Rebuilding the Circle uses both western and Nuu-Chah-Nulth healing practices to address the impacts of sexual abuse and assault

Rebuilding the Circle is a community program started by FIFSW alumna Lisa Robinson, Executive Director of the Kackaamin Family Development Centre, that uses both western and Nuu-Chah-Nulth healing practices to address the impacts of sexual abuse and assault. Learn more about this unique program via the video below.

Robinson is from Hesqiuat First Nation, located on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, and is a graduate of the Master of Social Work-Indigenous Trauma and Resilience field of study (MSW-ITR) at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work.

Others featured in the video include MSW-ITR Sessional Lecturer Anita Charleston-Touchie, also of the Hesquiaht First Nation, who served as a Facilitator and Core Team Member for the unique community project. MSW-ITR Prof. Jane Middelton-Moz facilitated a week-long workshop in support of the Rebuilding the Circle program, while fellow MSW-ITR graduate, Erin Irvine of Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, contributed as a facilitator. Both Middelton-Moz and Irvine appear in the video as well.

Launched as a pilot project in 2018, the Rebuilding the Circle program now offers programs for families with children who have been sexually abused, persons who have been sexually harmed, and persons who have harmed others sexually. The program is the first of its kind in North America, if not the first of its kind throughout the world, says Middelton-Moz.

“We can’t just focus on individual healing. We have to look at the bigger picture,” Charleston-Touchie says in the video. “Especially if we want to make big changes for the generations that come.”

> Click here to learn more about the Kackaamin Family Development Centre, one of three Indigenous Family Treatment programs in Canada.

Related:

• Charlotte Sampson-Elliott inspired by a goal to build trauma-informed schools in her community
• Q & A with ITR graduate Elma Arthurson
• APTN airs a special presentation of Every Child Matters featuring ITR graduate Lisa Robinson
• Terrance Lafromboise and Hyungu Kang reflect on the healing path they forged through FIFSW’s Indigenous Trauma and Resiliency field of study
• VIDEO: Decolonizing Pathways Towards Integrative Healing in Social Work