Healing program accepting applications

Linda Delormier and Adam Wolfe have long dreamed of a program that would bring together individuals to work on healing trauma, but it was only a year-and-a-half ago that the idea finally started to come to fruition, thanks to funding from Onkwata’karitáhtshera, part of Kahnawake Shakotiia’takehnhas Community Services (KSCS).

“I’ve done a lot of healing work in many different contexts, and I’ve worked in and for the community for most of my adult life,” said Delormier, who operates her healing business Tionhnhiio in the community.

“We’d been informally developing content for years, but then we took a road trip and we thought, ‘If we’re going to deliver programing, what would it look like?’ And everything just fell together.”

The program is called Skén:nen Í:ke which means “I walk in peace” and is a 12-month program focused on healing trauma. The inaugural cohort of participants started in January and is on the ninth month of program delivery.

Delormier and Wolfe are preparing to welcome the next group of participants, with applications open now for the 2025 session.

“It’s important that people go through this stuff together, because oftentimes with trauma people want to isolate for the difficult things in their life,” said Wolfe. “It’s important that we start doing this in community, so people have that community. It’s the whole point of having friends and loved ones, to support you through difficult times and rejoice with you during happy times.”

Though Delormier is from Kahnawake, Wolfe is non-Indigenous and is originally from California. Despite not having lived experience of trauma from an Onkwehón:we perspective, Wolfe said that he draws on his past years of experience supporting people from all walks of life through their journeys - the program is currently for community members only, per Onkwata’karitáhtshera’s funding agreement.

“I don’t divide people based off what their ethnicity or their story is,” he said. “People are people, and when you meet them as people, they appreciate that.”

During the program, participants meet for one weekend every month, engaging in talking about and processing trauma via group work and sharing sessions, as well as land-based work, engaging with nature. Each student also has four individual “healing sessions” with Wolfe and Delormier throughout the year, where they unpack more deeply.

It can at times be intense, so any applicants should be far enough along in their journey to be able to share their thoughts or experiences about trauma with the group.

“It’s very emotionally challenging to look at this stuff, and that’s the nature of the course,” Wolfe said. “Participants definitely need to be prepared to go into that territory.”

In its first year, Delormier said the program has already exceeded her expectations, and she’s looking forward to seeing how the program will grow.

“To watch our first cohort of students reach the places they’ve reached in the past nine months has been so rewarding for us. The work is not always easy,” she said.

Applications are open to Kahnawa’kehró:non until Friday, November 1, and prospective participants can contact Delormier for an application at [email protected] or by phone at 514-770-3904.

It’s expected that due to the number of applications an interview process will be necessary, and final decisions of acceptance to the program will be made by December 6.

The 2025 program will begin on January 4, and all questions can be directed towards Delormier directly.

[email protected]