Indigenous Land Based Counsellor (ILBC)

ILBC Overview

Indigenous Land Based Counsellor (ILBC) teaches learners the effectiveness of using therapeutic tools in a land-based setting to help individuals reconnect with their identity, strengths, and self-worth. The program supports learning how to keep yourself, your colleagues, and clients safe in the working environment and focuses on growth of the helper by lighting your inner fire through traditions and ceremony. By weaving culturally specific helping approaches and Indigenous traditional perspectives on healing in contemporary society with clinical therapeutic best practices in the field, the ILBC program is an innovative solution to better serve people seeking support on their healing and wellness journey.

The ILBC is a novel solution designed to service a gap in education and training standards within the non-regulated field of mental health and addiction services in Ontario by connecting western clinical models with Indigenous ways of knowing. This Indigenous designed and future led program is developed by Gwekwaadziwin Miikan, with the support of our partner agencies from the Indigenous Healing and Wellness Strategy, which includes various treatment centres, healing lodges and includes Ministry representation.  This partnership allows the ILBC to be inclusive of Indigenous cultural diversity through province wide knowledge sharing, which in turn builds culturally appropriate content and leaves learners with a unique cross-cultural perspective of Indigenous healing knowledge and practices within Ontario.