Shirley Turcotte, RCC, joins Francesca to discuss how Indigenous Focusing-Orientation Therapy techniques are medicine for remembering our collectivity.
Shirley Turcotte, RCC, is founder of the Indigenous Focusing-Orientation Therapy (IFOT), a Métis knowledge keeper and registered clinical counselor, working internationally with survivors of childhood abuses, torture, and complex traumas, including Residential School Syndrome. A pioneering activist in the areas of complex trauma therapeutic treatment and program development for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities, she has received awards, including British Columbia’s Woman of Distinction Award in Health and Education. She is the lead instructor and clinical supervisor of two Aboriginal Programs with the Centre for Counseling and Community Safety at the Justice Institute of British Columbia. For more info please visit: Focusing Initiatives’ IFOT page
All My Relations: Pandemic & Indigenous Community
Welcoming her friend and teacher, Shirley Turcotte, RCC, to ReRooted, Francesca invites her to share about the effect of the pandemic on both herself in her work and daily life, and the Indigenous community as a whole. Sharing the trying history of genocide amongst Indigenous populations, Shirley relays the importance of recognizing the collective, communal, and intergenerational experience of pandemic (and trauma in general), recognizing our connection to all life and land, the interconnected web of life.
“‘All my relations’ means to be connected and interconnected to all of life and land. So what you in your own body is experiencing does not belong to you. It’s something that’s held collectively. So when I’m experiencing pandemic anxiety, it’s not just my lived experience, I’m holding my community there too.” – Shirley Turcotte
For more Francesca exploring the intersection of Indigenous perspectives and mindfulness, check out Ep. 40 of ReRooted
Indigenous Focusing-Oriented Therapy (10:58)
Shirley shares how her ‘all my relations’ collective perspective connects with her Indigenous Focusing-Oriented Therapy (IFOT) which, ‘heals trauma and has been especially well-received because it honors core values of each community and respects local traditions. It is rooted in a humanistic, person-centered approach to healing and is offered in situations of violence, intergenerational trauma, and collective cultural and economic genocide, bringing healing to individuals, families, schools and communities.’
“The remembering is the healing. Because once you get that, you come out of suffering. The remembering of ‘all my relations’ is the healing peace in Indigenous Focusing-Oriented Therapy. It’s the remembering of ‘all my relations’ that pulls everyone out to be able to be present.” – Shirley Turcotte
Learn how to heal by giving yourself permission to be fully present with your trauma, on Ep. 78 of the BHNN Guest Podcast
“A Felt Sense’ Guided Meditation (16:40)
Shirley leads a guided meditation experience for experiencing ‘all my relations’ ancestral interconnection led by ‘a felt sense.’
Tracking ‘A Felt Sense’ (30:03)
Sharing in conversation on the medicine inherent within the connection of life and land, Francesca and Shirley discuss the healing encased within finding balance. Sharing techniques like ‘tracking through time’ and going into old traumas to reframe and heal them, Shirley and Francesca offer a doorway into the past, present, and future, from the boundless, timeless perspective of the indigenous world.
“When you’re tracking a felt sense, you’re very much present for observing – observation of the self, where you are in time, and whatever moments are coming forward. You are not dissociated; you are tracking through time. Time is always here in the Indigenous world. Past, present, and future is always here. It’s not linear.” – Shirley Turcotte
Take an astral trip with Ram Dass, as he explores the nature of time, paradox, and freedom, on Ep. 179 of Here & Now