Welcome To
STRONG EARTH ASSOCIATES
INDIGENOUS WELLNESS
DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
About Strong Earth Associates
Our Programs
Our Programs
Our Programs
We apply traditional Indigenous cultural and spiritual practices, holistic health, trauma management, and traditional teachings, including end of life care and grief support.
Our Vision
Our Programs
Our Programs
Strong Earth will improve the quality of life for, and return sacred knowledge and teachings to our people, to assist and heal our world.
We develop Indigenous approaches, to meet the critical needs of our people, through our programs and services.
Our Team
Our Programs
Our Team
Strong Earth’s strength comes from the dedication, compassion, and professionalism of our people.
We are a growing team of Indigenous Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and healthcare & wellness professionals, walking the Red Road (Miiyuu Pimaatswiin) with a shared vision.
Featured Program
Indigenous End of Life and Grief Care Certificate Training for Indigenous Peoples
Strong Earth has partnered with the Institute of Traditional Medicine to develop an Indigenous End of Life & Grief Care Program. We are providing cultural training and awareness to serve communities and the dying, based on sacred teachings.
Program Overview
The Indigenous End of Life & Grief Care Program supports Indigenous families and communities in contemplating, preparing for, and managing the passing of loved ones to the spirit world. These teachings and rites involve communing with our ancestors to assist both the departing soul, and the living, in sacred transition. The program is offered
online with virtual classes.
Curriculum
The program will address the Indigenous cultural, spiritual and community aspects of end life care and grief support. In addition students will have access to ITM's full Contemplative End of Life Care curriculum.
Featured workshop
Indigenous End of Life Workshop for Non-Indigenous Peoples
Workshops offering a unique opportunity for non-Indigenous community members to learn about Indigenous spiritual traditions and beliefs, in a respectful way.
The purpose of this program is to foster greater compassion and broaden the diversity of their service to Indigenous communities and organizations in end of life and grief care, which is trauma-informed.
This training is specifically for non-Indigenous community members and focuses on developing inter-cultural sensitivity, awareness, and understanding. Those supporting the dying and grieving and/or allies seeking appropriate Indigenous wisdom teachings are welcome to participate.
Who Should Join
Hospice Staff
Longterm Care Workers
PSWs
Medical Professionals
Integrative Health Professionals
Health Policy Makers
Community Organizations
EOL Volunteers
Family & Friends
Curriculum
Diversity within Indigenous End of Life Care
Ceremonial Rites of Passage
Indigenous Cultural Safety & Humility
Indigenous Trauma Informed Care & Creating Safe Spaces
Culture as Medicine/Indigenous Healing Practices at End of Life (EOL)
Best practices for Grief Support
The role of Family, Elders, Community at EOL
Indigenous Spiritual beliefs
Relationship, Allyship & Justice Approaches
STRONG EARTH ASSOCIATES
HARRY SNOWBOY
Harry is an Elder and Ceremonial Traditional Knowledge Keeper in all Rites of Passage, the Life Cycle of Cree ceremonies. His sacred teachings begin with “Birth” and progress through to, and include, "End of Life", "Burial", and spiritual transition ceremonies to support both the grieving and the "Journey of the Soul".
Harry has extensive experience in crisis and trauma management and incorporates holistic problem-solving approaches to critical issues facing Indigenous communities. Such work and breadth of experience “bridge the gap” between sacred, Traditional, and non-Indigenous lived experiences with deep understanding, compassion, and professionalism.
Harry is the Sundance Chief of the annual "Rattlechild Sundance Ceremony", which he leads with his wife, Juliana Matoush-Snowboy, in Henvey Inlet First Nation, Ontario. Harry lives in Northern Quebec and travels extensively to work with Indigenous communities.
Juliana Snowboy
Juliana Matoush-Snowboy (James Bay Cree), is trained in suicide intervention (ASSIST, 2002), and spent almost a decade as the Social and Health Planning and Programming Officer for the Cree Board of Health in Chisasibi, Quebec, and worked with Health Canada in Eeyou Astchee. She works closely with her husband, Harry Snowboy, in leading various traditional and healing gatherings in Indigenous and urban communities. In addition, she provides drug and alcohol awareness seminars, and facilitates cultural training and life coaching for women’s sweat lodge ceremonies.
Erika Iserhoff
Erika Iserhoff (Mushkego/Eeyou) is a member of Constance Lake First Nation, with family ties to Fort George, Quebec. Erika has been an advocate, change maker, and teacher within Indigenous arts and cultural movements for over 20 years. She is also an Indigenous arts granting officer, award-winning artist, designer, and producer, and advises various organizations on Indigenous culture. Her reclamation of traditional beliefs and practices has led to increasingly working with many Indigenous communities and organizations for the past 10 years. In this work, Erika promotes emotional and spiritual healing to cultivate self-awareness and wellness through received traditions and practices. Erika is an active member of the Rattlechild Sundance Ceremony, and a program advisor for Strong Earth.
Bryan Akwirente Deer
Bryan Akwirente (A tree that provides shelter) Deer is of the Rotiskaréwa:ke (Bear Clan) of the Mohawk Nation of Kahnawake, part of the Iroquois Confederacy. Throughout his life, Bryan has been on the path of learning about being a Kanien'kéha man and understanding the roles and responsibilities these duties entail. As Bryan walked his journey, there came a time when his focus shifted, and his calling to carry and learn about the Medicines and grow his gifts to help the people became more prominent in his life.
Today, Bryan carries many healing gifts guided by Spirit; these include doctoring people with injuries and helping their physical bodies heal, aligning and balancing energies, and healing trauma. He can conduct sweat lodge ceremonies, call a person's Spirit back, provide traditional counselling and readings, and works with traditional plant medicines. Bryan regularly travels to many Indigenous communities across Turtle Island; this includes working with incarcerated individuals, where he shares his gifts with those who have embarked on the healing path.
Laini Lascelles
Laini Lascelles is a grandmother of Lenape, Anishnawbe, and Mohawk ancestry. She is a healer, social worker, and teacher who has been working with Indigenous communities for over 25 years. Her focus has been on addressing addiction and mental health issues resulting from colonization. She attributes her received traditional knowledge to her teachers, Harry and Juliana Snowboy, and from her lived experience as an Indigenous woman. Laini’s work has included youth treatment and family wellbeing services, and working with the incarcerated within the penal system, by providing ceremony, rites of passage, and individual healing. Laini teaches and applies Indigenous social work best practices, and is a mentor to helpers and dancers in the Sundance ceremonial way of life. Her beliefs are based on wisdom and ceremony received from qualified medicine people, with values rooted in kindness, respect, humility, and truth.
Strong Earth
Fosters a structured, nurturing, and supportive environment that is trauma-informed to promote Indigenous healing and well-being. Strong Earth celebrates diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles, including welcoming two spirit, and all spiritual traditions and cultural beliefs.