Qweqwetsin Family & Healing Lodge Society (Q Healing) is an Indigenous-led non-profit organization incorporated in British Columbia in 2023, with a provincial mandate and programming grounded in Secwépemc territory. Qweqwetsin means “to pray together” in Secwépemctsín, and prayer, relationship and healing are at the heart of our work.

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Our mission is to strengthen Indigenous individuals, families and communities through culturally grounded healing, ceremony, Secwépemctsín language revitalization, intergenerational learning and connection to land. We create spaces where children, youth, families, Elders and Knowledge Keepers can come together to learn, heal and strengthen relationships with culture, language, land and one another.

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Our Work on the Land

Q Healing delivers programs across several land-based sites in Secwépemc territory. Our primary land-based healing and stewardship site is an 11-acre family farm along the North Thompson River at Simpcw First Nation with Elder Geri, where we are developing a healing garden and food forest and delivering sweatlodge ceremony, traditional medicine learning, regenerative gardening, food sovereignty, language and land stewardship activities.

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Our land-based work strengthens stewardship, protection and reclamation of tmícw. Q Healing draws on decades of combined experience among our staff, Elders and Board in understanding the land, environmental knowledge, stewardship and cultural relationships to place. Through hands-on learning, storytelling and intergenerational knowledge sharing, we support families and youth in strengthening their own relationships and responsibilities to tmícw.

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In the Silketwa (Tappen) and Skwlax areas, we work in relationship with Elder Oliver, including access to their family lands at SkyBlue Resort, to support cultural gatherings, family healing and land-based learning. We also deliver programming on the land throughout the lakes region of Skwlax, creating opportunities for families to learn where teachings naturally belong — on the land and water and alongside Elders, Knowledge Keepers and community.

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Secwépemctsín Language Revitalization

Language is central to Q Healing's work. We offer ongoing Secwépemctsín language classes led by our language team and Elders on zoom and on the land, creating accessible opportunities for learners to build their language skills throughout the year.

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We also take language learning out of the classroom and back onto the land through our land-based Secwépemctsín language camps and seasonal gatherings. Participants learn language alongside cultural activities, medicines, food growing and harvesting, songs, storytelling, ceremony and teachings connected to the places where we gather.

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Our approach recognizes that language is connected to land, culture, family and identity. Children, parents, grandparents, Elders and Knowledge Keepers learn together, allowing Secwépemctsín to be heard and practised through relationships and everyday activities rather than taught only as an academic subject.

Q Healing is also developing language learning resources and documenting teachings with Elders and Knowledge Keepers to support continued learning and the intergenerational transmission of Secwépemctsín.

 

Healing, Ceremony & Intergenerational Learning

Our programs bring together ceremony, Secwépemctsín, traditional medicines and medicine-making, food sovereignty, salmon and seasonal teachings, gardening, stewardship, songs, storytelling and cultural knowledge.

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Sweatlodge ceremony and culturally grounded healing practices are an important foundation of our wellness work. Our approach is intentionally intergenerational: rather than separating children, youth, adults and Elders into different programs, we create opportunities for generations to spend time together, build relationships and learn through participation and lived experience.

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Ceremony and prayer extend beyond our dedicated program sites. Q Healing carries out land- and water-based prayer and ceremony in communities and places across British Columbia, including water ceremony in the lakes region of Skwlax, ceremony throughout Secwépemc territory, and land-based prayer, ceremony and gridwork in the Vancouver region. This work reflects our understanding that healing is deeply connected to our relationships with the lands, waters and communities around us.

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Elders and Knowledge Keepers guide cultural teachings, language, medicines and ceremony, while younger generations have opportunities to learn, contribute and carry that knowledge forward.

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Growing Our Work

Since early 2026, Q Healing has significantly expanded both its programming and land-based infrastructure. We have established food and medicine growing areas and the beginnings of a food forest at Simpcw, built a sweatlodge through community teaching, delivered organic gardening and stewardship activities, expanded our ongoing Secwépemctsín language classes, developed new language-learning resources, and delivered land-based language and cultural camps bringing together language, medicines, food, ceremony, Elders, Knowledge Keepers and families.

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Our Long-Term Vision: Family & Wellness Healing Lodge

Q Healing is working toward the creation of a permanent Family & Wellness Healing Lodge in Secwépemc territory — a dedicated cultural and residential healing centre where Indigenous individuals and families can access culturally grounded healing, ceremony, Secwépemctsín language learning, family supports and land-based programming.

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A forthcoming capital campaign will support the development of the Family & Wellness Healing Lodge and the infrastructure required to establish a permanent home for this work.

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While this long-term vision develops, our work is already happening — on the land, in ceremony, through language and within families. Through our growing network of sites and community relationships, Q Healing is building an Indigenous-led model of wellness grounded in family, language, ceremony, culture and relationship with tmícw — the land, water and earth that sustain us.