Course Description
The course will build on existing skills while increasing awareness of Indigenous healing and wellness strategies, truth and reconciliation, and cultural resurgence. Participants will engage in a journey of experiential learning, self-exploration, and awareness development that aims to:
- Build cultural competencies through a blame-free, shame-free critical analysis of the underlying issues impacting Indigenous communities today.
- Deepen our understanding of the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual impacts of trauma through Anishinaabe Traditional Teachings.
- Strengthen culture-based tools for incorporating trauma informed practices.
- Enhance individual and organisational capacity to create a climate of hope and validation while developing culture-based models of restoration and reclamation.
Weekly Topics
Week 1: Trickster Stories on Normative Violence and Emotional Colonisation
Week 2: Cultural Competencies: Routes and Roots of Good Relations
Week 3: Indigenous perspectives on Community, Cultural Continuity, Healing and Wellness
Week 4: Cultural teachings on trauma and tools for developing a Relational Home
Week 5: Changing the social environment: tools for implementing trauma informed practices
Week 6: Building relationships through Trust, Friendship, and Mutual Respect
Schedule
Winter 2026
January 14 to February 19
Every Wednesday and Thursday
6:00 pm to 9:00 pm (Toronto local time)
Spring 2026
March 6 to April 17 (no class on April 3)
Every Fridays
Time TBC (Toronto local time)
Fees
Price: $250 (CAD)*
Receive a Glendon Continuing Education Certificate in Indigenous Cultural Competency and Trauma-Informed Training upon completion of this 6-week course.
*If you identify as Indigenous, you may apply for the Indigenous bursary (fee waiver) to cover the cost of the course. By applying, you agree to a validation of Indigenous identity process.
Delivered by Audrey Gilbeau
Audrey Gilbeau, lives in Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek (Sandpoint First Nation), located on the Southeast shores of Lake Nipigon. Audrey carries a steady fire that has warmed and guided community spaces for decades. For nearly 14 years, she served as Executive Director of Nokiiwin Tribal Council, shaping that role with heart-first leadership rooted in the voices and direction of Nokiiwin member communities.
Back in 2017, Audrey invited Maya to lead what was supposed to be a 5-day gathering on “lateral violence.” By the end of the week, something bigger than any agenda had taken shape: the Spirit Building movement was born.
Audrey is an executive leader with more than twenty-five years of experience walking the path of First Nations self-determination. She weaves strategic policy, organizational growth, and intergovernmental partnership into work that feels both deeply rooted and boldly future-looking. Across the country, she’s known for that rare blend of vision and follow-through—someone who listens hard, moves with integrity, and builds relationships that strengthen communities while honouring both tradition and transformation.
Guided by kindness, cultural resurgence, and a fierce sense of responsibility, Audrey continues to shape spaces where people—Indigenous and non-Indigenous—can gather, learn, heal, and imagine together. As a leader, facilitator, consultant, and Master Spirit Builder, she doesn’t just talk about positive change; she cultivates it, nurtures it, and invites others into it with warmth and generosity.
Important Partnerships
Located in Thunder Bay and representing five First Nation communities in the surrounding region, Nokiiwin Tribal Council has worked to deliver Indigenous culture-based trauma-informed programs, workshops, and training sessions for over four years. With the creation of this certificate, Glendon Campus of York University has formed a partnership with Nokiiwin Tribal Council to uphold OCAP principles in its development, evaluation and delivery.
The certificate program development, materials, and curriculum were made possible with support from the Donner Canadian Foundation.
