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Circle of Indigenous Healing Arts

About Us

Our Philosophy

We aspire towards more holistic, natural, ecological, and empowering ways of healing.

Radical transformative energies are interwoven throughout our work to name, embrace, and revitalize once readily available forms of ancestral resiliency.

Recognizing the interconnectedness of all life forms, we ground our work in broader contexts of social change while working and playing to restore our interdependence with Mother Earth.

All LIFE as Medicine philosophies, strategies, and applications are shared within the Sharing Circle and Medicine Wheel frameworks.

Our Purpose

We aim to promote transformative Healing Arts by, for, and with Indigenous Peoples and our Allies through education, social advocacy, and relational creative experiences.

We are especially committed to reaching underserved Indigenous, Black, POC, and 2S/LGBTQIA+ communities who are seeking more sustainable and culturally responsive ways to support community members.

Currently, we are diligently working towards accreditation to offer formalized, credentialed training in Indigenous Healing Arts at local, national, and global levels.

Meet Our Team

Within our Collaborative Circle, you will find a diverse group of qualified and experienced individuals dedicated to Indigenous healing practices, expressive arts, and community empowerment. From artists and social workers to therapists and educators, our team includes Grandmothers, Elders, and activists united by a shared commitment to honour traditional knowledge and land-based practices. Together, we’re paving the way for future generations by bringing the transformative power of Healing Arts to our communities.

Leadership

Dr. Fyre Jean Graveline, RCAT

Read Fyre's Bio

Jean Tait, DKATI, RCAT

Read Jean's Bio

Jen Vivian

Read Jen's Bio

Grandmothers

Grandmother Selina

Read Selina's Bio

Chris Larsen

Read Chris's Bio

Staff

Kathy Spearing

Read Kathy's Bio

Chey Johns

Read Chey's Bio

Tinsa Owens

Read Tinsa's Bio

Amanda Godoy

Read Amanda's Bio

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Dr. Fyre Jean Graveline, RCAT

Fyre is a two-spirited resilient survivor, a Métis Grandmother, healer, heARTist, activist, and educator.

Fyre specialises in creating a sustainable expressive arts healing practice through an Indigenous, eco-arts-based lens.

Working in education and social work for over forty years, she/they have consistently challenged individuals and organisations to examine their oppressive, eurocentric, patriarchal attitudes and practices.

Fyre is the author of Circle Works: Transforming Eurocentric Consciousness (Fernwood 1998) and Healing Wounded Hearts (Fernwood 2005).

Still emerging is the newest book LIFE as Medicine: Creating TransFormative Change. Being a knowledge keeper and community activist, Fyre Jean is an incredibly powerful and grounding person to talk with.

Jean Tait, DKATI, RCAT

Jean is a Saulteaux (Ojibwe) enrolled member of Berens River First Nation, Manitoba, whose matrilineal ancestry can be traced to Jean’s great-great-great-grandfather, Chief Jacob Berens, who led the negotiations and signed Canadian Treaty No. 5 in 1875 and his wife, Nancy Everett.

Jean is a Registered Art Therapist, a member of the Canadian Art Therapy Association (CATA) and a professional member of the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA). Jean is an instructor in post-secondary education for Indigenous-based art therapy and part of the founding leadership team for LIFE as Medicine: Circle of Indigenous Healing Arts.

Prior to training as an art therapist at the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute (KATI) in Nelson, B.C., Jean worked as an exhibiting artist, with work in collections in N. America and abroad, centered on ancient symbols in rock art (pictographs and petroglyphs), which led to Jean’s interest in the healing power of art. The logo used for LIFE as Medicine is derived from a painting called, “Teaching Rock Guardian” based on an anthropomorphic rock art image.

With a specialization in trauma, grief, and anger programs that emphasize healing and strategies for change, Jean has facilitated individual sessions, groups, and workshops with arts-based cultural approaches in these areas. She has founded and facilitated several community drop-in art studios as outreach projects which have included inner city and youth facilities.

Having moved in late 2022 from the prairies after living there almost 6 decades to Kjipuktuk, the Mi’kmaw name for The Great Harbour (Halifax), Jean is excited to explore the land and Her People as she sets down roots in Mi’kma’ki.

