Events

The classroom is an essential source of learning and social engagement for children and youth. It is also being the location of violence and oppression for the Indigenous community. This workshop will assist educators and school administrators to reclaim the positive history and role of education for indigenous students in their care. In keeping with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission final report we now have an unprecedented opportunity to expand our worldview to include even more than the Euro-American perspective and the result we can offer students is the creation of an enriching, culturally safe and resilience-enhancing environment for all. Utilizing the Four Roots of Resilience the school has the opportunity to become a source of student resilience. “A School for Wellness” offers an approach that will support the school to simultaneously reduce student disengagement, misbehavior, and conflict and to support healthy personal and social development in its students.

AGENDA HIGHLIGHTS
• Traditional Values, Colonization, and Pedagogy
• Teaching Traditional Values, Colonization, and Pedagogy
• Student Resilience and Wellness
• Enhancing Student Resilience and Wellness in the Classroom and School
• Maintaining Care and Respect in the Classroom
• The validation-Action Two-Step
• Decolonizing Our Classroom
• Transforming the Classroom and the School

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
This two-day workshop will support educators to:
• understand the impact of colonization and ensure that students are not colonized by accident;
• view Indigenous students through a strength-based, culturally respectful lens and create a culturally safe classroom that is inclusive and benefits students from all backgrounds;
• practice a tool to support students’ emotional needs while maintaining appropriate classroom/school expectations;
• use culturally congruent tools that enhance the sense of belonging, empowerment and social responsibility of students in the classroom develop their capacity to meaningfully;
• contribute to reconciliation in both the classroom and larger community.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND
K-12 Teachers, Counselors, Elders, Psychologists, Learning Assistants, Resource Teachers, Aids, School Paraprofessionals, School Administrators, Childcare Workers, Nurses, Social Service Professionals, Family Therapists, Youth Workers, Occupational Therapists, Addiction Counselors, Probation Officers, Early Childhood Educators. All other educators and professionals who support students and youth, both Indigenous and non-Native.

ABOUT DARIEN THIRA
Dr. Darien Thira is a registered psychologist who has served as an educator and mental health/community development consultant for teachers, counsellors/front-line workers, and many Aboriginal communities across Canada. He is also an adjunct faculty member at the Adler University. His doctoral dissertation related to Aboriginal suicide resilience and social activism and he was involved in further resilience research at the University of British Columbia. He has previously served as a clinician at Child and Youth Mental Health, as a clinician at Adult Healing Centres, and as the Director of Community Education and Professional Development at the Vancouver Crisis Centre. “Through the Pain to Wellness”, a culturally driven community-based suicide prevention curriculum has been used in over 40 Aboriginal communities across the country and as a national program in Australia. Darien has presented workshops at many local, provincial, national conferences, and international conferences in: Canada, the United States, and Australia.

• Organizer: W. Zarchikoff & Associates
• Cost: $495.00 + 5% GST= $519.75
• Location: Best Western Plus Nor'wester Hotel & Conference Centre
• Address: 2080 Hwy 61
• City: Thunder Bay
• Province: ON
• Website: http://www.aboriginaltrainingandconsultingservices.com
• Phone: (604) 970-3419
• Fax: (650) 513-2020
• Email: [email protected]