Melanie Bazin
By D. Vienneau
The Crisis and Trauma Resource Institute (CTRI) strives to create a trauma-informed world through its resources, workshops, and consultations. Melanie Bazin is the Director of Indigenous Services. She oversees Indigenous programming content and resources, guiding CTRI’s decolonization and reconciliation efforts. SAY Magazine recently interviewed Bazin to discuss the evolution of CTRI and how the organization integrates Indigenous and Western approaches into their programming.
The concept for CTRI originated in 2006, when founder Randy Grieser envisioned transforming the material from his graduate thesis into a workshop. In 2007, he and his wife, Heidi, focused on growing CTRI, hiring their first full-time employees and trainers. Later, they founded CTRI’s sister organization, ACHIEVE Centre for Leadership, which offers leadership development and conflict resolution training. CTRI and ACHIEVE are now owned and operated by Eric Stutzman, Wendy Loewen, and Nathan Gerbrandt.
What began as a small initiative has turned into an organization that is a leading provider of professional development training. “We were founded based on providing trauma-informed training to helpers—mainly those working in the social service, mental health and wellness industry,” says Bazin. “We now provide training all across Canada, with trainers across the country.”
The organization provides over 60 training topics to more than 25,000 people yearly, and there is high demand for CTRI’s Indigenous-focused programs due to their decolonized approach. With a blend of Indigenous and Western practices that respond to trauma, grief, addictions, and suicide, CTRI offers several key initiatives guided by a diverse team and Elder Louise McKay. “We offer a variety of workshops and resources, covering topics such as leadership, violence de-escalation, and mental health,” explains Bazin. “But some of our most impactful resources are our certificate programs.”
CTRI offers two five-day certificate programs, Giwiidabindimin, which translates to “we sit together” in Ojibwe, and focuses on responding to trauma and grief. There is also Giwiidosendamin, which means “we walk together”, a program that focuses on responding to addictions and suicide. Neither program requires prerequisites or enrollment criteria, making it ideal for anyone in a helping role within their workplace or community. “In those programs, we incorporate Mi’kmaw Elder Albert Marshall’s concept of Two-Eyed seeing,” says Bazin. “We value both Indigenous and Western approaches to healing, and that’s achieved not only through our content but also by using a co-facilitation model.”
An Indigenous and a non-Indigenous facilitator collaboratively lead the five-day sessions for the certificate programs, integrating their diverse wisdom and knowledge. “We also invite everyone present in the room to share their wisdom and understanding, because all perspectives are valued, and so is learning from each other,” explains Bazin.
CTRI also offers a workshop titled “Land-Based Wellness: Nurturing Mental and Environmental Health.” This experiential workshop, developed by Bazin, reflects her passion for the topic and focuses on integrating land as a teacher and as a form of medicine into one’s helping practice. This fall, CTRI will launch a new workshop called Decolonizing Your Helping Practice: Weaving Indigenous and Western Healing Approaches.
By offering flexible workshops and program delivery, individuals can attend public events, or organizations and communities can host private events. “People are often surprised to hear that we can bring our resources to their community. CTRI Indigenous Training Specialist Elliot Grisdale says it best: ‘If you can get to your community, we can get to your community,’” says Bazin. “I love that we’re able to go into communities to support the helpers, both formal and informal, that are making such a big difference. We get to help build capacity with those who are already doing the important work of building strong, empowered, and resilient communities.”
Bazin, who is Métis, also enjoys facilitating workshops and notes that it’s inevitable that “we bring your own perspectives into the training”. “Growing up, cultural pride was hidden. Due to the history of colonization, it wasn’t something that my ancestors really discussed, but we practiced our culture in many different ways. I grew up hunting, fishing, and my dad did some trapping. We were taught to give back to the community, that land was important, and we always gathered berries with my grandma. Though it was not explicitly taught, I grew up knowing these are our customs and these are our ways,” explains Bazin. “When I went to university, I delved deeply into that identity piece and reclaimed my Indigenous heritage through ceremony, connecting with Elders, and learning on my own.”
“That’s what makes our training experiences so valuable to others, that we bring our personal experiences, our teachings, our own personal wisdom into the topics we’re facilitating. It opens the door for others to share, which makes it even more powerful,” she says.
Before joining CTRI, Bazin worked as a social worker in various capacities, including child welfare, addictions, and school settings. “After I finished my master’s in Social Work with a focus on Indigenous Knowledges, I really wanted to be able to use that knowledge in the work that I’m doing, and CTRI was the perfect place for that to happen,” says Bazin.
The team at CTRI strive to listen, share, and decolonize. Their approaches and training offerings are reciprocal, relational learning environments that highlight strengths as much as possible. “It’s imperative for us also to understand the impacts of colonization and offer resources that respond to those impacts,” Bazin says. “We’ve signed the Winnipeg Indigenous Accord and have a reconciliation journey action plan that remains alive and continues to evolve.”
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