Certified Cultivating Safe Spaces Facilitator
Guiding and empowering teams towards trust and innovation.
Offering online and in person trainings for organizations.
This training aligns with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Call to Action #92, urging organizations to educate their management and staff on the effects of colonization on Indigenous peoples in Canada.



Discover ways of thinking, acting and being that align with your values.

Supporting leaders through change and transition with one on one coaching. All coaching clients receive personal access to my Cultivating Safe Spaces digital workbook before their first session. 
Click here to book a discovery call and see if coaching is right for you! 

 

The Cultivating Safe Spaces Training will provide individuals and work teams with the tools and understandings they need in order to support meaningful relationships within organizations, communities and families.


  • We all desire to be listened to and feel heard.
  • We all desire to work in ways that come naturally to us using our strengths and gifts.
  • We also desire to achieve our goals in concert, connection and understanding with others.

This training can have an enormous positive impact on the way you communicate, respond and manage relationships within your network of family, friends, work and community members.


This training is for your team if they are:

  • Ready to reflect and better understand themselves and the work they are uniquely here to do.
  • Ready to remain curious and stay open while learning about the systems we live in.
  • Ready to explore alternatives to "business as usual" and experiment with more human ways of collaborating to achieve work goals.
“It was so great to have you with us today. By far one of the most impactful group sessions we have done together! Thank you for sharing your time with us.”
Participant, Development Officer at a Provincial Organization.




Shauna Harper, CEO of WeBC
Tansi, Catherine nisihkâson!

Hello, my name is Catherine! I'm an artist, strategic communicator and digital storyteller.


As a Certified Cultivating Safe Spaces Facilitator, I offer a unique perspective and knowledge of how innovation interacts with this decolonizing framework. I have worked for large corporations, managed small businesses, and been a director at a national non-profit. 


I am committed to teaching this framework because incredible achievements are possible when teams collaborate and work together within safe spaces! 


I am Metis on my mom's side, and our family lived in the areas of Spirit River, Smokey River, and Jasper House in what is now north west Alberta. My settler family travelled from England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.


I am grateful to be born, raised, and still live and work on the lands of the Dane Zaa in Treaty 8 Territory, also part of the historic MeĢtis Nation homeland. I am a member of the Metis Nation of British Columbia, Region 7, and a member of our charter community the Fort St John Metis Society.



I believe we contribute the best of who we are and what we know when we feel safe to show up in spaces as ourselves, and when we strive to create that safety for others.

    • I offer both virtual and in person training sessions for teams and organizations.
    • These session can be delivered in 1.5, 3, or 6 hour formats. 
    • I also offer a team building format that incorporates creative printmaking activities - this works well for Holiday parties! 
When you book me for this training, you are also supporting personal initiatives that take place in my home community. These creative and land-based programs aim to guide Indigenous women, girls and gender diverse people towards cultural reclamation and community well-being by learning to grow food through a Metis lens. Read more about these initiatives here!
What we cover in this training:

Lesson One:
The Four Conditions
This lesson details concrete ways that you can cultivate safety within and for yourself, so that you are prepared to enter spaces as a safe person for others too.



Lesson Two: 
The Four Perspectives
This lesson details how to engage participants with differing views and diverse experiences, in order to come up with the most innovative solutions to the problems your team is working to solve.



Lesson Three: 
The Four Protocols
This lesson details how to promote well-being, inclusion, validation, and freedom in diverse groups, so that equitable inclusion is experienced by as many people as possible (we can't guarantee it, but we can strive for it).



Lesson Four: 
Four More Aspects: Cognition, Perception, Trauma and Resiliency
This lesson details how our brain and body responds when we experience real or perceived threats to our safety, and how this knowledge might be useful in our personal and work relationships. #NotADoctor



Bonus Section

Resources and Supplements
Resources will include materials that are relevant to your teams continued learning and skill building! I am constantly reading and learning - this section will save you time and act as a "cliff notes" style library where you can dig into the topics that are most pressing for you and your current work situation!


Sounds great so far - but curious how this work is relevant to diverse sectors and work teams?

Le
arn more about the Cultivating Safe Spaces framework from the founder in the video below! 



This decolonizing framework was developed by Elaine Alec, who belongs to the Syilx and Secwepemc Nations from the southern interior of British Columbia and Washington State. She is a storyteller, facilitator and CEO of Naqsmist (nux-meest) which translates into “many coming together as one.” I was certified to deliver this training by Elaine herself.

You can hear me speak about my experience in this video at the 7:24 min mark. It was filmed at the first ever Cultivating Safe Spaces conference held in June of 2023.

I encourage you to watch the full 20 minute video when you have time.





Contact me via email today

contact (at) catherineruddell (dot) com