Rooted Care

Catherine Richardson Kineweskwêw is a Métis therapist, family therapist, researcher and academic working at Concordia University. Her maternal relatives come from Fort Chipewyan and have ties to Red River. She holds a research Chair in Indigenous Healing Knowledges. Cathy is also interested in the broader and multi-dimensional aspects of healing, such as the person as whole being, a spirit in a body with emotions, intelligence, physicality and in relation to all beings in the natural world. She has taught in various counselling and social work programs and is the former director of the First Peoples Studies program at Concordia University. She explores various approaches to well- being on her substack podcast, where she speaks with healers, activists and response-based therapists. She is a student of shamanic practice and the mother of three amazing adult children.

Ghada Ibrahim Mohamed is a Psychosocial Intervener and the Team Lead at the Amal Center for Women, who has been working in the field since 2020. She holds a medical degree from Egypt and a degree in Psychology from Concordia University, where she is also a member of the Centre for Clinical Research in Health (CCRH), Department of Psychology. Her academic and professional focus lies in cultural psychology and the mental health of Muslim and marginalised communities.

At Concordia, Ghada contributed to projects with the Culture, Health and Personality Lab to improve mental health services for Muslim communities in Montreal, as well as to research initiatives with ENAB, PRAM, and CMF on factors contributing to Islamophobia. At the Amal Center for Women , she has designed and delivered numerous workshops on mental health awareness that are culturally competent to interdependent communities in Montreal. 

France Stohner is a mental health counsellor and community organizer who spent her undergraduate education at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute learning anti-oppressive and social justice frameworks. She possesses a background working in urban development for women’s safety in cities, before going on to complete a Masters of Arts degree in Counselling, Psychotherapy, and Spirituality. 

France cares for her cultural community by being on the Advisory Council for Kabangka and as Executive Director of Centre Kapwa, nonprofit organizations supporting the leadership and mental health of Filipino youth and their families through art, movement, and conversations. To maintain connections to her Motherland, France is also a coordinator for Super Inday Art, a program bringing art initiatives to incarcerated women at the Iloilo City District Jail on Panay Island. Passionate about youth, she has also worked in post-secondary education mental health and wellness, and on campus sexual violence prevention and response teams. Trained in intercultural and interfaith dialogue, she has also worked in the philanthropy sector on mandates for the prevention of violence and promotion of peace, and with LGBTQ+ nonprofit organizations as an intervention team consultant. Certified in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from Cornell University, she proudly serves on the Canadian Race Relations Foundation Coalition Against Anti-Asian Racism Canada.