Hi, I’m Michelle!

I’m a speaker, writer, and health and wellness coach deeply committed to the health and well-being of Indigenous peoples and communities.

I deliver presentations, programs, and workshops that help people create health and healing in their lives so they can become the leaders we need to create a strong future for our families and communities.

I’m also the creator of the SHAWL Program, a health and wellness program that leads people to become Sustainable Health and Wellness Leaders (SHAWL), and eventually SHAWL Certified Facilitators within their communities. We address the aspects of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health, rooted in an Indigenous approach to community well-being, and lead participants to make long-lasting changes in their lives to improve the health and healing of our people and our Mother Earth.

Over the last decade, I’ve deepened my relationship to our ancestral foods. I began by learning how to cook wild game such as moose, deer, elk, rabbit, duck, goose, and local species of fish. I began picking plants and medicines and learning how to preserve and prepare them. I participated in ceremonies and began to learn some of our teachings regarding food and medicine gathering and preparing, and have much more to learn. I also continue to learn of our ancestral food systems and how deeply they’ve been impacted and nearly decimated by colonization, both historically and today.

I serve on the Executive Steering Committee for Indigenous Climate Action (ICA), a national organization that inspires action for climate justice by supporting Indigenous communities to develop Indigenous-led solutions to climate change. I’ve served on ICA’s Steering Committee since its inception in 2017 and have been delivering climate change presentations and workshops in Indigenous communities over the past five years.

I also serve on a subcommittee for the Treaty Land Sharing Network to support relationship building between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and members of the network. As someone with mixed ancestry (Saulteaux/Anishnaabe on my mother’s side and English/Swiss on my father’s), bridging the gap between our peoples has been a lifelong thread of my work and writing.

In 2014, I completed the Health Coach Training Program at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, where I studied more than one hundred dietary theories and a variety of lifestyle coaching methods. I believe in a holistic approach to increasing health and happiness in our lives and that everyone’s path to wellness is unique and personal. I then enrolled in the Martha Beck Life Coaching Training Program in 2016 to further enhance and develop my coaching skills.

As a former journalist, I also love to read and research my areas of interest, especially in health, wellness, and Indigenous food systems. Over the course of my previous career, I was a TV and radio reporter, editor of an Indigenous youth magazine, newspaper columnist, news/talk radio host and a CBC Radio host. It was a deeply satisfying career with plenty of adventure and discovery. I learned a lot over those years and then decided to move on and apply those skills to helping people lead healthier, happier lives.

I am a proud member of the Yellow Quill First Nation (Saulteaux/Anishnaabe) and reside in Treaty Four Territory in Saskatchewan, Canada.