Beryl Parke 

Beryl Parke or Ilstlaayaa (‘Always Doing Something in Haida) has Haida, Tsimshian, and Tlingit Ancestry and belongs to the Sangalth Stastas Eagle Clan. She lived on her traditional territory of the Haida people until she was 10 years old. She has been married for 48 years and has two adult children, daughter Sylvia and son JR. She is a Traditional Wellness Worker with the Vancouver Island Mental Health & Wellness team and is currently working in the Kwakwaka’wakw Territory on the lands of the We Wai Kai people in Campbell River, BC. Her background education is in Social Work, and she graduated from the University of Victoria’s Bachelor of Social Work program and completed Master of Business Administration and Leadership courses. Beryl brings 30 years of experience working in the field with Indigenous communities in Canada and Australia and draws on her lived experience and traditional teachings to guide her work. Beryl has been with FNHA for almost 8 years now. She delivers workshops on Lateral Violence to Kindness, Grief & Loss, safeTALK, Trauma-Informed Practice, Healing Indigenous Hearts, Courageous Conversations, and more. She is a teacher, learner, and knowledge keeper.

Marlene Stevens

Hi there, my name is Marlene Stevens and one interesting fact about me is that both my first and middle name come from my paternal and maternal grandmothers. I have lived on my reserve till I was 18 and graduated high school and left the Columbia Valley and I still visit back home as I am blessed to have my 80 year old mother living there on the land she grew up on. I have four children and am blessed with a set of older children and a set of much younger children who still live with me. I work as the Indigenous Harm Reduction Educator for FNHA and briefly did some work as the Child and Youth Coordinator. I have a balanced folio of education ranging from Early Childhood Education, Teachers Assistant program and the Addictions Counsellor program and most recently the ASIST training. Coupled with my education I have lifelong experience through myself and family relations living through mental health and Substance Use issues. To ground my work I bring with me my Indigenous roots and traditional teachings I received while growing up with my gramas and my community. I can provide community workshops around Grief and Loss, Healing Indigenous Hearts, Courageous Conversations, ASIST, Lateral Violence to Kindness, Elder Abuse, and Naloxone Training and Not Just Naloxone training. I am a grateful daughter, mother auntie and knowledge holder and lifelong learner. Thanks for having me enter your learning space as I strive to continue to “Move the medicine”