When Linda Nothing started cancer treatment at the same time as her graduate program at the University of Toronto, she viewed both as paths toward healing.
A Language Keeper and member of Bearskin Lake First Nation, she notes that chemotherapy can be a dreaded process for patients, but if one is able to "reframe" their thinking about it - it's just medicine. As such, it became one of the many sources of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual strength that sustained her through her health struggles and studies.
"In the Indigenous world, we identify [these] positive items as a medicine bundle," says Nothing, 63, who will graduate this week with a master's degree in social work in Indigenous trauma and resiliency from U of T's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work.
"The family that I have, the chemo that was given to me, the support that was given to me and even the program at U of T - the staff and the students - were all part of my medicine bundle at that time."
While her treatments often left her fatigued and in pain, she says the program's community of peers and instructors helped her find the strength to keep going. "My cohort used to help me bandage my nails, because the chemo lifts the nail beds and you bleed," she says.
Nothing had stepped away from her work in children's services in 2023 to deepen her frontline experience through graduate study - but she was diagnosed with colon cancer just weeks before the program began.
Today, with her cancer in remission, Nothing credits the U of T program for helping her heal in both body and spirit. Developed in collaboration with the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres and the Middleton-Moz Institute, the two-year graduate program combines academic study with Indigenous Knowledge systems to prepare graduates to work with individuals, families and communities affected by historical and intergenerational trauma.
"What I gained was a very structured understanding of the effects of trauma, especially with Indigenous history around colonization and all the policies that have to do with Indigenous people," she says, adding that she now brings the program's lessons to her work supporting Indigenous families. "It helped me put everything in order … as to how we came to be in this place where we are today."
She says the community and care she discovered at U of T reflected the teachings at the heart of the program itself, which emphasizes ceremony, storytelling and relationships as pathways to understanding.
"There's something very calming to the brain when you go through rituals like prayer and ceremony," she says. "Even when you're at your lowest, performing ceremonies that your ancestors have done in the past carries you forward."
A fluent Anisininew speaker, Nothing often grounded herself and her classmates in ceremony by opening gatherings with prayers in her language. She says those moments had a powerful impact on others in the program, many of whom were reconnecting with their own ancestral tongues as Indigenous languages face decline across Canada.
"In my culture, the language comes from this land. It doesn't come from overseas. Once the language dies here, it's gone," she says. "I'm hoping that this is one of the ways we can retain it."
Nothing has taken the teachings that guided her healing beyond the classroom. That includes the idea that true wellness begins with restoring balance - a principle reflected in the Medicine Wheel, which teaches that spiritual, emotional, mental and physical health are interconnected and must be nurtured in harmony. "Using this Indigenous pedagogy has helped me with community engagement," she says.
During her time in the program, Nothing also began working on initiatives related to Bill C-92 - legislation that affirms Indigenous communities' right to manage their own child and family services - and says her trauma-informed approach has helped her own community develop child-welfare laws and programs that strengthen families.
"Indian residential schools interfered with and interrupted Indigenous ways of parenting, which really aligned with trauma-informed care," she says. "Helping parents bring those gentle ways of parenting is the major takeaway for me.
"I saw something online that said, 'One generation of really loving parents will change society.' I believe that."
