_type=”image” parallax_style=”vcpb-vz-jquery” bg_image_new=”id^616|url^http://www.kweykway.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/IMG_0409-2-1.jpg|caption^null|alt^null|title^img_0409-2|description^null” bg_image_repeat=”no-repeat” parallax_sense=”50″ enable_overlay=”enable_overlay_value” overlay_color=”rgba(179,32,23,0.8)” el_class=”p-b-lg”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”TESTIMONIALS” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes” text_transform=”text-uppercase” skin=”light” el_class=”m-b-xs m-t-md”][vc_separator color=”custom” border_width=”3″ type=”small” gap=”short” accent_color=”#ffffff”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][porto_testimonial style=”testimonial-style-3″ animation_delay=”300″ name=”Keith Marshall” el_class=”testimonial-style-custom” animation_type=”fadeInUp” role=”Health Director” company=”Hailika’as Heiltsuk Health Centre”]Denise delivered her first three day session to the staff and with compassion and support she began to make significant inroads into identifying the issues and concerns and providing recommendations to address same. What initially most impressed me with Denise was her ability to make people comfortable to speak to the issues; which for many, took a great deal of courage in a group setting. Most importantly, she made people feel safe in sharing their personal information regarding the organization and the effect it had on them as individuals.[/porto_testimonial][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][porto_testimonial style=”testimonial-style-3″ name=”Dr. Stephen W. Kozey” role=”B.A., M.S.W., M.A., M.Ed., Ed.D., R.S.W.” el_class=”testimonial-style-custom” animation_type=”fadeInUp” company=”Social Justice Facilitator and Educator”]The work of the Kweykway team is inclusive of understanding Indigenous knowledge’s which centre my own practice as a facilitator of social justice. Being grounded in Indigenous ways is necessary for understanding the trauma and trauma related challenges impacting Indigenous Aboriginal populations across North America. Denise is a superb teacher and team project leader capable of helping in visioning a design and delivery of a product to raise individual, family, and community consciousness leading to what I call “heart centred” results and conclusions.
As Kweykway’s leader, Denise has a lived experience of “indigenous world hurts’ along with appropriate responses to tragedy and challenges that have touched her at both ends of a bi-cultural world. Engaging with her experience, collaborative consultation, and knowledge will surely move you, your family, and your community towards where you want to be.[/porto_testimonial][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][porto_testimonial style=”testimonial-style-3″ animation_delay=”600″ name=”‘T’oyaxsut ‘nüün” role=”Leena Minifie, Program Coordinator” el_class=”testimonial-style-custom” animation_type=”fadeInUp” company=”UBC Centre for Excellence in Indigenous Health |UBC Learning Circle”]It has been a privilege to facilitate sessions hosted by Denise. These sessions have given me those aha! Moments in my work and for my personal life too. Denise is professional gentile and knowledgable with the matters she speaks on, but Denise goes deeper then what is normally presented at any lecture on issues of child rearing and children’s behaviour. We will keep inviting her back as long as she will attend![/porto_testimonial][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_cta h2=”Contact Us Now” style=”flat” add_button=”right” btn_title=”Contact” btn_style=”flat” btn_shape=”square” btn_align=”right” btn_skin=”primary” btn_link=”url:http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kweykway.ca%2Fcontact%2F|||”]Get in touch to customize this service for your organization[/vc_cta][/vc_column][/vc_row]
