Collaborators

Leadership Team

Read Fyre's Bio

Read Jean's Bio

Read Jen's Bio

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. In addition to this, 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 Tait’s “blended Spirit” ancestry is of Saulteaux (Ojibwe) and Celtic descent, whose matrilinear lineage can be traced to her great-great-great-grandfather, Chief Jacob Berens, who led the negotiations and signed Canadian Treaty No. Five in 1875. Jean is an enrolled member of Berens River First Nation, Manitoba.

Prior to training as an art therapist at the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute (KATI) in Nelson, B.C., Jean exhibited her paintings based on Sacred rock art (petroglyphs and pictographs), for over 20 years in Canada and abroad.

With a specialization in trauma, grief, anger 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.

Jean is a Registered Art Therapist 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. The logo used in this not-for-profit organization is derived from a painting called, “Teaching Rock Guardian” based on an anthropomorphic rock art image.

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

Grandmothers

Nukumi Selena

Bio to come.

Louise Lamothe

Bio to come.

Liliami Maney

Bio to come.

Chris Larson

Bio to come.

Chey Johns

Chey is of Caribbean and Anishinaabe ancestry from Wikwemkoong Unceded Territory and is currently residing in Mohkinstsis (colonially known as Calgary, AB). She is a trauma-informed yoga teacher and is pursuing a Master of Counseling Psychology at Athabasca University. Her personal, clinical, and research interests include nature and land-based therapeutic modalities, narrative inquiry, feminist theory, social justice, and community-building among marginalized communities. Chey has several years of experience working in the non-profit sector, supporting youth within the areas of child welfare and mental health.

Patricia Hoi Ling Ki

Patricia is a settler-immigrant and art-maker of Chinese/Hakka ancestry, living and working in Tkaronto/Toronto. Professionally, she is a registered art therapist and social worker, grateful to be working with the community at Toronto Art Therapy Institute as the executive director, instructor, practicum supervisor, and research advisor. She is completing a doctoral degree in Critical Disability Studies at York University, and her dissertation contemplates the question, “how can care be practiced without replicating violence,” through a series of arts-based collaborations with racialized women, gender diverse, and queer practitioners in care work. The series of artwork produced can be viewed here, along with other articles.

Chris Larsen

Diane Obed

Diane is an Inuk woman, mixed with white settler ancestry, from Hopedale, Nunatsiavut, Labrador. She currently lives in Waqmiaq – “where freshwater flows” in Mi’kma’ki, where she completed a Master of Arts degree that focused on Inuit land-based education from Nunatsiavummiut perspectives. Diane is currently studying in the Inter-University Educational Foundations PhD program at Mount Saint Vincent University. Her doctoral research project explores the intersection between Indigenous land education and Eastern contemplative studies to draw on ancient wisdom for modern day social and environmental issues such as facing the current climate crisis.

You can view her LinkedIn profile here.

Alana McLeod

Alana McLeod is a Cree-Métis artist and expressive arts therapist living in Northern Ontario. She works with natural dyes, print sculpture and land based art. Alana’s current focus is on visual storytelling and collaborating with her natural materials.

You can learn more about here on her websites here and here.

Dr. Fyre Jean Graveline, RCAT

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 six 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

Photo and bio to come.

Leanna Marshall, MSW, PCAT

Leanna has been a social worker for 20 + years. She has specialized in working with Indigenous communities, particularly around healing from intergenerational trauma, loss, and self-esteem. Leanna is proud to be a graduate from the inaugural 2023 Indigenized Art Therapy Program from the WHEAT Institute in Winnipeg. She is a band member of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation located in Treaty 9 in northern Ontario. Leanna was born and raised in Thunder Bay, ON where she continues to reside. Leanna uses a combination of art therapy, EMDR therapy, and land-based relationship building to strengthen connections with all of our ancestral relations. Leanna has a small private on-line and in-person practice where she offers individual sessions and facilitation services. Leanna is also a self-taught artist, poet, and performance artist. She explores colonial injustices through kind-heartedness. Leanna’s centre are her two daughters who provide much humour and vibrancy to the world. You’re invited to check out Leanna’s travels and art on Instagram @twinindianlove

Photo and bio to come.