Ross McRae

Ross sobered up in 1995 and started walking his path toward spiritual growth; he started practicing native spirituality rather than it simply being a knowledge base. It has become his way of life and the basis of the philosophies he carries with him today. Since making his commitment towards his spiritual path he has received his Counselors Degree, Crisis Intervention Ticket, Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Ticket, Presenter of all Virtues Program, Suicide Prevention 2, Entrepreneurial Training, First Host, S.A.S.S.I Administration & Scoring, Emergency First Aid, Wilderness First Aid, Sexual Abuse Recovery Training, Peer Counseling Techniques, Youth Counselor Trainer, Facilitator Training, he has also had the honor of receiving the teachings in running the sweat lodge, smudge, vision quest, as well as the gathering of our sacred plant medicines. Ross worked with troubled youth at the Youth Survival Culture Camp for 14 years, through those years he also worked at the Hazelton Youth Healing Lodge for 6 years with youth in a custody setting and, 4 more years with youth on probation. Ross has also provided services as a support worker and spiritual guide at the Hazelton First Nations High School since 2004. Some of Ross’s teachings are that it is not enough to be native anymore, we need to start learning and living the way our elders taught us before pre-contact, to live in a spiritual way. We don’t need bars around us to be imprisoned; we imprison ourselves by way of lack of knowledge and education. True freedom comes from education and self-awareness; with this we can advance ourselves and better our communities of today. We may come to realize that one of our main but not only differences is our rituals and that throughout the world and throughout time our beliefs are basically the same: love and honor each other and all other things in the world as we would love and respect ourselves, our friends, our family, objects and nature. It is my belief that we have more in common than we have in differences and with an open mind and heart we can all live in peace, love, and harmony together. Ross will be facilitating numerous workshops geared toward helping people of all ages come to a better understanding of themselves and the world around them.