April 26, 2026 — Grandmother’s Voice

Grandmother’s Voice, alongside the Mental Health and Addictions Alliance, SAVIS, THRIVE Counselling, EFry Hope and Help for Women, John Howard Society, and Halton Collaborative Against Human Trafficking, is proud to support the launch of The Felt Sense and the Four Seasons of Change, a groundbreaking program that weaves together Indigenous knowledge systems and body-based therapeutic practices to address trauma, foster healing, and build pathways toward collective reconciliation.

Led by Elder Dennis Windego, this program brings forward a powerful integration of traditional Anishinaabe teachings and Land-Based Focusing-Oriented Therapy (LBFOT). Rooted in the cycles of the seasons — Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall — the program guides participants through a deeply experiential journey of storytelling, reconnection to the body, land-based healing, and personal and community transformation.

At its core, this offering recognizes a truth many communities are now confronting: that trauma — particularly intergenerational trauma resulting from colonization, residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, and systemic inequities — continues to shape the lives of Indigenous peoples and many others across society.

This program responds to that reality not with theory alone, but with practice.

Through ceremony, storytelling, relational learning, and connection to land, participants are invited to understand trauma not only as an individual experience, but as something held collectively — and therefore something that must be healed collectively.

“This work is about remembering who we are,” says Jody Harbour, co-founder of Grandmother’s Voice. “It is about creating spaces where people can come back into relationship with themselves, with each other, and with the land. That is where healing begins.”

The program also directly supports the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Call to Action #57, which calls upon public servants and community leaders to engage in education around Indigenous histories, the legacy of residential schools, and skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism.

By offering a culturally grounded, trauma-healing approach, The Felt Sense and the Four Seasons of Change provides a meaningful pathway for organizations, service providers, and front-line workers to engage in this call in a way that is experiential, relational, and transformative.

Structured as four intensive in-person sessions aligned with the seasons, the program includes:

  • May 7: Storytelling and understanding trauma — Winter 
  • June 25: Reconnection to the body and the “felt sense” — Spring 
  • September 24: Land-based healing and Indigenous medicines — Summer 
  • October 22: Integration, transformation, and community capacity building — Fall

Participants will learn alongside Elders and Knowledge Keepers, engaging in practices that honour both traditional teachings and contemporary therapeutic approaches.

More than a training, this program is an invitation to shift how we understand healing, to deepen our collective responsibility, and to build communities grounded in respect, relationship, and shared humanity.

Community partners, organizations, and individuals from all backgrounds are welcome to take part in this important work.

Because healing was never meant to happen alone.

Location: Hilton Garden Inn, 985 Syscon Road, Burlington.

Register electronically @grandmothersvoice  or email Grandmothersvoice@gmail.com for group rates.