An umbrella of healing services
Niwakomakanak brings together cultural revitalization, professional trainer certification, Sundance and fasting ceremonies, and community healing programs, all unified under a single purpose: restoring wholeness to Indigenous people and families.
At the heart of our work is the felt sense, an ancient, body-based understanding of self that colonization, intergenerational trauma, and systemic harm have buried beneath layers of pain. Using the IFOT model, the Four Directions framework, and the Wellness Wheel, we help people locate and release that pain at its root, not just manage symptoms at the surface.
What makes us unique is our commitment to Indigenous-led delivery: we train our own people to become certified coordinators and trainers, so healing knowledge stays in the community. And we share this knowledge with the international community; any nation or organization wishing to learn these approaches is welcome.
Jules Inishinapay-Tapas, I.C.C., I.F.O.T.T.
Jules walked into a three-day workshop on intergenerational trauma and residential school impacts with no idea what to expect. What he found changed everything: “First time I felt like a human being… I was finally able to breathe.”
That moment lit a path he has walked for over 20 years. Training, then more training, then trainer certification. He spent 14 years mastering IFOT before completing his Coordinator Certification in 2012 under Dr. Eugene Gendlin, the global founder of Focusing, and Shirley Turcotte, the developer of IFOT. The training was in BC; Jules was in Northern Ontario. He refused to let distance stop him, and he brought it all the way home.
Today Jules is one of the few certified Indigenous Focusing Oriented Trauma Therapy Coordinators in Canada, with 25+ years of practice. His home territory was shaped by residential schools, Saint Anne's in Fort Albany, Horton Hall, Moose Factory. His own mother attended residential school. This work is personal.
Meet the whole team
Right down to the felt sense. The core level. Authenticity.
Most approaches manage symptoms at the surface. We go deeper, to the place inside a person that remembers who they were before trauma layered over them.
- Four Directions: East, the child (0 to 12). South, the teenager (13 to 19). West, the trauma-informed adult. North, the elder. Wisdom, non-judgment, clear vision.
- Trauma Awareness Wheel: locating where a person is in relation to their felt sense.
- The Rope Exercise: physically representing the grip of intergenerational trauma, then release. The body breathes again.
Safe. Gentle. Survivor-led.
We believe trauma survivors deserve a safe, gentle, and effective therapeutic approach that respects their right to fully control their healing process, its pace, intensity, and duration. We value the strength of survivors to achieve their goals and move on to satisfying, rewarding lives.
We can make this a better place together.
Four pathways, one purpose. Explore each program in depth.
IFOTT Training
Level 1 Practitioner Certification and Level 2 Train the Trainers, 7 modules, supervised clinical practice, and certification delivered by one of the few certified IFOT coordinators in Canada.
IFOTT programLand-Based Detox
We help communities develop their own land-based detox programs and train their staff to facilitate them. The land is medicine, and it belongs to the community.
Program developmentCulture & Ceremony
Sundance ceremonies, winter fasting ceremonies, and cultural revitalization. The spiritual dimension of healing that no clinical setting alone can provide.
Cultural programsWorkshops
Custom workshops for communities, health authorities, and frontline teams, from intergenerational trauma awareness to community crisis response planning.
Workshop topics