Jen Vivian

Jen is of Inuk and European descent, and has developed a model of art therapy using Traditional Indigenous Healing Philosophies, mainly based on the Medicine Wheel (which you can read about here).

Originally from Newfoundland, she completed her Masters of Art Therapy at Concordia University in Montreal, and then relocated back to the East Coast, to the rural Cape Breton.

In her work with Indigenous communities, she is inspired to call art therapists to support the decolonization of art therapy. She is a conscientious and thoughtful person to talk with.

You can learn more about Jen and her work on her website, Grounded Journey Art Therapy 

Grandmother Selina

Grandmother Selina is an EarthKeeper Medicine Woman from the Eastern Door. (Traditional Ancestral Land of the Wabanaki… who are the Children of the First Light).

She resides upon Ancestral Land that is the Territory of the L’nu Mi’kMaq People Commonly now spoken of as the Maritime Provinces of Eastern Canada.

A Blended Spirit of mixed Afro Indigenous Mi’kMaq Ancestry, Grandmother is the Keeper of an Earth Mother Ancestor Medicine Bundle Keeper for Healing and Spiritual Awakening that brings a powerful Sacred Medicine Way taught to her directly by Earth Mother with the Ancient Ones and Ancestors.

This unfolded over an 8 year Spiritual Retreat that began in 1995 while she resided in Ontario Canada.

This Ancient Way is for taking care of the Earth, the Ancestors and All Those Who Are Ready to Receive.

And So It Is.

Chris Larsen

Chris is an award winning Manitoba Métis artist who lives along the Boyne River, once known as the Rivière aux Îlets de Bois.  It is the homeland of her Métis Ancestors and it was from along this river, with help of the Canadian government, that her ancestors were removed by white settlers.

Embedded into her soul is the land, water and forest.  Conserving the natural environment has always been a compelling mission, as well as sharing her love of art and nature through workshops and retreats at her River’s Edge Studio.

The artwork of Chris Larsen has led to deep exploration of her maternal Métis legacy.  Her bold and evocative work in paint, steel, resin, silver and fibre is driven by the ancestral search for meaning and belonging.  It is a celebration of the science and mysticism of our natural world.

Similar to the communications between trees, our voices and work send out unique vibrations and resonance into the universe.   We are all interconnected and so are all capable of contributing to the harmony and balance in our world.

Chris has had many solo exhibitions of her diverse work across Manitoba and Saskatchewan.   She has been awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal for her contribution to the arts and has received the Manitoba Arts Council Aboriginal Arts Grant.  Recently, she was accorded a Canada Council grant for Indigenous Creating. After earning her Diploma in Art Therapy, Chris is now engaged in fostering identity and self awareness in people’s lives through art making and nature.

Kathy Spearing

Kathy lives in harmony with Mama Earth in the forest of the hills overlooking the Musquodoboit Valley, Nova Scotia. Bird, her family name is a blended spirit of Settler (Irish) and Apsáalooke (Crow Nation) ancestry. She is a youth support worker, a community human rights advocate and a farmer who promotes “gentle with the earth” practices.

Kathy came on with LIFE as Medicine, first as a Collaborator in 2022 and then invited to take on the role of Land Based Offerings Coordinator. Although separated from her family roots, Kathy uses her work as a way to bring life to the unheard voice of her grandmothers. She is a student of life and has a passion for art and community circle work.

Chey Johns

Chey (she/her) is of mixed Indigenous, European, and Caribbean ancestry. She is Anishinaabekwe (an Anishinaabe woman) from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory and a second generation Jamaican Canadian.

Chey grew up on the Robinson-Huron and Robinson-Superior treaty areas and is residing in Mohkinstsis (colonially known as Calgary, AB).

Chey is currently pursuing a Master of Counselling Psychology at Athabasca University and is exploring racialized counselling psychology graduate students’ experiences of invisible work for her Master’s thesis.

Chey is passionate about amplifying the voices of marginalized peoples through storytelling and connection. Her academic and counselling interests include multicultural feminist theory, Indigenous research methods, decolonization, social justice, collective liberation, and experiential and somatic therapeutic modalities.

Chey finds joy in providing community care to marginalized peoples through the facilitation of psychoeducational groups that integrate Black and Indigenous knowledges and practices to promote holistic well-being and reimagine mental health and healing.