What is the name of your organization?
Turtle Island Wellness and Inclusivity Collective
What is the name of your solution?
TI Wellness Network
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
Indigenous-led network linking communities to mental wellness, traditional healing, and cultural reclamation across Turtle Island.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Melfort, SK S0E, Canada
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
Canada
What type of organization is your solution team?
Hybrid of for-profit and nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
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What specific problem are you solving?
Indigenous people across Turtle Island face significant barriers when accessing mental wellness services. These barriers include systemic racism, lack of culturally relevant care, financial constraints, and difficulty locating Indigenous or trauma-informed providers. Contemporary Indigenous people, especially youth, urban, and Two-Spirit individuals, are often disconnected from traditional healing and cultural practices due to intergenerational trauma, residential schools, adoption, or urban upbringing.
Even when services exist, they are frequently rooted in Western approaches that overlook Indigenous worldviews and definitions of wellness. Many Indigenous people feel judged, misunderstood, or retraumatized when seeking help, leading to disengagement and underutilization of support services.
The Turtle Island Wellness Network addresses this gap by creating an Indigenous-led platform that connects people to accessible, culturally grounded mental wellness services, traditional healing, and opportunities for cultural reclamation. Through inclusive search tools, social media outreach, and trauma-informed education, we reduce barriers to care and promote reconnection to identity, land, and community.
This is more than a directory, it is a healing movement that centers Indigenous voices, empowers cultural resurgence, and builds a supportive network rooted in care, kinship, and resistance to colonial harm.
What is your solution?
The Turtle Island Wellness Network is an Indigenous-led, culturally grounded online platform connecting Indigenous people across Turtle Island with accessible, inclusive mental wellness services and traditional healing practices. Designed to be barrier-free, the website features a searchable directory and map of service providers, therapists, Elders, consultants, program facilitators, knowledge keepers, cultural support workers, and more, who can create customizable profiles. These profiles may include bios, services offered, cultural practices supported, and links to external pages or contact information, if they choose.
Users can refine searches based on their needs, location, cost, Insurance, Indigenous identity of provider, types of services, or comfort levels, without disclosing any personal information they don’t want to share. This ensures autonomy, privacy, and safety for those navigating support systems shaped by colonial harm.
More than a directory, the platform will be supported by a social media campaign and educational content to reduce stigma, reconnect users to culture, and support mental wellness from the Turtle Island Wellness and Inclusivity Collective. We will also offer trauma-informed, culturally sensitive training modules for service providers to build trust and safety within their practices. We will also hold public information
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
The Turtle Island Wellness Network serves Indigenous people across Turtle Island, with a focus on urban Indigenous populations, youth, 2SLGBTQ+ individuals, intergenerational survivors, and others who have experienced disconnection from culture or faced barriers to accessing mental wellness services.
Many Indigenous people struggle to find safe, culturally affirming, and trauma-informed supports, often facing racism, exclusion, or being forced to over-explain their lived experiences to non-Indigenous providers. This project directly addresses these barriers by offering an accessible online network of mental wellness and cultural service providers, including therapists, Elders, knowledge keepers, and Indigenous support workers.
Through customizable provider profiles and inclusive search filters, users can find services based on their own needs, identity, location, and comfort level, without having to disclose more than they want to. The platform also offers educational content, cultural resources, and trauma-informed training for service providers to ensure safer, more respectful care.
By making mental wellness and cultural reconnection accessible, the Turtle Island Wellness Network helps Indigenous people reclaim their healing journeys, strengthen cultural identity, and access the support they deserve—on their terms, in their own ways.
