A Developmental Approach to Working with Trauma: A Deeper Reflection on Indigenous Knowledge and Healthy Co-regulation
Date and Time: Tuesday, September 29, 2026 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. PT
Location: Virtual Zoom Meeting
Speaker: Dr. Alanaise Ferguson, Anishinaabe Psychologist and Professor, University of British Columbia Okanagan
This session will explore insights from an action-oriented collaboration of First Nations, Métis, and settler health scholars and practitioners examining how white supremacy and Indigenous-specific racism are embedded within population and public health systems. It will highlight research mapping systemic harms and share practical, evidence-based tools to advance accountability, reconciliation, and Indigenous health equity.
Each Indigenous Health Round is accredited for 1.5 Mainpro+® credits.
Learning Objectives:
Participants will engage with:
- Practical ways to apply these frameworks to our own experiences of stress induced by our work
- How to recognize the importance of Indigenous cultural practices for healthy self-regulation
- How to relate to Indigenous knowledge for the benefit of working with people impacted by intergenerational trauma and participate in healthy intergroup relations.
iCON has partnered with Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) Indigenous Health to develop Indigenous Health Rounds, which serve as a platform to bring Indigenous voices to health care providers, policy makers and health administrators for knowledge sharing, dialogue, and brainstorming solutions to combat racism and foster culturally safe healthcare settings for Indigenous patients and families.
Developing Educational Tools to Support Cultural Safety
In 2015, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) and iCON jointly created a video and facilitation guide featuring First Nations and Indigenous Traditional Practitioners, to share knowledge and promote culturally safe care.
Watch video hereA Coming Together of Health Systems
Community-based Cultural Safety and Healthcare Transformation Dialogues
Since 2016, iCON has partnered with Indigenous communities and health authorities to co-host community Dialogue Events, bringing together Indigenous communities, patients, local western and Traditional Practitioners and administrators to discuss health system transformation and integration of traditional practices into healthcare settings.
Three Dialogue Events have been co-developed and co-hosted across 2017 and 2018 to explore improving access to traditional healing practices. Specific objectives include to:
- Inform local health authority about best practices for incorporating traditional healing practices from a community and physician perspective.
- Improve health professional understanding of traditional healing and the role of traditional practitioners.
- Introduce traditional practitioners’ perspectives to shift practices and incorporate traditional healing into delivery of health care in acute care.
- Invite Indigenous patients, caregivers and communities to share their perspectives and vision of attaining health and wellness.
- Identify areas for improvement in current processes in hospitals, emergency departments and other acute settings in BC to honour patient requests for access to traditional practitioners.
Header photo caption: Reconciliation Pole, Hereditary Chief 7idansuu (James Hart), Haida, photo credit to Hover Collective / UBC Brand & Marketing
