Every program we offer is shaped by the Seven Grandfather Teachings and the lived experience of the people we walk alongside. Here is a deeper look at what each can hold.
One-to-one, at your own pace.
Individual sessions are a confidential space to be heard — really heard — by someone who walks with cultural understanding. We work with anxiety, depression, identity questions, life transitions, grief, anger, and the many forms quiet struggle takes.
First Nations and Inuit adults and youth seeking support that respects their full identity — including their relationship to land, community, and ancestors.
Sessions are 60 minutes, in person in the GTA or virtual across Ontario. You set the pace. Ceremony is offered, never imposed.
Healing happens in relationship.
Families and couples carry stories that no individual can hold alone. Our work supports communication, repair after rupture, parenting through cultural reconnection, and the difficult conversations that have been waiting to be had.
Couples, parents and children, extended family units, and chosen family. Particularly attentive to intergenerational dynamics shaped by residential school legacies and displacement.
Sessions of 75–90 minutes. We may meet together, separately, or in mixed combinations depending on what the family needs.
Your pace. Your path. Your dignity.
We approach substance use without judgment, without ultimatums, and without abandoning anyone for where they are on the road. Whether you're working toward abstinence, harm reduction, or simply staying alive today — we walk with you.
Individuals living with substance use, family members supporting a loved one, and people in recovery seeking culturally grounded ongoing support.
Weekly or biweekly sessions, with options to integrate ceremony, talking circles, and connection to wider community supports as helpful.
Honouring what was carried.
Some wounds are personal. Some are inherited. Some belong to a whole people. Our trauma-informed work creates room for all of these — the residential school legacy, the Sixties Scoop, missing and murdered relatives, loss of land, loss of language, and the everyday losses that compound over generations.
Survivors, descendants of survivors, and anyone navigating grief — recent or long-held. We move slowly and at your direction.
Trauma-informed sessions paced by you. Optional integration of ceremony, land-based practice, and connection to Elders.
Where the work meets the sacred.
For those who wish, traditional practices can be woven into counselling — smudging, talking circles, drum work, pipe ceremony, and connection to Elders and Knowledge Keepers. Ceremony is offered as a complement to therapeutic work, never as a substitute, and always at the client's invitation.
Anyone seeking to ground their healing journey in cultural practice — whether deeply familiar with ceremony or just beginning to reconnect.
Integration of ceremony within or alongside individual or group counselling, with full respect for protocol and the client's own teachings and tradition.
Wellness, taught in circle.
We offer workshops, training, and group sessions for organizations, schools, social agencies, and community groups. Topics include cultural safety, the Seven Grandfather Teachings in practice, trauma-informed care, suicide prevention, and supporting Indigenous staff and clients.
Schools, healthcare and social service teams, agencies, and Indigenous community groups looking to deepen practice or build internal capacity.
Sessions tailored to your group, ranging from 90-minute introductions to multi-day training. Held on site, in our space, or virtually.
A second chance, walked together.
When someone comes home from incarceration, the hardest part is often what comes next. Zack walks alongside Indigenous, Black, and racialized (BIPOC) men and women returning to community, helping them rebuild their lives and find a new path. Through counselling, cultural teachings, and ceremony, we help people reconnect with who they are, take responsibility for their healing, and step into a life of purpose.
BIPOC community members returning home from incarceration, and the families supporting them.
We partner with community organizations, programs, and agencies to connect people with what they need, from housing and employment to culture and family. Organizations interested in partnering are welcome to reach out.
The walk is yours. We carry the canoe a little of the way.— Carrying Place Counselling Services