My name is Wanda Dexel, a mother of three adult children, with seven grandchildren and a band member of the Nooaitch community, which is located within the Nlaka’pamux Territory.
Both my parents and three siblings, including myself, attended St. George’s Residential School in Lytton, British Columbia. With this lived experiential history, my desire to seek a path that led to a quality of life that included hope and healing has been a lifelong journey. Reclaiming myself through ceremonies played a key role on this journey and leaning into other adventures such as Indigenous Focusing-Oriented Therapy and Somatic Experiencing have provided me with a sense of hope and has also contributed to my deeper understanding of healing.
While I had the honor of working alongside families in the Ministry of Children and Families, I have also had the pleasure of working with Indigenous youth and children for 20 years in the Burnaby School District. For the past 9 years, I have been with Nlaka’pamux Health Services Society as a counsellor for adults. I have enjoyed my journey so far and look forward to what life unfolds moving forward – Wanda Dexel.