Ryan's Experience
From the beginning, I have always served those in need.
I started my career at 18 as a Family Support Worker providing respite for families with children with disabilities. From there, I began working with Indigenous youth in group homes as a Child & Youth Care Worker. I did this for 3 years. My experience working with these youth became the foundation for not only my career but my life path. Over those 3 years, I came to understand what truly matters and how to show up for those around you. I'll admit, I struggled at times. It was hard for me to be a "worker" when really, you're being a family. I couldn't just leave at the end of my shift when the 12 year old boy told me how he was going to end his life. I couldn't just "turn it off" and keep a stone face as the 11 old girl told me what the men in her life did to her. I couldn't be mad at the 16 year old boy who pulled a knife on his bully. I couldn't turn off the lights and walk away when the 5 year old was begging me to read him another story. Those kids held so much space in my heart, it hurt. I would've taken each of them in as my own if I could. Those 3 years, working with so many different youth, in secure facilities and assessment centres to family homes with their siblings, taught me what it means to show up as a person first. A person who has to be a leader. A person who has to be responsible for holding them accountable. A person they may hate. A person who isn't 'mom'. But still a person who has to keep them safe, who has to be gentle, who has to listen. Through everything I had to be for them, I learned what it meant to be Ryan, to be a person for those kids, not a "worker". Those kids taught me what my medicine is; between the 'toughness' and the love is someone who holds space for you to do and be whatever it is you need to, until you can come back to yourself.
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I didn't want to leave those kids, but life pulled me in another direction. For a little while, I was a Housing Case Manager for an Indigenous non-profit. Being able to help people find safety and stability was such a gift, but the system these organizations operate within is frustrating to say the least. This is when I began looking for other options. I got my Reiki certification and began studying with the Institute of Shamanic Medicine. Soon after, I began my first endeavor, Mountain Walker Healing.
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While I began exploring what my life could look like, I got a position as the Indigenous Engagement Specialist for a national non-profit that provides literacy and life skills training. This was a remote position which gave me the freedom I was looking for and gave me opportunities to travel into community, which was such a dream come true. This was a new position that was completely open-ended. All they told me was "bring these programs to Indigenous communities." In my first year, I increased our Indigenous communities served by 32% and executed our organizations first outreach and facilitation efforts to the territories with my own boots on the ground in both the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. This was the role that taught me what it meant to be an advocate and how to show up in community. I was the only Indigenous employee and became known for letting them know that things needed to change. I audited our existing programs, helped develop new curriculum content that was trauma-informed and culturally-aware, and began the internal work of educating leadership on their responsibility to reconciliation. I know I could have gone farther in that role, but I was ready for a new challenge. Still, it gave me another peak into the medicine I have to share with the world; holding up a mirror and an invitation to change, not out of shame, but out of desire for growth.
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During this time of transition, I took a break and hopped across the pond to the UK to study Spinal Energetics with Dr. Sarah Jane. This was something I'd been dreaming of for years and didn't expect to be able to do anytime soon. I saw the applications open, which are rather vigorous, and had in mind that I likely wouldn't be accepted and would plan to attend the next year. But alas, I was accepted and rather spontaneously decided I was ready to go!
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Over this time, I also had the opportunity to join in some initiatives that are very dear to my heart. I began my time sitting on the Ways of the Heart Youth Council, an Indigenous youth-led initiative seeking to amplify the voices of Indigenous youth through culture, wellness and life-promotion. I also began sitting on the Board of Directors for the Reach Association which champions reconciliation through education by supporting youth across Turtle Island to connect, learn, and build relationships across cultures. I also began studying with the Centre for Indigenous Policy and Research.
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That brings me to my current position, as a Program Officer for an Indigenous non-profit. Through this role, I help bring First Nations and municipalities together to build trusting relationships, identify areas of priority to both communities, and begin working on mutually beneficial joint economic development initiatives. Though this role initially felt a bit out of my wheel-house, once again, it had something to share. My medicine is to bring all of our relatives together in a good way. Through all of the history and hurt, there is healing to be had. I'm so fortunate to be able to witness reconciliation in action, to be a part of the ceremonies that bring generations of hate and fear to new beginnings, and to see the growth that's possible when we show up for our neighbours.
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All of these experiences have shaped the person that I am today and whether or not they were directly related to "wellness", they helped me gain the ability to see people, situations, and communities as a whole.
