Skill-Building

Community skill building can be a rewarding way to exchange ideas and grow both individual and community capacity for ancestral recovery, unsettling whiteness, and/or Indigenous solidarity movements.

At this time, I’m able to offer skill-shares located in the northeast part of Turtle Island focused on settlers of european heritage and/or interested community-wide participants. Skill-shares within 2-3 hours of the New York City area are most accessible for me. If you live outside of this area but are still interested in hosting an event, please contact me and let’s figure something out!

Skill-shares are offered at no cost. If I’m required to travel, I do ask for my travel costs and meals to be covered. Donations (honoraria) are also gratefully appreciated and culturally appropriate. If curious, you can explore my extensive training and facilitation experience here.

The following skill-share topics are offered:

Unsettling Whiteness:

This settler-to-settler conversation directly and provocatively examines colonization and decolonization, white privilege, white/settler fragility, evasions and settler moves to innocence, and white settler positioning with Indigenous peoples. Note: this skill-share can be challenging to many participants. Half day to full day sessions are recommended.

Ancestral Recovery Short Offerings:

This conversation begins to explore traditional lifeways, dismantling euro-centric ways of thinking and being, growing Indigenous thought and philosophy, and practical and healthy steps to recovering ancestral knowledge and relationships. Skill-shares of a couple of hours, half-day, or full-day are offered and we will dive as deeply as possible into these movements. Organizing a regular series of conversations is also a possibility.

Ancestral Recovery Batzarre: 

Primarily for settlers of euro-american origin, but welcoming of anyone engaged in ancestral recovery work or decolonizing movements.  This multi-day (1.5-3 days) nature-based gathering moves beyond theory and explores the practical and deep process of finding our ancestors, regaining a lost sense of place-based identity and lifeway, and most critically – the liberating process of healing our hearts and spirits so that we may begin to create right relationship with Indigenous peoples and life forms.  This is real information taught using western and traditional styles that has the power to unsettle the euro-centric mind and change your life.

Indigenous Solidarity: 

Over the last 15 years, I’ve been involved in front-line Indigenous rights movements for human rights and full independence. This session draws on the successes and challenges of these experiences to build greater settler capacity for growing relationships of integrity with Turtle Island’s Indigenous peoples and movements. We will talk about effective and culturally appropriate Indigenous solidarity work including the obstacles that exist for effective solidarity and mutual aid by non-natives with Indigenous peoples. Duration: 2 -4 hours recommended.

Reclaiming Our Power, LGBTQI2SGNC Outside Eurocentric Constructs:

I believe strongly in decolonizing gender and the importance of gender non-conforming and same-gender loving people within traditional cultural lifeways. At the same time I also honor the contemporary challenges faced by our people. As a highly visible third gendered person, I’ve followed my ancestors’ call towards more “ancient” gifts and roles while standing with courage through transphobic/homophobic attacks. In this skill-share I’m inviting a conversation to reclaim our power outside of eurocentric constructs so that the ancient gifts and roles that serve Life can manifest as fully as possible in these modern times. Duration: 2 -4 hours recommended, or as part of a Batzarre.

Let’s Work Together to Arrange a Skill-Share!

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