An elder approached me to tell me about how much she loved the conference. She said that for the first time in the 8 years she has been attending she was able to open up and be vulnerable in a brand new way. She said to me: ‘Never in a million years would I have danced by myself in front of 200 colleagues’.

This camp helped me realize who I am, that I am beautiful, that we are all beautiful.

Never have I seen so many adults in one room with their inner child and creative spirit out to play. It was a true gift to see our youth and elders joined together in that place of play and imagination.

I must say it was a profoundly humbling experience for me. Made my heart and my spirit happy. I definitely went out of my comfort zone a few times, but in a good way.

I loved the workshop! It was very powerful and a whole lot of fun. I felt safe and really heard. I have done a lot of healing work already, but this process took it to a whole other level. I was authentically expressing myself in front of other Indigenous people who totally understood my pain; it was very validating to say the least. I made good connections and I look forward to the next module!!

I have used the skills many times over in my current job and would recommend anyone to take the workshops. The most significant thing I learned was how to lead a group and make it look like I know what I’m doing! It comes naturally now. It has certainly helped in my job.

 

I was surprised to discover how I felt awkward at first when doing improv and other approaches. I was therefore surprised and impressed to notice how quickly the IndigenEYEZ techniques worked to melt away my resistance.

During the workshop a woman, an elder, expressed herself with teary eyes about empathizing with the children she worked with. It was real, raw and vulnerable. So powerful!! This work is amazingly healing.

Youth need to laugh, be light-hearted, feel, not be afraid to make noise, safely break and make rules, use their leadership skills. All of the exercises in this training do exactly that.

This was the most exciting water conference I have been too, so kudos to your organizing team for putting it all together and pulling it off.