ELDER STRENGTH OF TWO BUFFALO, KANIEN’KEHA’KA SIX NATIONS

Elder Strength Dale is Kanien:keha’ka (Mohawk) from Six Nations of the Grand River and the co-founder of Bear Waters Gathering. For the past 37 years, Elder Strength has had the opportunity to learn from an extremely diverse community of elders such as the Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabeg, Cree, Lakota and Inuit spanning across both Canada and the United States. He has attended, participated in and conducted many ceremonial gatherings and apprenticed with respected elders since his childhood.

Elder Strength has been contributing to Indigenous communities in multiple ceremonies such as sweat lodge, the sacred pipe and sundance for over a decade. He has a formal education in the field of Social Services, graduated from the Bachelor of Ed in Aboriginal Adult Education at Brock University, completed the Men’s Indigenous Social Work Program from Muncey Healing Lodge and Addictions Counselling Certification through Polytechnic Institute Six Nations. He currently works with Bear Waters Gathering as their resident elder delivering spiritual supports and cultural safety training across Canada.

Elder Strength’s role at GreeneStone is to reinforce the wholistic approach to healing and well-being by examining every aspect of the individual and for some, introducing them to the Indigenous way of being and knowing. For others, bring them back to the understanding provided by our ancestors. This is done through traditional teachings and understandings past through conversation, tools of personal reflection, the understanding of the sacredness of self and inter-connectivity to self, family, community, and creation. The goal is to help with critical thinking and determining through self-reflection what it is the person really wants or needs and then chooses their path in a healthy and informed way.