Native people have been asking me how to become a counsellor. It’s easy. Come join the Northern Indigenous Counselling Program. It starts on September 11, 2023. Woohoo!
But it’s not for the faint of heart. Eschia (take it easy, eh!) It’s six semesters long and each semester is three months.
But before that, on May 17, come online via Zoom and join Jean and I as the Dene Wellness Warriors talk about the program with Ben Colling, the President of Rhodes Wellness College.
We will discuss this wonderful opportunity for Native people to become a professional counsellor. To boot, it will be with an all-Indigenous cohort available only for residents of the NWT and if you’ve been clean and sober for a year.
And don’t forget, we’re not sure when we will teach another group again. So, come on down and find out about it.
Cody Erasmus is the previous Program Coordinator and he will be there. Cody’s still involved with the program and he will provide an inside look at what the program is like and how it could help you become a highly skilled professional counsellor.
Learn about the program whose first three semesters will be online and the next three semesters will be in person right here in Yellowknife. The program will run from Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. from September 2023 to June 2024.
If you are accepted into the program, you will join approximately 19-20 other Native students for a very in-depth experience where you will support each other through your learning and past traumas. Very cool.
You will learn things like how to be empathetic to another person’s situation or circumstance and to make time for that individual to do whatever is needed for them, like voicing their hurts, anger, or other emotions.
This is called holding space and it is a very important tool for counsellors as they help people with trauma, addictions, abuse, and many other issues that we have to face.
The online open house will also look at funding needs and sources, such as the funding that Student Financial Assistance provides to students to help them with their tuition and living expenses.
You will also learn how you can start the program in your home community, learning online from September 2023 to June 2024. You would then join the cohort in Yellowknife for in-person classes.
We will discuss how this program will support Indigenous ways of healing, and includes an on-the-land component in the summer of 2024. Well yaaaaaa!
This program will also help get you ready to join the Canadian Professional Counsellors Association (CPCA) and to become a Registered Professional Counsellor (RPC).
So, come join us on Zoom, Wednesday, May 17 at 6:00 p.m.
To find out how to get access to the Zoom link, contact Cody Erasmus at nwtcounselling@rhodescollege.ca or 867-444-8625 and he’ll give you the lowdown.