Raven Winged Consulting

✨ Upcoming Workshop! ✨
Join me for Supporting Neurodivergent Métis Children & Youth in Navigating IEPs.
A 75-minute, strengths-based session rooted in Métis Ways of Knowing and Two-Eyed Seeing — designed for families, advocates, and service providers.
🌿 Learn to:
✅ Understand and navigate IEPs
✅ Honour neurodiversity through an Indigenous lens
✅ Advocate for supports that reflect Métis identity and family voice
✅ Build collaborative, respectful relationships with schools
Includes storytelling, reflection, and space for shared learning.
Let’s create pathways of belonging and empowerment for Métis youth together.

📣 Autism Conference 2024: Implications for Indigenous Peoples
📅 August 2024 – PHAC + CPHA hosted 650 people for the National Autism Conference to guide Canada’s Autism Framework & Strategy.
🚫 Indigenous voices were largely missing—both in attendance and in the process.

Key Concerns Raised:
📊 Indigenous communities remain underrepresented in autism data, research, & policy.
🔍 Strong calls for Indigenous-led research & data collection to reflect real priorities & experiences.
🌱 Learn from Indigenous communities through a strengths-based lens, not a deficit model.
🪶 Culturally grounded, Indigenous-led approaches are critical for supporting Indigenous Autistic people.
🚫 Lack of Indigenous representation at the conference & in broader autism work—future efforts must change this.
🤝 Need for relationship-building with Indigenous organizations, including rural & northern communities.
🗣 Clear action plans & accountability so Indigenous Autistic voices shape decision-making.

💬 The Challenge:
There’s a call for Indigenous-led research—but will Canada truly value Indigenous knowledge?
Will our stories, circles, ceremonies, and ancestral wisdom be seen as equal to Western research?
Will they see the whole person—their gifts, their spirit, their role in the circle?
Canada needs to learn from Indigenous communities through a strengths-based lens, not a deficit-based, medical, and ableist lens.

Not just inclusion. Leadership.
Let us guide the questions, priorities, and process—we know what matters for our people.
Inclusion of Indigenous voices should never be an afterthought or a vague promise to “do better”; it must be prioritized from the very start.

We’ve been telling this same story for decades—about the same gaps that remain.
The hardest part? This conference had a chance to do more for Indigenous Autistics… and that chance was missed.

✊ Call to Action:
Keep the conversation going. Don’t let this become another report with promises but no action.

🎧 A while back, I joined on their podcast to talk about ethical considerations when working with Indigenous clients.

This excerpt is from a part of our conversation where we touched on the importance of cultural reclamation and how this shows up in a cultural safety journey for allies—something I think about often in my work and personal life.

The truth is: there’s no one way to be Indigenous. We’re all on our own journeys of reclamation, reconnection, and remembering—and that process looks different for everyone. We all have unique and equally valid stories.

If you're working with Indigenous clients or colleagues:
✅ Please don’t assume.
✅ Don’t ask questions in a brash or clinical way.
✅ Approach with care and humility.

Our culture is sacred. The way you ask, listen, and show up matters. You're holding something deeply personal—like a piece of our heart.

🎙 Listen to the full episode here (Link in Bio):
https://behavioralcollective.com/news/ethical-considerations-for-serving-indigenous-clients-episode-23/